The AT&T "You Will" televison ads from 1993 are a great example of how the future was once sold to the public. While the user interfaces may be different, most of the innovations they advertise "you will" be doing have come true in 2007. I guess I don't yet have a keyless lock on my door. Any guesses on how long before keys are replaced in mainstream society?
Hadn't thought about keyless locks since my last hotel stay. Your question is the same one that went through my mind at that time. How come I don't have one of these on my door at home? Off to google and see if I can learn anything.
ReplyDeletegiven the widely spread knowledge of how easy it is to 'bump' open most house-locks, replacing the current types _should_ be done ASAP.
ReplyDeleteThe one where the consumer uses a cell phone to wirelessly make a purchase from a vending machine is so full of unfixable security risks that it actually caused me to blurt out "No, I won't!" when I first saw it...
ReplyDeleteKeyless door locks are readily available. There are wireless RFID-based ones, and also biometric thumbprint ones. I wouldn't touch the latter, myself, given how easy biometric thumb scanners are to fake, but the former is tempting...
ReplyDelete...except that the units cost about $300 each.
http://www.mykey2300.com/
There were a few other "You Will" ads not included in that youtube montage, like this one I just found:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/3agem7
I also seem to remember one that showed someone sitting on a futuristic train, and wikipedia's You_will entry also mentions something involving a "software agent" (like that annoying microsoft paperclip that used to be in Word--I think it was a dog in the ad) and kids in different countries using a videophone which translated for them.
The look of those ads sort of reminds me of another example of an early 1990s vision of the near-future--the 1991 movie "Until the End of the World" by Wim Wenders, set in 1999-2000.
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ReplyDeleteAha, with a little more searching I found a bunch of them on commercial-archive.com...unfortunately, you have to sign up and donate 5 euros to watch them all.
ReplyDeleteSix "You Will" ads
Most are already in the youtube montage plus the extra youtube video I posted above, but the second and third one are different...and if you watch the second one, I'm pretty sure the woman on that futuristic train is Naomi Watts! Also, while searching I learned that these ads were directed by future "Fight Club" director David Fincher...
You're right that almost all of those innovations have come about - but as Joey DeVilla pointed out, not one of them actually came from AT&T.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine put a PIN-code door lock on his front door. Awesome if you want to let somebody in who doesn't have a key and it would take too long to get one to them, or you just want to let them in once then change the PIN.
ReplyDeleteYou can also change the PIN if you want to stop somebody coming in...revoke their key.
What's a phonebooth?
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved into my freshman dorm I was suprised that we couldn't open our doors with our ID. You have to swipe it at 2-3 different points to get into the building (depending if it's day or night) but we still have traditional keys. Might be because our keys open our room and a semi-private bath as well. The only thing that we can't do with our IDs is pay for laundry. We have a seperate card for that, and most schools are now buying washers that let you pay with your IDs and text you when your laundry is done.
ReplyDeleteIf there are still any fans of the YOU WILL campaign music out there, I’ve posted a case study detailing the development of the track. You can find it on the Critical Noise blog by clicking here:
ReplyDeletehttp://tiny.cc/YOUWILL