Featured Image Credit: Vinnie Zuffante / Stringer / Daniel Giry / Contributor
As the co-founder of Microsoft, it’s not a shock that Bill Gates knows what he’s talking about when it comes to tech.
But this resurfaced footage of him from 1995 predicting the future of the industry is eerily accurate.
It’s like Gates somehow knew the kind of tech we’d all be using now long before anyone had even thought of it.
It’s crazy to think that he was able to predict how technology would advance when the internet was only in its infancy at the time.
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This happened during a keynote speech called ‘The Road Ahead’, which was the same title used for his 1995 book where he talked about future tech including the ‘wallet PC’.
Speaking at the time, he said: “It's capable of really replacing everything that you carry with you and more.
“So getting messages, seeing the latest news, seeing different locations, keeping track of your schedule, keeping hundreds of pictures of your children stored there, all of those things are easily possible with this kind of technology.”
In his book, Gates also spookily described how Wallet PCs would be able to 'tell you where you are anyplace on the face of the Earth'.
"GPS receivers… 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 where you are.
"Its built-in speaker will be able to dictate directions to you to let you know that a freeway exit is coming up or that the next intersection has frequent accidents. It will monitor digital traffic reports and warn you that you’d better leave for the airport early or suggest an alternate route."
Gates predicted that people would use their devices to make contactless payments which is now common practice with things like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
And he didn’t stop there - the businessman also suggested that tech similar to services like Netflix would one day exist, that would allow people to watch television shows on demand, without the need to follow a TV schedule.
Gates even dreamt up the notion of working from home, adding: “Mobile workers of all types will be able to collaborate together, call on expertise throughout the world, bring them up, and not just see their face but look at information…”
Now flash forward to today and it's clear that Gates obviously knew what he was talking about!
