Do you remember George Jetson from the animated television series “The Jetsons,” created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera?

The Jetsons – including George; his wife, Jane; and their two children, Elroy and Judy – lived in a space town called Orbit City in the year 2062. If you know the series, are you singing the song?

The series ran from Sept. 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, and then aired in reruns that continue today. It was ABC’s first show to air in color.

I loved this show as a child, not realizing it was set 100 years in the future.

The Jetsons featured flat-screen televisions, smartwatches, video calls, drones, digital newspapers, moving sidewalks, glass elevators, self-driving cars and a robot maid. They used a “menulator” machine to make their food.

It’s hard for me to wrap my head around someone creating an animated series with these features so long ago.

Fast forward to 2011 when Corning Incorporated produced a video titled “A Day Made in Glass” (youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38). My youngest, who was 14 at the time and very interested in technology, showed me the video, which I watched in awe.

This video featured an ultrathin, glass LCD touch-screen television, a person reading and responding to their messages on the bathroom mirror while getting ready for work, a person watching a television screen on their kitchen counter while preparing breakfast on architectural surface glass, veneer glass on appliances to allow digital photos (no more magnets on the refrigerator!), automated design glass in the vehicles, glass digital road signs and bus signs showing bus routes and schedules, handheld display glass for calls and more.

Mind boggling.

Much of this has come to market and so much more is on the horizon, such as Apple’s first mixed-reality headset, Apple Vision Pro, coming this year.

Mixed reality is designed to blend your physical and digital space, and we are already seeing headsets designed by Meta and Microsoft on the market today.

A user puts on the headset and – literally – the world is at their fingertips. According to Apple’s website, this is the most advanced spatial computing system that includes responsive precision eye tracking, Apple’s first 3D camera and more.

According to PC Magazine, “spatial computing is a technology that enables computers to blend in with the physical world in a natural way.”

The introduction video, found at apple.com/apple-vision-pro, shows the user putting on the headset and seeing in front of them apps they would normally see on a computer or television screen. The user navigates by using their eyes, hands and voice. That’s correct: You choose apps with your eyes, tap to select, flick to scroll and use your voice to dictate. Photos can be life-size and panoramic, stretching across the room. The headset also has a 3D camera, which allows the user to take photos and videos with the touch of a button.

Experiences are another dimension to the Apple Vision Pro, which allows you to use the mindfulness app and create a calming space, change the environment around you and more.

Don’t worry: If you get this headset, you’ll still be able to view our newspapers on the internet at www.lvpnews.com. I know it may have been a concern for you.

In 2024, we have many of the items George Jetson used, but Apple has taken technology past the vision of Hanna and Barbera in 1962 and 1963.

I often quote someone who gave a presentation at my older son’s school in 1999. She said many of the jobs our kindergarten kids will get when they graduate have not been invented yet. So true.

Just look at the technology and its rapid progression.

I think George Jetson could handle the Apple Vision Pro just fine. Me, on the other hand – that’s questionable.

Debbie Galbraith

editor

East Penn Press

Salisbury Press