I can’t think of any recent sci-fi movie that’s predicted as much near-term technology as Minority Report. First, there are all the touch-screen technologies with finger wagging and hand waving and such for arranging and accessing information. Now, Panasonic’s gone and developed an iris scanner that doesn’t require the scanee to concentrate on any given area. It uses a number of digital cameras to locate the iris and scan it, then identify the individual in only two seconds. A lot of practical applications, of course, like security checks and such, but I can’t help imagining walking through a mall and having my name called out. Just a little creepy, while also being pretty cool.

Really, I think it looks like this guy’s being hypnotized, but apparently he’s looking into Oki Japan’s new iris recognition security technology. Not much more to say about it, except that in addition to all the other strange habits we’ve grown accustomed to with cellphone use, staring intently before making a call will soon be added to the list. If this is really a hypnosis device, however, I’ll be rather… Well, actually, I suppose I won’t really care, now will I?