The wallet PC will connect you to the information highway while you travel a real highway, and tell you were you are. Its built-in speaker will be able to dictate directions to let you know that a freeway exit is coming up or suggest an alternate route. The wallet PC’s color maps will overlay your location with whatever kinds of information you desire – road and weather conditions, campgrounds, scenic spots, even fast-food outlets … Off the roads, on a hike in the woods, it will be your compass and as useful as your Swiss Army knife.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Road Ahead,” Microsoft CEO Bill Gates writes: ”Wallet PCs with the proper equipment will be able to tell you exactly where you are anyplace on the face of Earth. The Global Positioning System (GPIs) satellites in an orbit around Earth broadcast signals that permit jetliners, oceangoing boats, and cruise missiles, or hikers with handheld GPIs receivers, to know their exact location within a few hundred feet. Such devices are currently available for a few hundred dollars, and they will be built into many wallet PCs. The wallet PC will connect you to the information highway while you travel a real highway, and tell you were you are. Its built-in speaker will be able to dictate directions to let you know that a freeway exit is coming up or suggest an alternate route. The wallet PC’s color maps will overlay your location with whatever kinds of information you desire – road and weather conditions, campgrounds, scenic spots, even fast-food outlets. You might ask, ‘Where is the nearest Chinese restaurant that is still open?’ and the information requested will be transmitted to the wallet by wireless network. Off the roads, on a hike in the woods, it will be your compass and as useful as your Swiss Army knife.”
Biography:Bill Gates, the most influential technology entrepreneur of the late 20th century, was the primary author of the prediction-packed 1995 book “The Road Ahead” and is the founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Internet Appliances
Name of publication: The Road Ahead (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 4: Applications and Appliances
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 75, 76
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne