Science fiction may have given people high hopes for what technologies would be available by 2014. Sure, there have been plenty of advancements, and modern tech is amazing, but there are still a few things missing. Here are some pieces of movie tech we'd love to see in 2014, but probably won't.
Next year is 2015, so according to "Back to the Future Part II," these things are just about due. After Marty McFly invented skateboards in the first "Back to the Future," Michael J. Fox's character found himself baffled by the hoverboards in the blockbuster sequel after traveling to the Hollywood idealized future from the perspective of the 1980s. The futuristic toy had a few drawbacks — why can't it move over water? — but overall, it would be pretty cool to have. If you're ever trying to thwart a villainous 1950s bully from destroying the future with a sports almanac, you'll want to have one of these around. Unfortunately, the technology doesn't seem to be quite there, and the Biffs of the world will reign supreme for now.
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It's the next best thing to being in two places at once. Think about all the issues teleportation pod, or telepod could solve: Public transportation, which some hold in low esteem, would be obsolete; families wouldn't be separated by distance; and stressful commutes would be eliminated. Jeff Goldblum's Seth Brundle character was on to something with this idea. Those who have seen past the first half hour of "The Fly" probably have some worries about cross-species mutation, and "Star Trek" might not be enough to convince everyone that teleportation is a good idea. Maybe people can settle on a "Futurama"-esque tube system to bring you from A to B without any accidental human-insect DNA splicing.
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Imagine a version of Siri that does a lot more than googling things for you, but with Scarlett Johansson's voice. Toss in the fact that you can have a romantic relationship with this artificially intelligent operating system, and you have the OS1 — a top choice for the kind of people "Eleanor Rigby" was written about. Without giving anything away, since “Her” is still in theaters, the computer-user relationship has its perks. A.I. has gone bad in movies before, but not every program will turn out to be Skynet. Just have a little faith that breaking your heart — not apocalyptic stuff, or confusing time-travel plotlines — is the worst crime computers will commit.
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Video phones that were commonplace in sci-fi for years have made their way into the real world in the form of FaceTime and Skype, so kudos to developers for proving that the future is now. Unfortunately, people will never be satisfied with what they have — have so get to the “Star Wars” Holograms already. The technology exists, but not in a practical sense. Tupac was "resurrected" as a hologram, and election news was delivered by hologram on CNN for some reason. However, all of these instances were prerecorded; real-time holographic interaction would bring people closer together. If it's good enough for The Emperor, it's good enough for you.
