a peek into the future

From time to time, NTT Docomo, Japan's largest mobile carrier, releases a video depicting its vision of the future. Docomo's latest video shows how mobile technology will make life safer, more convenient, and more comfortable. In their vision, among other things, people will wear glasses with GPS, tracking systems will prevent children from getting lost, security robots will take care of your house, and you will buy your veggie using your mobile (they seem obsessed with this idea).
Although all this could be quickly dismissed as corporate PR or an overly optimistic view of the future, I remember seeing one of these videos some years ago and saying 'yeah, right'. It was a video showing the use of video calls. Today video calls are pretty common over 3G networks, so don't dismiss this vision just yet as some of these features might very well become reality in the future. Who knows, one day you will even buy your veggie using your mobile. See the video here.P.S.: If you happen to be in Japan, you can arrange a tour to Docomo's R&D Center, in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. I haven't been there myself but they have an exhibit called WHARF (Wealth, Human Activity and Revolution for the Future) that looks interesting. I guess the name says it all.