Copyright Ian Pearson, BT Futurologist
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January 2001
In the bathroom, we sometimes would prefer
not to see the real reflection of ourselves. In the future, we may commonly use
digital mirrors in place of our ordinary analogue mirrors. These would be high
quality screens with built in video cameras, displaying images based on what is
seen by the cameras. The voice interface to the home computer network extends
fully into the bathroom so you can control everything there as easily as
anywhere else in the home. We could choose from a wide range of images instead as
well as the more conventional simple reflection. Obviously, seeing ourselves
the right way round requires a simple image reversal. Similarly, zooming in on
a part of your face might make it much easier to shave, spot a speck in your
eye, or to apply makeup.
A big problem many of us have in front of
our bathroom mirror is our defective eyesight. Using eyeball tracking, the
mirror may enlarge the area we are looking at to give a simple improvement. However,
we will often have replaced our glasses with active contact lenses. As well as
offering corrected vision, they also incorporate virtual retinal projection,
writing computer generated images directly on our retinas. This of course makes
the digital mirror obsolete as all of its functions can be incorporated into
the lenses. Since the active contact lenses act as video cameras too, the
lenses can use any conventional mirror in front of the user as the image
source, and this also allows any mirror to act on the fly as a videoconference
terminal.
But such facilities are trivial and the
digital mirror could do much more. It could show us as we would like to be
instead of how we are. Spots and wrinkles could be digitally removed, perhaps
boosting our confidence even though we know it is not quite real. The mirror
would be the perfectly friend, toning down your faults while gently guiding you
as you fix them. Your hair may be awful, but the mirror may just show you a
slight imperfection so you donÕt have as much stress while you fix it. You may
know that you are 60 but the mirror could digitally enhance your appearance so
that when you look at your reflection you still look 35. Everyone else may see
you as old but why should you need to face the truth all the time? What is so
great about reality anyway? Alternatively, if you like horror stories, you
could use the image enhancement features to highlight what needs fixed. As well
as removing wrinkles and spots, it could also improve facial symmetry, making you
look more beautiful, while negotiating a special deal with the plastic surgeon
to make it possible for you to actually look that way.
Applying makeup could be greatly assisted
too. A computer could analyse your facial image and recommend which makeup to
apply, based on your colours and the manufacturers recommended uses, or based
on the latest fashions and styles. The mirror could display the various options
side by side to help you choose the appropriate image. It could even put you in
a virtual environment similar to that in which you expect to wear it. Having
made the decision from the various faces, the mirror could guide you in its
application, effectively makeup by numbers. It could highlight where to apply
it and when to stop. The computer could take account of your various blemishes
or strong points and recommend how to enhance or hide features as appropriate.
WomenÕs electronic magazines may come with makeup suggestions accompanied by
programs for the mirror, and they may be commonplace on the internet, or they
may be supplied by the makeup manufacturers or distributors. Simple radio links will be commonplace
in future consumer electronics so getting the program there should be quite
simple.
Of course, we wonÕt always want to play,
and when none of the features seem attractive, there is always the straight
reflection.
But the mirror may also be used to help
prepare our image for videoconferencing. Using future compressions and image
manipulation software, the video display at the other end will not show a true
picture but a computer reconstruction of what you would look like. There is no
such thing as reality in cyberspace, so you might as well choose the
modifications that make you look how you would like to rather than allow the
computer to do it for you. There is no better interface to allow you to do so
than a digital mirror, where you could do DIY virtual cosmetic surgery,
hairdressing and makeup, all assisted by the many programs that will become
available for this task.
There is of course a danger in this
technology. As a pastime, experimenting with your image may reduce the use of
TV, but do we really want the extra vanity that will certainly come from the
extra hours in front of the digital mirror?
In the bathroom, we also use a toothbrush.
Today many of us have electric toothbrushes with interchangeable heads for each
member of the family. The plastic bristles actually make simple light guides,
so a while back, someone had the idea of putting either a laser or ultraviolet light
source in the brush head and to use its light to kill the bacteria on our
teeth. The light is guided from the laser along the bristles t the places where
the plaque lies. Various means are possible to enhance the operation, such as
using dies similar to plaque disclosers to make the plaque absorb the laser
energy better, or using the laser primarily to reduce the plaqueÕs resistance
to the bactericidal chemicals in the toothpaste. In this way, the laser
wouldnÕt have to be too powerful and the risk of damage to gums is reduced.
