The Road Ahead: Future of Police Work (1995)

Now that we've seen what the classroom of the future and the home of the future look like, let's take a look at police investigations of the future. The video below is from the CD-ROM included in the 1995 Bill Gates book The Road Ahead.



With video monitors in cars and wireless "wallet PCs" the most hilariously paleo-futuristic thing about this video is the huge audio recording device he plops down on the desk.

See also:
The Road Ahead: Future Classroom (1995)
The Road Ahead: Future Homes (1995)
Bill Gates on Charlie Rose (1996)
Jet Flying Belt is Devised to Carry Man for Miles (New York Times, 1968)

Bill Gates on Charlie Rose (1996)

Remember Interactive Television? Neither do I.

I found a great 1996 Charlie Rose interview with Bill Gates. In 1996 they were already talking about the failure of interactive TV. You can cut to that part of the interview here.

On a related note, while the Apple TV looks pretty cool, it's still a ways off from a product I'd be willing to pay $300 for and is nowhere near interactive. Where's the backwards compatibility? Why can't I sit in bed watching cable news or HBO on my laptop? These fundamentals need to be worked on before I invest in television again.

See also:
The Road Ahead: Future Homes (1995) 15 March 2007

The Road Ahead: Future Homes (1995)

We already saw what the classroom of the future would look like. Let's take a look into the home of the future. The 1995 book The Road Ahead by Bill Gates included a CD-ROM with video of just such a look.



"The interactive hit, Jurassic Park 6.1" may be my favorite line of the entire video.

See also:
The Road Ahead: Future Classroom (1995) 13 March 2007

The Road Ahead: Future Classroom (1995)

The 1995 book The Road Ahead by Bill Gates included a CD-ROM with video of what the classroom of the future would look like.



The paleo-future of 1995 is filled with ethnically diverse students academically engaged by the high-tech presentations of their fellow classmates. The teacher brings the class to attention by telling them to "get off the net." Every child has a diverse array of technology at their disposal. The keyboard Mr. Ballard uses is the most confusing of the supposed advances we see in the video.

(Is it just me or was "Mr. Ballard's" presentation completely devoid of useful information?)

A special thanks to Valleywag, who inspired the search for this paleo-futuristic video.