Back To The Future Day – Getting Technology Trends Right & Wrong

Whether you are old enough to remember or are just a fan of classic comedies, the beloved 80’s Back To the Future trilogy starring Michael J Fox as Marty McFly & Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett Brown has just reached another milestone today.

The second movie of the hugely popular time-hopping series featured McFly & Brown taking a trip into the future – to today to be precise, Wednesday, October 21, 2015.

Given that Back to the Future Part 2 was released in November 1989 – that’s a whole quarter of a century ago! So just how accurate have the technology predictions been?

Here at Pure SEO, technology & ever continuing technology updates are crucial to the business of helping your business succeed online.

So let’s take a brief look back (to the future) to see how far the filmmakers were from the everyday technology that we use every day here at Pure SEO – for work or for play. In no particular order here are highlights of some of the tech trend hits & misses from Back to the Future 2 (BTTF2).

Wall-mounted flat or roll-up screens & video conferencing

With a range of clients & partners spread across New Zealand & the world, regular face to face meetings or appointments are impractical. Big, flat screens using Skype are an obvious alternative.

Skype is an application that has revolutionised business & personal communications with low or no cost video chat and voice calls. At Pure SEO, we find Skype essential.

A video chat program reminiscent of Skype features In Back to the Future 2, showing not only the caller but also their personal details.

In BTTF2 characters in several scenes also watch big screens or use voice controls, and in the McFly’s home there even appears to be a large roll-up screen.

Flat screens are now everywhere & are a radical departure from the bulky, heavyweight wooden cabinet appliances of the eighties. Whether it’s the staff watching YouTube clips or analysing the UX of websites, we can’t get by without our flat screens – but voice activated smart televisions… well, those are devices we are yet to commit to.

Smartglasses & VR headsets – nut not smartphones!

Hi tech glasses & virtual reality headsets from early pioneers like Google Glass or newer iterations from Facebook’s Oculus Rift & Microsoft’s Hololens are now coming to consumers everywhere.

At the dinner table, Marty McFly’s troublesome kids are wearing high-tech goggles that bear remarkable similarity in function to Google Glass, Oculus Rift and Samsung VR.

At PureSEO, we are proud of our relationship with Google and have been known to stumble around the office with the new experimental VR goggles and enjoy discovering new online tools or uses for mobile apps, but in the films they missed out on the smartphone completely.

When was the last time you used a payphone? In the movie, Marty Jr at one point uses an AT & T payphone, with most communications occurring via a TV, rather than a powerful hand-held device that today we take for granted. Intriguingly there is also a scene where a campaigner for the restoration of the Hill Valley’s clock tower appears to be using a tablet-like device – pre IPAD when Steve Jobs, was out of a job.

We love our mobiles more than BTTF2 could ever envisage. We’re now always on, always connected & across key international markets users now perform more searches on mobile than the traditional desktops that were beginning to gain consumer traction in the late 1980’s.

Smart watches, homes, & wearable tech

Marty’s talking jacket was a hint of what was yet to come with wearable tech, but electronics are already being woven into today’s fabrics for fitness & diagnostic purposes. And not forgetting the Apple & Android smart watches that bear an uncanny similarity to the films devices that tell you the weather – and more.

Computer controlled homes although not a mainstream consumer occurrence just yet, they are coming. At the Pure SEO Auckland offices, we still use lock & key, although keyless smart locks are now readily available.

And bad guy Biff makes a payment for his taxi ride with a thumbprint. Cashless payments are, of course, now commonplace – hello UBER or EFTPOS for your next taxi ride.

Hoverboards

And finally, Hover boards. Yes, everyone is still very excited by what amounts to a flying skateboard – but we still haven’t quite got there yet.

But we’re close.

There’s a lot of media hype surrounding the Lexus hoverboard & its rival the Hendo.

Here in the Pure SEO Auckland offices we may not have a hover board – but on Fridays when we finish for the week, we do have an alternative…

If you want to find out how Pure SEO has used online technology to make more than 200 SME businesses more successful, contact us today to discuss how we can help you.