#livingInTheFuture: Things I couldn't do x years ago . . .

I've made a few tweets with the hashtag of #livingInTheFuture

This was inspired by some books I had when I was growing up which showed visions of what the future would be like in 20 or 30 years time. They showed everyone wearing spacesuit-like jumpsuits with jetpacks but also some prophetic visions such as 'huge TVs that can hang on your wall like paintings' or 'personal communicators that you can carry with you'.

Even things from Star Trek have come to pass - like talking to the computer or the personal comms device (again). There are problems with this as our current technology in some areas has overtaken that in The Original Series (TOS) with Kirk and Spock - why do the need a comms panel on the wall of the ship for example? No mobiles?

So, as I was paying with my smart watch at a drive through sitting in my electric-hybrid car, I thought 'I wouldn't have been able to do this a few years ago' so:

It's now 2018 - what can I do now that I couldn't have done in 2017 - tech wise? 2016? 2017?

(This is based on either roughly when these things were 'available to adopt' for regular people in the UK - or alternatively when I got one. Some of these may be biased towards certain vendors!)

Any other favourites? Comment away . ..

2018 - Unlock my hotel room with my phone without needing a key - Hello Hilton Digital Key
2017 - Drive to and from the dog-walking downs in an electric hybrid car using no petrol - Hello Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
2016 - Use VR (easily) at home: Hello Sony PSVR
2015 - Pay for purchases with my phone or watch - Hello Apple Pay
2014 - Control the lights and heating in my house remotely using my phone - hello Homekit
2013 - Log into my phone using my thumb - hello Touch ID
2012 - Watch TV and play games in 3D - Thanks LG and Sony Playstation 3
2011 - Talk to my smartphone rather than through it - Hello Siri
2010 - Chat to the entire world 140 characters at a time - Hello Twitter
2009 - Use my mobile phone as an airline boarding pass - Cheers, British Airways
2008 - Read a book on a portable electronic device with eInk - Hello Amazon Kindle
2007 - Watch TV that I missed by downloading it from the internet - Hello iPlayer
2006 - Play games wirelessly, standing up using the whole body - Hello Nintendo Wii
2005 - Have my car navigate for me - hello mainstream SatNav/GPS
2004 - Use reliable two-way video calling over the internet with no charges - hello Skype
2003 - Be unable to cross the atlantic on a commercial flight in less than 3 hours - goodbye Concorde.
2002 - Keep most of my music on a small portable player - goodbye CDs, hello IPod
2001- Look things up on a user-generated online encyclopaedia - hello Wikipedia!