June 16, 2000
Entertainment Weekly
Inspecting Gadgets
By Will Lee
If Tom Cruise as kung-fu master in Mission: Impossible 2 wasn't hard
enough to believe, what about those snazzy gadgets? EW asked
experts from high-tech design firm IDEO and MIT's Media Lab to accept
this mission: Evalutate the plausibility of the film's doodads.
Voice simulation strips worn on
Cruise's throat
Difficult or Impossible?
Theoretically possible. IDEO's Rickson Sun notes that similar
technology -- electric charges that stimulat muscles -- is now used on
quadripeligic's limbs. So when can we find one for Fran Srescher?
Years to reality: 10
Sunglasses doubling as video screens,
displaying the mission
Impossible, ays MIT. While clumsy headsets with LCD screens
currently exist, lense of normal shades are too close to the eye to
project clearly.
Years to reality: Infinite
Camera that means tracetrack images to
Ving Rhames' van
Though digital cameras at your local Circuit City can't transmit data
wirelessly, MIT's Wesley Chan says there will so be prototypes that can.
Maybe Blair Witch III can skip theaters entirely.
Years to reality: Less than one
The tiny global positioning system chip
in Thandie Newton's ankle (used to track her)
With current technology, that chip would have to be about the size of a
refrigerator. The problem? You'd need a massive battery to
beam Newton's position to a satellite, says MIT's Wendy Ju.
Years to reality: 25, at least
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