This is a brand-new and very nicely produced video - a big thank-you to Google Australia for making it available so quickly. If you are in the travel business, do make sure to watch this video, and check out the other speakers and their presentations, as well. Enjoy, RT, Google + this :)))
Digital city. Composite image of a city skyline
superimposed with alphanumeric digits. Photograph: Christian
Darkin/Science Photo Library
From transport to entertainment, work to education, our lives are
already being transformed by high-speed internet that will help create
the fully wired city. Within 10 years, faster, comprehensive, wired and
wireless networks will not only become the norm, they will become free,
says Gerd Leonhard, chief executive of the business thinktank The
Futures Agency. The reason? The enormous benefits to government and
education.
Many of us are familiar with the internet telephony
tool Skype. But an even more advanced, 3D and interactive virtual
version of the technology could revolutionise education and business
(among other areas), putting anyone, anywhere in the world, in visual
touch with anyone else.
"The telepresence business is going to
become huge and it will be standard for people in workplaces to connect
over screens," says Leonhard. "There will be virtual schools for
education and training you can access anywhere, especially in
developing countries." He predicts business travel will be
substantially reduced, saving money and the environment.
Retail
will be revolutionised by 3D printing, technology that is already making
it possible to "print" clothes. And while the debate about appropriate
use of our personal data will continue, consensual services could be to
our benefit.
"You'll walk past a department store and the window
will show a personalised display with your size and preferences," says
Leonhard. "We'll also be able to download and make things at home,
including electronic devices – it will just be a question of downloading
the blueprint."
For travel, our behavioural patterns will be
studied and utilised by tools which then advise us of delays in realtime
and suggest alternative routes. While some mobile phone applications
already do this, the system will become more comprehensive, connecting
trains with buses, planes and road information according to our
schedules.
By 2020, 26m UK homes will be fitted with a smart meter
that monitors energy use and encourages homeowners to be more
efficient. At IBM, Andy Stanford-Clark, the company's chief technology
officer for smart energy, has been exploring how wiring our homes to the
web could make them more efficient.
"The autonomous homes of the
future can monitor everything on our behalf," he says. "The dishwasher,
tumble dryer and washing machine will talk to the electricity grid so
they could turn on in half an hour at a cheaper rate."
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