We Need a Mobile Communication Revolution

Science fiction novels and movies have predicted a series of new ways for humans to communicate with each other. Ever since the 1960s video phones were a standard futuristic way of keeping in touch. In the last five decades engineers have created solutions that exceed the expectations of the dreamers of the past, allowing us to instantly communicate through video calls from virtually any corner of the globe through mobile internet connections. And with the projects set in motion by some of the biggest tech companies, mobile internet will soon become available literally everywhere.

Getting started at Royal Vegas Canada is easy if you are in an area with mobile coverage – and slowly the whole world will become such an area. Players will no longer be limited by the distance to the nearest mobile tower – they will be able to download and play with the over 100 titles offered by the casino on the go. The new technologies Google and other tech giants are working on – offering mobile internet access through balloons or satellites – will allow players to check out the excellent promotions offered by the Royal Vegas, and play with one of the exciting games and win, no matter if they are in the middle of the Sahara desert or floating on an iceberg in the Northern Sea.

But the methods of communicating online are stuck on their current level. With the given technology we have achieved the maximum we could. Today we can keep in touch using text messages (SMS and instant messaging), voice messages through WhatsApp and similar services, images through a series of social networks, and video messages through the likes of Vine or Snapchat. In the recent years we had the chance to witness rocket launches, the starting of the LHC at CERN, artistic performances and many other events through high definition video streams from half a world away. What is the next step? Where do we go from here?

I think the next step in the evolution in the ways we communicate is total immersion, which will most likely become available to us after the release of Microsoft’s HoloLens, and technologies that build upon this innovation. HoloLens is the first step toward the holodeck presented in the modern day Star Trek series – a holographic environment designed to fool our senses into believing we are in a completely different environment. Not all our senses yet, though – it can currently only provide us with visual and auditory information, with touch, smell and other senses still having a long way to go. The first demonstrations of the Microsoft HoloLens have given us a glimpse on what possibilities this new technology can provide us with. Just imagine not having to buy a large screen TV or an expensive home entertainment system – the HoloLens can virtually project these devices on any surface, or have it float in mid-air. I have imagined the future with HoloLens, when doctors can closely examine a full scale model of our body generated using the data provided by computer tomography, and ask doctors half a world away for advice instantly. I have also imagined a table tennis match played by an American and a Japanese player, who only meet in the virtual world and use virtual balls, tables and rackets in the process. This will be a real evolutionary jump in the way we communicate. And I think this is just a first step – the best is yet to come.