AT&T's Predicted Future

I know this is weird, but I loved telecom giant AT&T as a kid. And without going into too many details, it's probably why I work in Telecom today. My brother and I would play "cars" with our Hot Wheels collection and give ourselves mansions to live in (the living room couches) and jobs that seemed like they would justify such a grand lifestyle. After all we each had about 20 cars in our collections with the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche. My job was always "President of AT&T". Always. I wish I was making this up but I am not.

My love affair with them continued through high school. Again I won't go into details because it's really embarrassing. When I was a junior in high school, over 20 years ago, AT&T eerily predicted the future. And they did it in a very public way via mainstream advertisements that were shown during prime time. Tom (yes, Magnum P.I. himself) Sellick's silky smooth voice told us all the cool things we'd be doing in the not too distant future. Tuck your baby in from a phone booth, attend a meeting in your bare feet, carry your medical history in your wallet, watch a movie the minute you want to, all brought to you of course by AT&T. I remember seeing them and being amazed. Remember PCs were just coming into the mainstream at this time in 1993.

Now most of these were not actually developed by AT&T. But we have them to thank for laying down a strong foundation and inspiring people and companies to innovate using technology. We wouldn't be where we are today with out them. And if you don't get it yet, "You Will".

Watch a compilation of the videos here: