Now Showing: Inspirational UBICOMP Videos 

This is a list of (hopefully!) inspirational videos showing ubiquitous computing interfaces. Some of the videos simply show visions of what the future could hold (e.g. from major computer companies), and others show working prototype systems built in laboratories. If you have additional suggestions for this list (and particularly if you can provide a way to locate the video clip), please contact me. This list was originally inspired by the UBICOMP 2002 Video Program. These videos were first shown shown for an MIT 2003 IAP activity: Movie Making: Inventing the Future of Ubiquitous Computing

Also worth looking at is this list of movies that show visions of environments of the future. Selections from many of these movies are highly relevant and complement the videos listed here. 

1955:

The Honeymooners "Better Living Through TV" Episode (excerpt) (4:25 min) 

1956: 

1956 Housewife in futuristic kitchen 1 (0:09 min) [Can be obtained from here]
1956 Housewife in futuristic kitchen 2 (0:09 min) [Can be obtained from here]

1968:

2001: A Space Odyssey (excerpt) (7:34 min)

1977:

Star Wars (excerpt) (0:56 min)

1979:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (excerpt) (2:17 min)

1980:

Office of the Professional (excerpt). Imperial College London (on CHI 83 tape ... not yet obtained) 
Data base navigation: an office environment for the professional (Spence and Apperley)
Related: Breaking the Screen Barrier (Holmquist 2000)

Bifocal display explanation (1:02 min)

Bifocal display (from Office of the Professional) (0:13 min)

The Empire Strikes Back (excerpts) 

Wrist communicator (0:17 min)
Bionic hand (0:41 min)

1982:

Blade Runner (excerpt) (3:33 min)

1983:

Put That There. MIT Media Laboratory (on CHI 83 tape ... not yet obtained)

1987: 

Knowledge Navigator, Apple Computer (6:10 min) 

1989: 

Pandora Envisionment, Olivetti / AT&T Cambridge (6:12 min)

'1995' A Vision Video, Hewlett Packard (not yet obtained) (Mathis, SIGCHI Video Review, CHI '91)

Cookin' with VIC, VA Medical Rehabilitation Center (CHI '89 tape) (Not yet obtained ... relevant?) 

The Office Design Project, PARC (CHI '89 tape) (Not yet obtained ... relevant?) 

Back to the Future Part II

Entering house (1:03 min)
Kitchen (3:02 min)

1990: 

Pandora (excerpt), Olivetti / AT&T Cambridge (16:15 min)

Three-Dimensional Interfaces in Shared Environments, AT&T Bell Laboratories (not yet obtained) (CHI '90 tape)

The Piano Tutor, CMU (not yet obtained) (CHI '90 tape)

Casual Interaction in the Hallway, University of Calgary (2:37 min) 

The Edge, E.I. du Pont and Digital Equipment Company (10:08 min) 

1991:

Scheduling Home Control Devices UMD (5:59 min) (Can be obtained from here)

1992:

Active Badge on Beyond 2000, Olivetti / AT&T Cambridge (6:40 min)

Pandorino, Olivetti  / AT&T Cambridge (7:33 min)

Enhanced Factory Communications, Boeing (not yet obtained) (ACM Siggraph Video Review #87. From Video Proceedings of CSCW '92.)

Towards Seamless Collaboration Media: From TeamWork-Station to ClearBoard (version can be obtained from here) (CSCW '92 tape)

Project 2000, Apple Computer (Not yet obtained) (On CHI '92 Special Video Program

Residential Information Services in a Broadband Public Switched Network, AT&T (Not yet obtained) (On CHI '92 Special Video Program

Be There Here, Telepresence Research (On CHI '92 Special Video Program

Virtuality, Inc., San Francisco Art Institute (On CHI '92 Special Video Program

HyperCard 1992, Apple Computer, Inc. (On CHI '92 Special Video Program

Friend21, Institute for Personalized Information Environment  (On CHI '92 Special Video Program

Tactile Manipulation on a Digital Desk, Rank Xerox EuroPARC(On CHI '92 Special Video Program

1992, Hewlett Packard  (On CHI '92 Special Video Program

1993:

Connections, AT&T (not yet obtained)

Ubiquitous Computing. Xerox PARC

Ubicomp Opening (1:10 min)
Ubicomp Tabs (5:45 min)
Ubicomp Pads (3 min)
Ubicomp Tea Area Scene (2:13 min)
Ubicomp Closing (0:48 min)

`Imagine...' A Vision of Health Care in 1997, Hewlett-Packard Company  (Not yet obtained) (Formal Video Program, INTERCHI'93)

Talking to Machines, University of Wales (Not yet obtained) (CHI/Interact '93 tape) 

1994:

ALIVE (excerpt). MIT Media Laboratory (4:26 min)

The Chameleon: Spatially Aware Palmtop Computers, University of Toronto (2:05 min) 

1995:

Starfire: A Vision of Future Computing. Sun Microsystems (13:31 min)

Navicam, Sony Computer Science Laboratory, (1:06 min)

2020 Visualization (excerpt), Imperial College (0:45 min)

Synergies. A Vision of Information Products Working Together, Hewlett-Packard Company (Not yet obtained) (CHI '95 video)

The Tablet Newspaper: A Vision for the Future, Knight-Ridder Information Design Lab (Not yet obtained) (CHI '95 video) 

1996:

Beating the Limitations of Camera-Monitor Mediated Telepresence with Extra Eyes, collaborative (Not yet obtained) (CHI '96 video)

A Palmtop Display for Dextrous Manipulation with Haptic Sensation, ATR Communication Systems Research Laboratories (1:54 min) 

BrightBoard: A Video-Augmented Environment, PARC (Not yet obtained)

Mission Impossible (excerpt) (3:56 min)

1997:

The KidsRoom. MIT Media Laboratory (6:30 min)

A Multiple Device Approach to Whiteboard Interactions, Sony Computer Science Laboratory, (2:36 min)

Dreamspace, IBM Research (0:47 min 0:41 and 0:55) 

Things that Go Beep, University of Calgary (1:12 min) 

A GUI Paradigm Using Tablets, Two-hands and Transparency, Alias | Wavefront (Not yet obtained) (CHI '97 tape)

MagicCarpet, MIT Media Laboratory (0:39 min)

Gattica (excerpt) (3:34 min)

Utopia Appropriated: The Future As It Was, Rick Prelinger (not yet obtained)

The 5th Element

Home (1:39 min)
License (0:35 min)

1998:

Ultrasonic Location Sensing, Olivetti and Oracle / AT&T Cambridge (5:23 min)

Cyberspice, Olivetti and Oracle / AT&T Cambridge (1:50 min)

MusicFX: An Arbiter of Group Preferences for Computer-Supported Cooperative Workouts. CStar, Accenture (not yet obtained)

Virtual PAT. MIT Media Laboratory (1:51 min)

NaviPoint: An Input Device for Mobile Information Browsing, IBM Tokyo Research Lab (Not yet obtained) (CHI '98 tape) 

Insight Lab: An Immersive Environment Utilizing Barcodes to Link Paper, Displays, and Data, Center for Strategic Technology Research, Andersen Consulting (Not yet obtained) (CHI '98 tape)

The AmbientROOM: Integrating Ambient Media with Architectural Space, MIT Media Laboratory (5:30 min) (Can be obtained from here

The Truman Show (excerpt) (2:32 min)

Telestra video - A video of the future showing how telecommunications would change the way families work and communicate (Not yet obtained, approximate year) 

Fayard, A.-L., & Lahlou, S. (1998). The SubCam: An Insight into the Phenomenal Flow of Office Life. In Proceedings of ACM CSCW'98 Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 425): ACM Press. [Not yet obtained]

Episode 76: It's UI Love [Not yet obtained]

1999:

Remove video view, MIT Media Laboratory (0:23 min)

Sentient Computing, AT&T Cambridge (8:45 min)

It/I Computer Theater, MIT Media Laboratory (3:00 min) 

Online Medicine Cabinet. CStar, Accenture (1:05 min)

EasyLiving Room System Demo. Microsoft Research (7:26 min)

Hypermask, Sony CSL (1:16 min)

Augmented Surfaces, Sony Computer Science Laboratory (3:14 min)

Ping Pong Plus, MIT Media Laboratory (can be obtained from here

2000:

comHOME: Video Mediated Communication for Domestic Environments. Centre for User-oriented IT design (CID), KTH (6:51 min)

The secret life of Dr.WhatsOn. Nokia Mobile Phones (not yet obtained) 

Sentient Computing. AT&T Cambridge (2:34 min)

6th Day

Football (0:51 min)
Home (4:14 min)
SimPet (2:50 min)

Tracking in the AwareHome, GaTech (1:25 min) 

e-guide. Le Studio créatif de France Telecom R&D (not yet obtained) 