Of course, the toothbrush will be just a
part of our overall health care system in the home. It may include sensors that
monitor the composition of our saliva, and infrared transmitters and sensors,
checking the absorption characteristics of our gums to warn of possible
problems. Such light absorption can be used to check a wide variety of
conditions such as blood insulin levels or simply pulse and blood pressure.
Other sensors in the handle may also help, especially in identifying the
individual using it by means of their handprint, warning them if they have the
wrong head attached as well as making sure the correct data is used for the
various health functions.
Children may be encouraged to use to
toothbrush by using it in conjunction with the digital mirror. A computer game
may visualise the battle between the child and the plaque, so that every brush
stroke is another missile launched in a 21st century Space Invaders
game. Even simple musical behaviours may amuse small children.
We have very few types of light bulb. We
can choose power, shape, beam spread and spectrum. Mood lighting has stimulated
development of various colour tones, and compact-fluorescent low-energy bulbs
help our wider environment. With some spotlight bulbs, we can also have
reflectors that guide the light into a tighter beam. One further innovation
would be to incorporate display media into the bulb shell. The chips with
everything philosophy will mean that we have a ubiquitous computing surveillance
environment and ensure that all our devices can talk to each other, even light
bulbs. So we will be able to explain what sort of atmosphere we want, using a
combination of words and gestures, waving our arms around to show where we want
bright light and where we would like it be more subtle or coloured. LCDs or
polymer displays in the light bulb will then block out or filter the light as
required while holographic filters and lenses or even micromirror technology
will direct the remaining light in any direction. Similarly, holographic
technology will also be applied to control the light coming through the window.
A rather different lighting solution is to
produce all the light needed for the building centrally, using microwaves to
produce intense light sources, and then to pipe the light around the home using
optical fibres. Obviously, similar techniques would work to enhance this too.
With future polymer displays, you will be able
to get electronic magazines, games and shopping tablets that you can use safely
in the bath. There will also be video tiles with which you can cover the
bathroom walls to provide entertainment or news while you are in the bath or
shower. You could even use them to change the apparent appearance of the
bathroom, teletravelling to and bathing on a different beach every night, or
apparently taking a shower under an African waterfall. 3d sound positioning
technology will make the experience even more convincing and compelling. Of
course, you could chat to friends on videophone from the bath without fears of
indecent exposure since future telecomms will allow digital image substitution.
You could appear as fully clad and ready to work or play, or with any other
image you prefer.
While we take a shower in our video-tiled
cubicle, we present an ideal opportunity for the home computer to scan our body
to monitor our size, weight, and of course, health. Our size can be measured
accurately by laser scans, and the information will be needed to ensure that
our clothes can be manufactured to fit us precisely. Our weight can easily be
measured by strain gauges in the shower floor. Further in the future, it may be
economic to incorporate body scans to monitor some aspects of our health,
perhaps using ultrasound to give advanced warning of growing tumours. What
other conditions could be monitored best in the shower is less obvious. For
many tests, the toothbrush or smart loo may be the better platform.
One idea that may not catch on quite so
well is laser haircuts. A special seat could use electrostatics to make your
hair stand on end, while a special helmet incorporates lasers that neatly trim
each hair individually to the required length according to the selected
program.
The ultimate bathroom nightmare is the
smart loo, and worse still, it already exists. I invite the squeamish reader to
avoid this section.
The smart loo knows who you are. You would
probably have already registered in the bathroom by means of voice, finger or
iris scan. If not, and if you have also banned the computer from having video
cameras in the bathroom so it canÕt see your face, then when you sit on a smart
loo, it is finally able to recognise you by your bottom. It can check your
pulse and blood pressure, your insulin and sugar levels and a variety of other
conditions simply by shining an infrared light into your body and analysing the
reflected signals. But even the toothbrush can do that. What the toothbrush
canÕt do of course is to chemically analyse your ÔproduceÕ. The smart loo can.
It will check for urine infections, diabetes and a host of other conditions.
With all this equipment in the future
bathroom, you will leave it each morning with a complete analysis of your
health, complete with diet recommendations and the knowledge that the microwave
will refuse to cook unauthorised foods. You will of course have sterile teeth,
a complete 3d map of your body for the clothing manufacturers, and memories of
a digitally enhanced picture of yourself from the mirror, with all the
electronic vouchers you need for the makeup and plastic surgery to make it
reality.