Today, watch out for a flying DeLorean in the skies.
On exactly this day, Marty McFly traveled through the space-time continuum in a time-traveling DeLorean all the way from 1985.
Released in the fall of 1989, "Back To The Future II" had the gargantuan task of portraying what the world might look like 30 years into the future. Surprisingly, Hollywood got a lot their movie magic right. On the other extreme, however, just a bit of it was really, really off. These are the top three things "Back To The Future II" actually got right and wrong from way back in 1985.
First, let's start with the bad.
Prediction Fail #1: Flying cars. The best way people got around traffic in "Back To The Future II's" 2015 was to fly above it. For us in real-life 2015, the best shot we've got in avoiding traffic is Waze. No comparison.
Prediction Fail #2: Fashion. Middle-aged Marty McFly's double tie, Griff Tannen's (Biff Tannen's grandson) boom box vest, and even real Marty McFly's auto-adjusting self-drying jacket and Nikes with self-tying laces are all things we still can't buy off the racks at department stores or online shops.
Prediction Fail #3: Fax machines were everywhere. Yes, all of these fails actually start with "F's" but fax machines were also unusually present in both private and public spaces in the film. There were fax machines in the living room, kitchen, the bathroom, and even on mailboxes on sidewalk corners.
Now, let's check out the goods from the movie that we can actually buy, for example, on Amazon.
Amazing Prediction #1: Biometric devices. In the film, Marty's girlfriend Jennifer uses her thumbprint to open her front door to her 2015 home. Today, we've got iPhones and Nexus devices with fingerprint recognition technology that'll allow us to unlock our devices and make payments. Even Samsung has a lock that'll allow you to open your front door with just your fingerprint, too.
Amazing Prediction #2: Hands-free gaming. At Cafe 80's, Marty McFly is mocked by a group of young kids when they see he actually has to use his hands to play an arcade game. Though not yet a popular way of gaming, Microsoft's Kinect and PlayStation's Move do allow players to game wirelessly in their living rooms.
Amazing Prediction #3: Wearable technology. At the dinner table of middle-aged Marty's home, their future kids are engrossed with their gadgets while watching TV and talking on their phones using futuristic glasses. Even though Google has stopped selling Google Glass, an upgraded version is rumored to come back to the market and even the original can be bought on eBay for a good deal. Better yet, Microsoft's augmented reality HoloLens headset and Oculus' virtual reality Gear VR are just about ready for public consumption, too.
Photo: JD Hancock | Flickr
