A Glimpse of the Future at Seoul's T.Um Museum - Part 1

This post is part one of a two-part series chronicling our visit to SK Telecom's futuristic T.um museum in downtown Seoul.

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Today the Advanced Technology & Design crew paid a visit to T.um museum, a concept museum where you can experience the future of communication and information technology upclose and personal. T.Um is operated by SK Telecom, Korea's largest Information Communication Technology(ICT) company.

SK Telecom is one of the world's leading telecommunication company, the first company to utilize CDMA technology and to provide 4G network services. Admission to the museum is free but you have to make a reservation online in advance.  All tours are guided.

Once you meet your guide, you'll receive a special mobile device called the T.Key and you are asked to create a special cyber avatar called T.Me. T.Me will follow you around in your T.Key and as you experience different rooms in the museum, it will grow depending on your involvement and interaction with each room.

The museum is divided into two main parts: Play Dream and Play Real. In the Play Dream section you can experience future ubiquitous technology where everything you wish for is at your command from a mobile device.

The first room in the Play Dream section is called the U.HOME. The front part of the room is covered from top to bottom by large screen. Visitors sit in a row of chairs at the back of the room and a large control panel in front of them displays a row of graphics representing music CDs. Touching the control panel's screen lets you manipulate which CD you want to listen to. Spinning one of the CDs with your fingers stars the music playing. If ear throbbing surround sound audio isn't enough, you just push the CD toward a larger screen and a related music video starts playing automatically.

Sure, we've all seen this kind of technology in movies, but it's something else to be able to sit down and try controlling the TV of the future in person, using your own fingers. Also, who wouldn't enjoy watching Girls' Generation dance and sing on a 100-inch screen right in front of you?

The second room on the tour is called U.ENTERTAINMENT, which had a major focus on games.

Nowadays in order to play a game you have to either buy it on DVD and install it or download it from the internet before you can play. Not in the future, according to SK Telecom. You can just place your T.Key on a pad and play a network game with your friends right there and then without any download or installation. Although the game itself was a simple race game, it was a lot of fun to play, especially since it automatically integrated our T.Me cyber avatars in the race.

What you can do at home and what you can play for entertainment in the future is only the beginning of the tour and there's more to come as we explore room after room. Stay tuned for more stories from T.Um, where you can experience the not so distant future.