Star Trek's Design Influence On Palm, New Tech

kevcol writes "The San Francisco Chronicle has a fun article describing how many of the inventions of Star Trek have made early appearances, 2 centuries ahead of Captain Kirk's time. They talk with one of Palm's UI designers, who admits that '...my first sketches were influenced by the UI of the Enterprise bridge panels', and also notes: 'When we designed the first Treo... it had a form factor similar to the communicators in the original series. It had a speakerphone mode so you could stand there and talk into it like Capt. Kirk'."

Comments

Orgasmatron

[meehawl]

I wish they'd work on some of the innovations in Woody Allen's scifi movie Sleeper. I want my own Orgasmatron!

Re:Orgasmatron

[shystershep]

It's attached to your wrist.

Hmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

When are those panels of randomly blinking lights going to make it on the market? I have been waiting some time.

Re:Hmmmm

[Mateito]

| When are those panels of randomly blinking
| lights going to make it on the market?

You've never tried to diagnose a 3COM Switch network, have you?

I'm just not ready

[Anonymous Coward]

To live in a house without a bathroom.

Re:I'm just not ready

[October_30th]

To live in a house without a bathroom

Don't worry.

Where do you think all those Captain's "logs" go?

Re:I'm just not ready

[Gzip Christ]

Where do you think all those Captain's "logs" go?

Generally speaking, the same place as his Number One.

i hope

[Anonymous Coward]

no one gets inspired by the clothing though. I'm not quite ready to jump into tights yet.

That's a great name

[Limburgher]

I love that the last name of an astrophysicist mentioned in an article on Star Trek in Batchelor.

How telling is THAT? :)

Re:missed this one?

[grub]

Space:1999 was too far fetched. I mean.. a space station on the moon a FULL YEAR before we were able to buy flying cars here on Earth? That's crazy talk!

The most important Star Trek innovation

[Aerion]

I wish that in real life that whenever you met a minor character, an unimportant and insignificant person, probably annoying and/or ignorant, you could be sure that they were going to die within the next 60 minutes. That would make life much more enjoyable!

Re:The most important Star Trek innovation

[eln]

Incorrect. Wesley Crusher lasted far longer than 60 minutes.

handing out pdas

[bmidgley]

I love how one start trek guy will hand his pda to another guy and say 'here's that report you asked for.'

So not only do they not have email, there's like one crewmember who's really bad at reading reports he's given... so his inbox is full of other peoples' pdas.

Trek Trio

[g0bshiTe]

Yes, but.........the long pauses..........are not.......included.
Mr. Spock..........moderate this post...........to TROLL.

Just like Capt. Kirk talked?

[orthogonal]

It had a speakerphone mode so you could stand there and talk into it like Capt. Kirk.

You...

mean you...

could... speak...

into... it like...

this?

And call green...

women to...

see if they... would beam...

up... for a...

date?

Re:But what about...

[jhoger]

Fantastic! The only pacing item seems to be the Heisenberg Compensators... and some minor metaphysical issues, but other than that, good to go!

Re:i am still anxiously awaiting

[Anonymous Coward]

"Lets build an entertainment facility that tries to destroy/take over the ship on an almost weekly basis."

A big company in Redmond is already on this project.

Re:But what about...

[LostCluster]

I remember a "Technical Manual" book that tried to explain the science behind Star Trek:TNG-era devices. A footnote in the section of the book about transporters revealed that the answer that the writers gave whenever asked "How do the Heisenberg Compensators work?" was always "Very well, thank you."

Re:horrible

[hellfire]

So exactly what function did you serve on the Enterprise D when you experienced this horrible UI? Helm? Security? Engineer? Perhaps you were even the captain having trouble working the ship?

Or maybe you were just some shmuck trapped in a cargo hold who couldn't work the UI to get out so you were forced to just go along for this Crack-induced joy ride of a hallicination because after all it is only a friggin TV show!

Liability concerns

[scheme]

The would have been out a lot sooner but companies are still having problems with the panels randomly blowing up and injuring people using them.

looking for the captain's log

[CleverNickName]

To live in a house without a bathroom.

Hey, there was ONE bathroom on the Enterprise D. It's near Engineering, behind the hamster wheel.

Re:looking for the captain's log

[CleverNickName]

Of course Wesley would know. Saving the day again, are we?

Hey, you gotta know where your strengths are, and use them.

By the way, your matter / anti-matter influx is slightly off. You need to reverse the flow for .004 seconds, but don't forget to compensate for the inertial dampeners.

That one's free. The next one you have to pay for. These orange sweaters ain't cheap, you know.

Re:horrible

[thanasakis]

There is one button on it

Yeah, and it says: "I feel lucky"

Here's something they' ll never invent

[Tired and Emotional]

Remember how Kirk would flip open his communicator one handed, say "one to beam up" and be transported back to the ship. Well there's something they will never invent - a folding cell phone with a reliable hinge.

Re:I've asked that question online.

[G-funk]

Ah slashdot. Where in the face of time travel, FTL travel, aliens, antigravity, intertial dampners, teleportation and Q, people are worried about how realistic the cell phones are.

Spock and PowerPoint?

[Tablizer]

In the first pilot, Mr. Spock used a viewer in a meeting room to display what resembled a primitive PowerPoint presentation to the ship's executive officers.

That is illogical. A Volcan would never invent such an emotion-tied and fact-poor presentation technique.