In-ear mobile phones


The movie:

	Siemens wrist phone. Picture courtesy of Siemens.

Various people are seen wearing little chrome earpieces that are actually mobile phones.


The reality:
Various companies such as Siemens have engineering prototypes of really tiny Dick Tracy-style wrist and button-lapel cellphones and have shown them off at trade shows. As they explain to the many wowed spectators, there are design problems inherent in such devices. How are users going to dial a number? Where will a readable display fit on something so tiny? The prototypes don't answer these questions-they simply don't have a display or use a laborious menu scroll to select numbers and letters for input.

	Bang and Olufsen earphones--or mobile phone of 2054? Picture courtesy of Bang and Olufsen.

Faking it:
The movie cell phones look suspiciously like the earphones from posh, pricey designer-electronics firm Bang and Olufsen. If you want the Minority Report look, buy a pair of these US$100 earphones, snip off the wires, stick one earpiece in your ear, and start talking into thin air. Watch the amazed looks on the faces of passers-by as they realize you own a comms device from 2054.

Intro

|

Maglev vehicles

|

In-ear phones

|

Data gloves

|

Holo storage

Data gloves