The prime candidate is “video on demand”: if you want to see “E.T.,” you can punch it up and be billed later. This would hardly be a social revolution. It’s merely a replacement for Blockbuster … Utilities could deploy monitoring devices that enable consumers to have appliances turned on when generators are idle and prices are low. This, he says, would reduce the need for new power plants and cut household electric bills 20 to 30 percent.
Predictor: Rivkin, Steve
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 essay for Newsweek magazine, columnist Robert Samuelson writes:”The prime candidate is ‘video on demand’: if you want to see ‘E.T.,’ you can punch it up and be billed later. This would hardly be a social revolution. It’s merely a replacement for Blockbuster, presumably cheaper or more convenient. More revolutionary would be energy-saving services, as proposed by communications lawyer Steven Rivkin. Utilities could deploy monitoring devices that enable consumers to have appliances turned on when generators are idle and prices are low. This, he says, would reduce the need for new power plants and cut household electric bills 20 to 30 percent.”
Date of prediction: December 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: TV/Films/Video
Name of publication: Newsweek
Title, headline, chapter name: Lost On The Information Superhighway: It’s a Lot of Hoopla. No One Yet Knows Where It’s Going
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web16.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0+ln+en%2Dus+sid+1CE74732%2DC742%2D4AD3%2DB343%2D16CC9B067F55%40Sessionmgr4%2DSessionmgr3+CDB2&_us=bs+Samuelson++Information++Superhighway+cst+0%3B1+ds+Samuelson++Information++Superhighway+dstb+KS+hd+0+hs+%2D1+or+Date+pr+255+ri+KAAACBYB00269722+sl+0+sm+KS+so+all+ss+SO+11F6&fn=1&rn=1
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stevens, Shawn