StoryRooms, UMD (3:41 min) (Can be obtained from here

Aura, CMU (6:10 min) 

Red Planet (3:54 min)

2001:

2020: A History of the Future (excerpts). PBS 

Tagging Documentary (3:01 min) 
Tagging Children Documentary (6:19 min)
Split the Difference Documentary (4:44 min)
Cybercrime Documentary (6:42 min)

Real-World Showroom. CStar, Accenture (not yet obtained)

UbiControl - providing new and easy ways to interact with various consumer devices. Distributed Systems Group, ETH Zürich and Aware Home Research Initiative (1:45 min)

eErie enhanced reality interactive experience. Swedish Institute of Computer Science (5:55 min)

Dynamic Shader Lamps, UNC (2:45 min)

Dilbert Cubicle, Scott Adams (TechTV) (2:57 min) 

Change Blind Digital Table. MIT (1:42 min)

iWork, Stanford University (5:06 min)

Flow, Microsoft Research (1:53 min)

A Privacy-Preserving Media Space, University of Calgary (1:41 min) 

TV Day Dream Advertisement, Circuit City (0:30 min)

NurseBot Pearl, CMU/Pitt/Mich (7:10 min)

Papero Robot, NEC (5:26 min) 

AI (2:20 min)

2002:

Memory Assistant, University of Rochester (1:04 min) (Obtained from here) (Estimate date)

Smart Medical Advisor, University of Rochester (2:16 min) (Obtained from here) (Estimate date)

Focus Plus Context Display (excerpt), PARC (2:04 min)

Roomware - the second generation. Ambiente, Fraunhofer IPSI (6:28 min) (CHI 2002 tape)

The Inspiration Watch - a wearable device to aid shopping. Hewlett-Packard Labs, Bristol (2:20 min)

Mui: Controlling Equipment via Migrating User Interfaces, Lund Institute of Technology (2:45 min) 

The Personal Server - Changing the ways we think about Ubiquitous Computing. Intel Research (not yet obtained)

iClub - An Interactive Dance Club. Stanford University (6:28 min)

Shopwatch. Hewlett-Packard Labs, Bristol (2:20 min)

Interliving - Designing Interactive, Intergenerational Interfaces for Living Together. CID/KTH, INRIA and Université de Paris-Sud (2:12 min)

Ubiquitous Interactive Graphics (Everywhere Displays), IBM Research (4:05 min)

NightVision. Philips Research (3:25 min)

Pro-Active Instructions for Furniture Assembly. Perceptual Computing and Computer Vision Group, ETH Zürich (3:52 or 1:11 min)

Gesture + Play. MIT AI Laboratory (2:03 min)

Motorola concept videos, Motorola

Always Connected (4:04 min)
Life Recorder (2:45 min)
Others' Eyes (3:21 min)
Hearing Hand (3:22 min)
Mood Hood (3:11 min)
Shared Knowledge (3:03 min)

Minority Report (excerpts)

Gestural interface part 1 (0:51 min)
Gestural interface part 2 (1:20 min)
Gestural interface part 3 (2:21 min)
Home videos and interface (2:22 min)
Personalized advertising (1:44 min)

Illuminating Clay, MIT Media Laboratory (2:06 min) (CHI 2002 tape) 

A Tangible Interface for Organizing Information Using a Grid, Tufts and MIT Media Laboratory (2:19 min) (CHI 2002 tape) 

Interaction in a Collaborative Environment, DaimlerChysler (6:29 min) 

2003:

Helix, Sun Microsystems (3:15 min and and 5:26 min and 3:33 min). A vision of 2005-2015 (powered by Java, of course) 

Spot, Microsoft

A look at the house of the future, MarketPlace report (audio only) (3:48 min) (Can be obtained from here)

Concept and Partial Prototype Video: Ubiquitous Video Communication with the Perception of Eye Contact, MIT House_n (0:00 min) [Video (MPEG v.1 AVI)] (Ubicomp 2003 DVD)

Ubiquitous Computing in the Living Room: Concept Sketches and an Implementation of a Persistent User Interface, MIT House_n and IBM Research (0:00 min) [Video (MPEG v.1 AVI)] (Ubicomp 2003 DVD)

A-Life - Saving Lives in Avalanches, ETH Zurich (0:00 min) (Ubicomp 2003 DVD)

Virtual Home Improvement, Accenture Technology Labs (0:00 min) (Ubicomp 2003 DVD)

Add other Ubicomp 2003 DVD videos...

2004:

???