The Future is here... and it's chilly!

Wow... I cannot believe the year I scribble in the date field of a form ends in 13... 2013. It now seems like the 'future' we envisioned as children is actually our present day. This led me to have a rethink about the day to day of living in 2013, and how my child self would feel about some of things we have at our modern day disposal.

As a 12 or 13 year old I was given a Playstation, the second or third console I owned at the time (after my beloved Nintendos). It was here that I played for hours games like the awe inspiring Metal Gear Solid and got exposure to the concepts of fantastic Japanese future tech like Nanomachines and the like. The brain child of renowned game designer Hideo Kojima, the MGS series danced the line of fantastic 'futurisation' and plausible real-world military hardware that as a young man was nothing short of inspirational. Some of the concepts displayed in the (by today's standards) polygonal game world seemed so fantastic they had to be made up.

Fast forward 15 odd years, Now in my late 20's, things seem to really need to be special to grab my attention for such long periods of time (MGS took 11 hours of my time on my first of many playthroughs and I did it in Japanese!). Today, my phone, even some of my shirts are coated in Nano-tech. Anti bacterial, water repellent and iron free. Although the nano machines in the game were a tad more sophisticated than helping me to be clumsy proof, the concept is still aligned. I have even seen youtube video's of the famous Nike Air's from Back to the Future with the 'power laces'. Although not commercially available, the tech exists today!

Perhaps not really envisioned, but still a somewhat significant part of our lives is the advent of wearable technology. I have long been a fan of watches, building over the years a decent collection of swiss metal and thousands of tiny gears and coil-springs all to do something my beloved gold casio can with its simple LCD read-out. But when we say wearable technology, the wrist watch although maybe the first, is nowhere near the leaderboard for innovation in 2013. To take the example of Marty McFly's Nike's, today, my very own Nike's have a chip in them, (Nike +) which can connect to my MP3 player - (Apple iPod or iPhone) something as a teenager I didn't even think I would need. The synchronisation allows for me to track my progress on walks and runs and I am sure for the avid athlete even more than that.

More advanced devices like Ski goggles with GPS sensors and Heads Up Displays (HUD) displaying speed and other cool information are becoming commonplace. My 12 year old self would have absolutely loved to hurl down a mountain as fast as possible with a constant read-out of speed in my goggles and then be able to look at my wrist, change tracks and check my heart rate all at once.

Companies like Apple and Google create fantastic devices that can really go anywhere with us and become such an integral part of peoples lives. My iPhone 5 replaced my BB and my Android and even my Fujifilm as the device to have with me at all times - it even gets more time on news apps then my iPad! The convergent nature of the mobile, and its increasing 'wearability' or integration with our standard 'uniform' is exciting in that we already can envision what will be ahead. Mobile wallet, m-commerce style apps will mean that there is very little need for anything in your pockets other than your NFC enabled smart phone. Your camera, music, wallet even keys, heart rate monitor, GPS, and newspaper all in one device. Today. At 12 years old I looked to the Hideo's of the world to imagine my future. Now, I needn't look any further than my trouser pocket to understand where we are heading.

Technology is moving at a pace that things we conceptualise today, we can fund on kickstarter and have tomorrow. We live in a wonderful world. I can drive around in the chilly Dubai night (yes it is cold here at the moment, hence the title) with the top down and the heater on and my car knows I have the top down and adjusts the airflow to suit - chilly breeze outside, toasty warm inside.

Now I'm just waiting for someone to release the Marty McFly Quick Auto Dry jacket, hopefully in time for Melbourne Winter!

Checkout http://www.wearable-technologies.com/ for more in the latest wearable gadgets!