BRINGING THE FUTURE ON-LINE

The information superhighway is closer to your home than you think.

We've all seen the commercials and stories about videophones, lasers and the information superhighway. All of it sounds like something out of science fiction, but you've also heard that it will soon be in everyone's home.

So when will you be talking to your friends over a videophone?

Children's Express spoke to Donna Cunningham, media relations manager at AT&T Bell Laboratories, a name connected with many of these technologies. Established in 1925, AT&T Bell Labs does research and development for AT&T.

"We have a vision at AT&T: any time, anywhere communications," says Cunningham. "And also we have as one of our missions to further science. . . .

"We want everyone to have access to information, to one another," she continued. "We want them to be able to communicate, to compute, to be entertained, to share information.

"(We) do all these things to maximize everyone's capability and give pleasure."

With this mission, Bell Labs is working on a huge variety of projects, receiving a patent every day. Cunningham says it concentrates on the three main technologies of the Information Age: microelectronics (putting ever-increasing amounts of information on a silicone chip), photonics (using light pulses from lasers to transmit voice, video and data), and computers and software.

Bell Labs has already developed things like the videophone and cards that allow you to renew your driver's license, which are being used by motorists in Illinois and California.

Inside Bell Labs, even more innovations are being made.

Imagine being able to walk into your room and say "lights on" and the lights come on, or having a meeting on a videophone with six people, all at different places around the world. Other developments include robots that are able to learn from commands and a speech translator.

All of these technologies have one purpose: to make people more efficient.

It's expensive, though. Bell Labs' budget is $3 billion a year, and 90 percent of that goes to development, Cunningham said.

Today, a videophone costs over $1,000. However, Cunningham believes that the prices will decrease. "As the technology matures and the products mature, the prices will certainly come down."

Cunningham was using a videophone when we interviewed her at her home in the Green Mountains of Vermont. Her videophone - and fax, computer and modem - allow her to work from home and still keep in touch with her office in New Jersey.

But when will you be able to talk to your friends on a videophone?

"Before videophones are in everybody's (homes), I would give it 10 years."

EDITED BY: Aaron Shackelford, 16