Future vision by Erwin van Lun

One of the big problems facing VR is the issue of mobility—how do you allow users unrestricted movement in virtual reality, while keeping them relatively static in real reality? Researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan have developed something called CirculaFloor. The system uses four robotic tiles that constantly shift position, ensuring that there’s always a tile in the direction you’re headed. Additionally, the entire assembly moves slowly backwards, giving one the impression of movement while they’re actually standing relatively still. The tiles also incorporate lifts, for simulating staircases and the like.

LG Korea has announced two new LCDs with Bluetooth support, enabling you connect a Bluetooth headphone to your TV, mobile phone, or PC for direct streaming of videos and photos.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft have developed the iPoint 3D, a technology that enables us to interact with a 3D display via simple gestures -- all without touching the panel and without 3D glasses. The heart of iPoint 3D is a recognition device, not much larger than a keyboard, that can be suspended from the ceiling above the user or integrated in a coffee table. Its two built-in cameras detect hands and fingers in real time and transmit the information to a computer.

Astonishing numbers

Kokoro, a Japanese firm, offers Actroids for rent to greet customers and provide information in up-market coffee shops, office complexes, and museums or "old houses". The Actroid series has been jointly developed by Japanese entertainment firm Kokoro and Hiroshi Ishiguro, well-known for building a robot doppelgänger of himself. The clip below shows a video of the actroid Repliee Q1 from April 2007.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Now for rent for events, in a five years more available in all countries and all languages, in ten years for consumers, and between 2020 and 2035 we will notice a steady increase of robots in our houses, at our work, in our streets.

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The new virtual world Me2Everyone is giving stock shares to participants. Every new member (currently) receives 250 stock shares in the phenomena. The first 100,000 members received 1000! Beyond that the 'tell-a-friend'-principle does the rest, seeing how every introduced member gives an additional 500 shares (it used to be 3000). Currently there are 18 billion shares ready for enthusiastic virtual people, so you have some time yet. But don't hesitate for too long. The first 250,000 showed up in three months' time. In 2013, it's supposed to be the best-visited site in the world, the company will go to the London stock market and there should be 100 million active players.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Only when the concerns of the customer falls together with the owner of a company can you do beautiful things. Stock markets as we know them now will disappear and make place for concepts like this.

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In Africa manufacturing industries, contact centers, the IT-sector and construction are fast-growing sectors. "Despite a bad image of war, hunger, poverty and corruption, Africa is becoming increasingly more interesting for big investors," concludes Harvard Business Review. Not just many African countries have stabilized significantly in the past years; many countries are aiming for global connection and are introducing economic reforms. The International Monetary Fund calculated an economic growth of 6.3% for sub-Saharan countries while for Uganda, Tanzania an Nigeria a growth of 8% has been predicted.

A study amongst 954 production companies and tertiary services shows that the majority of the companies is very profitable. This is especially thanks to low wages (that are significantly lower than in China and India) and strongly increased operational efficiency. The average yearly return on invested capital was even 65-70% higher than of comparable enterprises in China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. The average profit margin was 11%, higher than that of Asia or South-America.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

After China and India have developed into prosperous nations in the coming ten does, it’ll be less interesting to produce things in these countries. Africa will be their successor. But because not just the west, but China and India too, will outsource to Africa, and half the world population throws itself onto one continent the effect will be even stronger than it ever was in China. In combination with upcoming communication devices that can cover great distances and is, furthermore, solar powered – which will allow the level of education to rise rapidly – Africa will develop into a prosperous continent with a never-before seen speed. When the robots take work from our hands in 2020 and 2035, a completely prosperous world will be created, a world in which it’s all about communication, understanding and peace. It sounds almost mushy. And that’s how we’d experience it if we were dropped into it now.

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Videosite Joost is unlocking its content through social network Netlog. With this users are given the ability to watch movies, tv shows or music videos directly from their profile. Furthermore, they can share videos with their friends and offer comments on clips using the already existing features of Netlog. In the Benelux Netlog users are given a varied assortment, including the Dutch versions.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Movies, music, books: they’re just experiences humans like to share with others, Later we can just watch a movie, on any screen, anywhere in the world, in any language and we’ll give feedback with our emotions. We won’t need to write we thought it was great anymore. Our social coaching brand could see that without it, and we can share them with our friends, anywhere in the world, no matter what language they speak. This is a step in that direction.

