Futuretainment
Levi’s hi-tech jacket
Data The transport revolution isn't happening as fast as science fiction writers imagined: no flying automobiles nOr teleponation belts yet. Still. electric cars and super-jumbo jets have become reality. more intriguing is the prospect of travelling into space.
Prediction There iS an ongOing competition. The X Prize. which inVites entries from teams deSIgning vehicles for affordable space travel. Obstacles in the way of public space travel have been that NASA and its contemporaries aren't widely researching the area. and their current vehicles are not re-usable. Across the globe. commercial research is exploring the viability of space travel prejects. and the Japanese Rocket Society sees it happening within the next twenty years. at a cost of approximately 81 0.000 per space traveller.
murbumdble: Data Technology fused with clothing last year when Philips
Electronics and Levi Strauss launched their Industrial Clothing
Dedgn jackets. It may be clever to have a built-in mobile phone and MP3 player. but aren't we happy enough carrying these items in our pockets? Prediction More ambitious is the work of the I- Wear project :tezicw.s_tar_l_ab_.o.rg. Projections include a tracksuit that monitors the weather as well as analysing your bio-physiological state and suggests appropriate exercise. Once you've got your intelligent clothing you'll need a suitable home and Orange. item.orangegcgtik, has created an Intelligent Home Research Centre. a wire-free environment with lighting. television and even baths controlled by mobile phone or voice commands. Within the next few years the technology should be available (though we would do well to remember what malfunctioning Al computer HAL 9000 did to the crew of the Jupiter probe in 2007: A Space Odyssey).
Data With the government looking to phase out terrestrial telly in the next ten to fifteen years. digital. cable and satellite viewing will be the norm as time goes on. Your box. wire and dish is now part of the furniture as the nation demands 24- hour spon. repeats. news. repeats. films and more repeats.
Prediction E4 may have attracted a mighty twelve \ ieweis fOr some of its initial shows but with the. television licence being replaced by all-channel pat per-view. even one \UH be buying their very own minority viewing. Should you Choose not to infiltrate yOur home with thousands of paid channels. we may see a demand fOr the nation's pubs to extend their opening hours and become the hung-rooms of our future. Addiction to teleVi8ion \‘Vlll go hand-in-hand wrth a new breed of dipsomania.
Data The internet was the global communicatiOns phenomenon of the 19908 and so it's only natural that art has jumped on this technological bandwagon. Now that Video art is Widely accepted. web art has become a new artistic medium in its own right. More and more artists are beginning to experiment With this new media and last year the Tate Gallery. . commiSSioned its first web art project while national organisation New Media Scotland. a .regularly commisSions artists to create web pages for the net.
Prediction It's time to throw away that paint brush and easel in exchange for a computer and digital camera. And you'll soon find that an artist‘s best friend is the computer nerd that no one ever talks to. Who better to asset you in the complexities of fancy Flash graphics?
I I - - - I I .— Leb+11nu- Data Atom Films. Shockwave and other Virtual studios continue to exhibit films on the web. The new medium is dictating the message with shorts and animation designed to be interactive and requiring brief attention span. Big film names have developed projects on the web: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck (integrated media site LivePlanet). Steven Spielberg, i/r).ji.rw.()pililtingl’Jritm/h.com, and Tim Burton (the superb animated series. Stamboy). Though released traditionally in cinemas. the low budget film The Blair Witch Project became a phenomenon largely through the makers‘ innovative web marketing. Such promotion is now commonplace. but web spying activin around such high profile films as The Lord Of The Rings are forcing film companies to reveal ever more in advance of their movie‘s completion. Prediction Whether we're in the post-dotcom era or not. the web is here to stay. Last May was the dotcom Cannes Film Festival. last month was dot.com Sundance. and With the launch of the Sundance Online Film Festival the web. trvnwzwsundanceonlinefilnjilestival.colt’l. will continue to both shape and provide an outlet for filmmaking.
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Data The internet has meant that musical independence has become a more realistic prospect as musiCians turn away from established channels to sell and distribute their music. A collective of 100 Ieftfield record labels called atrecordings distributes its music both on MP3. CD and vinyl from its site. EVE‘CC‘LEM[QQQEQll;lg$_.CQ_f]]. This is only the tip of the iceberg: the web is littered with pockets of every kind of music imaginable. which can be accessed without getting hassled by ‘the man‘.
Prediction As more artists embrace the web as a marketing tool. web music can only grow with projects like the posting of new tracks straight onto Napster by the Dave Matthews Band. And when the likes of Echo And The Bunnymen release their newest album on-line and other established artists spend more time previewing on the web than they do in print column inches. we can be sure this phenomenon is here to stay.