Tom Selleck: 1993's Voice of the Future

[Elizabeth Grunewald]

Tom Selleck: 1993's Voice of the Future

Magnum, P.I.'s Tom Selleck narrated some commercials for AT&T, and in the process, voiced some pretty accurate technological predictions.

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In 1993, communications provider AT&T produced a series of advertisements predicting futuristic technology. The commercials were a series of vignettes voiced over with the dulcet tones of Magnum, P.I. DVICE collected all these ads into one convenient video, showing just how far technology has advanced in the intervening 17 years.

These commercials predicted Kindles, iPads, Netflix, and GPS systems. They foresaw the use of electronic toll collection and teleconferencing. I can't yet "open a door with the sound of [my] voice," and my wallet doesn't hold my entire medical history, but I know someone is working diligently on the latter, if not the former. To "learn special things form far-away places" could describe the internet at large, really, but the commercial's specific example is growing commonplace.

I still don't understand being able to tuck a baby in from a phone booth: What's a phone booth?

Source: Geek [http://dvice.com/archives/2010/12/tom-sellecks-sc.php]

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[thublihnk]

hooooooly crap.

I refuse to believe this was shot two years after I was born. That was SCARY accurate.

 

[RvLeshrac]

Actually, there are a number of security systems which are voice-activated, and you can keep your entire medical history on an SD card in your wallet.

 

[Captain Pancake]

I thought it was a little weird that it's been 17 years since 1993, but then I remembered that I'm 17.

 

[Metal Brother]

I remember these commercials. ;-)

Did anyone else notice that for the "medical records in your wallet bit" they used the same stock audio clip that Queensryche used for the beginning of Operation: Mindcrime?

 

[Vault Citizen]

what's a phone booth?

I'm only 20 and that still made me feel old.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

These commercials aired the year I graduated from high school. I remember seeing a few of them, and thinking "Wow, it'll be cool if we actually do get that stuff".

We did get that stuff. And it is cool.

 

[YoctoYotta]

I remember these commercials vividly, they were part of a pretty long running campaign. I guess I would have been 10 at the time. I can't believe it's been 17 years . . . what's more crazy is that these were seemingly impossible dreams of the future back then.

 

[WanderingFool]

OH MY GOD!!! TOM SELLECK IS PSYCHIC!!!!

 

[Formica Archonis]

I feel so old. I was in high school when this was made.

You bunch of embryos.

(And yes, I REMEMBER these ads when they were first on.)

 

[Imp Poster]

What's a phone booth?

Superman's changing room.

 

[Ghengis John]

Did anyone else notice the television the kids were watching the movie on? in 1993 I don't remember hearing jack about LCD or wide screen displays. And they included it in this commercial without even acknowledging the television itself was another projection. I would love for whoever made these projections back then to make more of them now. And then I would immediately invest in whatever they cooked up.

 

[SaintWaldo]

What's a phone booth?

Nowadays, a moving car. Usually the one in front of you.