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Hyundai en Kia will standardly equip several US models with a Parrot Bluetooth carkit. It'll be integrated into the dashboard, so it'll be without loose screens and buttons. It's be completely voice-controlled. http://www.mobilecowboys.nl/gadgets/9203

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Technology is disappearing, becoming completely invisible. Currently it’s the software in the car that recognizes our voice. Later the car will be permanently connected to the internet and we’ll choose brands, social coaching brands, that travel with us forever, that know our friends exactly and where calling a name is enough to call them. Even if you’re in someone else’s car and aren’t carrying a phone or anything. This is again a step in that direction.

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Dutch online photo service MijnAlbum has made it possible to view and share images placed on the website using the Wii, Playstation 3 and iPhone. Furthermore photos from the albums are unlocked for the tv in cooperation with Philips Net TV. Net TV is the new functionality of Philips' high-end tvs with which people can use their tv to check the latest news online, look at weather predictions or share their photos.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

All brands will be found on all possible screens. From great to small, bendable, 3D, word on the nose or not, with stereo of very minimally. MijnAlbum takes the lead.

A future vision from Microsoft.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Everything will react to everything. Microsoft nicely shows how everything responds to touch.

But in 2020 it’ll go a step further. Screens will react to your position, to what you say, to how you look, how you move and even how you smell. That’s only very limitedly shown in this video and we’ll see from this year that it’ll go in a different direction.

Using TradeIn, Amazon's newest service, consumers can send in their own games (for example those for the Xbox, Playstation and Wii) and get a voucher in exchange. Amazon then sells the games on its website.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

All retailers will deal in second-hand. See, it’s not about selling new goods, but about helping a consumer with a good. If they consumer wants something new that’s possible, but so is second-hand. That used to be impossible to organize in physical stores, but now we can.

By the by, it’ll be over with games on discs very soon. We’ll download everything through optical fibre, personalized worlds around us, and pay per minute or in subscription models. But that to the side.

Dutch download site legaldownload.nl sells music of relatively unknown artists. They can upload their music in MP3-format for free. Radio broadcasters can delve into the database for their programmes for free and generate extra airplay. There's no hassle with rights. Third parties can then open a shop to sell the music. All downloads count towards the hit lists in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. For the last an artist pays 99 euro a year.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This is how increasingly simpler models to sell music are created. Eventually music will be dirt cheap, sometimes even free, and artists will make money from concert tickets sold by music coaching brands. First we have to get rid of the old models and this is a step in that direction.

BERTI is a robot developed by British researchers at the Bristol Robotics Lab working on human gesturing. BERTI is a torso with 36 degrees of freedom including 9 DoF in each hand. The researchers recently demonstrated the robot at the London Science Museum, where it played Rock, Paper, Scissors to show off its dexterity.

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Wehkamp lets image stylist Dyanne Beekman, known from various Dutch tv shows and the DYANNE collections give advice. Based on nine questions regarding hair colour, hairdo, skin tone, eye color, figure type, length, weight, style group and size Dyanne puts together a personal style advice and shows which clothing the customer is best off wearing. Every six weeks wehkamp.nl shows a new collection and with every new collection the customer can count on new advice by Dyanne.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

This is how brand advice becomes increasingly more personal. Later on we’ll stand in front of the webcam in our underwear (or naked) and our body will be measured immediately. At first we’ll have to show a marker with a set length so that the length can be measured too, but that’ll be automatic too in time. We’ll also get a better insight in our skin colour, the exact shape of our face or the proportions of the limbs and the trunk. And the advice will be a lot better then. This is another step in that direction.

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• Brand-dialogue

QZone is the world's largest social network. It now has over 200 million active users.

Future vision by Erwin van Lun

Long ago traditional brands such as Citibank had big client databases of hundreds of millions. They’re now surpassed by social networks that will end up with over a billion members. Eventually the world will stabilize around a few large networks after which they’ll be connected to one another.