Vidéos


or The Future, on show at the
Pleumeur-Bodou museum

In the future? Someone who could predict telecom of the future would have to be pretty smart. This little note offers greater freedom and invites futurologists to be slightly more modest.
Since 11 April last, the Pleumeur-Bodou Museum has offered a vision of the future.

First of all, a small book packed with ideas "Com'Demain"; (Telecoms of the Future), designed by the "Studio créatif" 's team of France Telecom R&D. The work consists of a scan of numerous emerging uses and functions, some conceivable, some crazy or just simply possible. Two sources of inspiration: an extensive bibliography drawn from Science fiction, the cinema or strip cartoons and, above all, the "Studio créatif" work sessions.

A very interesting subject for visitors to the Pleumeur-Bodou Museum, avid to understand the new services available and to learn a little more about the projects under way in labs.

The purpose of this exhibition is to differentiate between what is probable and what is hypothetical, not to present complicated techniques but innovative services and usages and, finally, to focus in detail on everyday life represented in six theme areas: habitat, work, health, transport, leisure and teaching.

We can dialogue with the virtual doorman and the food preparation assistant. We can change our appearance (hairstyle, glasses) with an application that is already a precursor of virtual remote tryout.

There are a few objects - just for the allusion- to break the monotony of the bare walls displaying only wall-mounted LCD screens. An integrated kitchen with a microwave oven that also displays recipes from the wanadoo.recette.com site. The high-speed Pleumeur-Bodou Star will offer all its passengers multimedia equipment linked up to all the networks. The ultrasonic shower also performs a morning health check-up and automatically updates your personal medical record.

Finally, to make a clear distinction between what will be available in the near future and the less certain imaginings of researchers and SF authors, the organisers of the exhibition have illustrated the services of a more distant future by a cartoon fiction film using 3D, computer-generated images based on the scenario of the book, Com'Demain (Communications of the Future).

This exhibition has been set up thanks to efficient collaboration between the Telecoms Museum and France Telecom R&D represented in particular by the "Studio créatif".

The exhibition inauguration film
(for adsl/cable 256 and 512 Kbps)

 Help with viewing the video

A television set in the lounge area receives videophone calls showing that, in the multimedia era, networks and terminals converge in each room of the home to provide a wide variety of services and become almost universal.

A search engine makes selections on a criterion that is no longer simply textual but also graphic ("at least one face was detected in the photos of the site") which enables the photos of famous people to be found quickly.

The remote manipulation of objects, although virtual, shows visitors that remote co-operation is not always easy and that more attention should undoubtedly be paid to the people we converse with: introduction to non-verbal communication by means of the behaviour of the contact person's avatar – until we are able to transmit the expressions of his clone.

On a wide plasma screen in the Innovation section, a virtual presenter in France Telecom R&D's colours introduces a variety of animations, many of which are already in the "Studio créatif" 's catalogue.
One question is of particular interest to future users: what will the terminal of the future be like? Predictions cover at least three directions. Firstly, a very universal terminal, a sort of super PC in which all the functions are simply interlinked by means of a greatly enhanced level of ergonomy (intelligent agents, extremely elaborate voice or gesture interfaces, etc.) Unlike extremely simple, highly-specialised terminals such as e-books (the Rocket e-book displays a facsimile of the first page of Alice in Wonderland in a text and engraving window) or the communicating mushrooms prized by the "Studio créatif". Coming soon, a graphic tablet, a light computer, which we would be tempted to say is specifically intended to make you forget it is a PC.

Finally, among the mobile terminals, there is the first pocket PC to proudly sport a small antenna: it is also a GSM telephone and GPRS data terminal
Until a handheld UMTS videophone comes out, the museum has made a scale 2 model of a telephone that will often hear the phrase "Hallo! Can you see me?" Of course, in the exhibition, two cables are concealed in the case…

We are all familiar with electronic games, network games too where you can drive a Formula 1. Thanks to Com'Ip, a veritable voice substitute for the text "chat", up to six remote racing drivers can add their voices to the emotion and experience amazing races. They can, of course, choose other games and fly together in an aircraft rally with "radio contact"; or, on a more ordinary level, hurl abuse in inevitable "combat games".

Run modules allow you to walk around virtual representations of famous places such as the Champs-Elysées or the Rennes Parliament. Will these virtual towns soon become the support media for electronic directories with all the imaginable enhancements?
A secure browser is used to explore a wide selection of educational sites, which obviously include educational sites such as www.apreslecole.fr.