Ready, Aye, Ready

Link: http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-06/found

For many years now, Wired has had a feature called "Found: Artifacts from the Future" which is a photo-realistic illustration of some throwaway item that represents the way they feel the future will unfold.

They're typically pretty good and always interesting. Like the linked to example above, they're always full of subtle jokes beyond the obvious prognostication. The Alaskan vineyard amused me almost as much as that it's supposedly owned by Larry Ellison. The one thing it seems to be missing is the cameraphone-friendly square barcode but perhaps that's on the bottle's rear label.

This is one feature that would be wonderful if compiled into a coffeetable-style book. Currently Wired hasn't even put together an index linking them together for easier online browsing although a couple of year's worth can be found after a bit of searching. Hm...