Okay, now I want an Earth Final Conflict global!

HP Flexible Display: Cheap and Unbreakable Screen Technology

I don't know about you, but I used to drool over the global on Earth Final Conflict. You know, the cellphone/browser/webcam thingy that had a screen that slid in and out?



I just thought that was the coolest, most plausible progression in technology on the whole show! (Well, except for the fact that MCI apparently owned cyberspace! ) Now that touch screen technology is becoming widespread, it seems it'll only be a matter of time before it's incorporated into the flexible display tech and we get our very own globals!

We'll also get our newsprint-free newspapers!



I admit, my geek-o-meter just overloaded a little bit.

 

or like this thing from Red Planet

I saw that news a few days ago, I love it, can't wait until we get fold out displays you can roll up

 

I was thinking more along the lines of the plexi's/flexi's on Andromeda

 

It's been a while since I watched any Andromeda episodes. I wish I'd gotten the first couple seasons when they were more readily available. Oh well, I still have most of my VHS episodes.

 

i know this is an old thread...but being 5 years ago, and how technology has changed...how much closer are we to actually having the Global be a reality? The one thing they were off by in Earth Final COnflict was that MCI ran the phone system....now it looks more like AT & T or T-Mobile or Sprint...

 

I think any function performed by those cool EFC gadgets can be done quite handily with iPads and iPhones today.

 

Not to mention a host of other smartphones i.e the Lumia, Galaxy, Xperia etc...

I think you'll find Samsung had a concpet for something similar to what we saw in E:FC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_display

 

Well, at the moment we have phones with flexible displays reaching the market, though we seem to be a ways off from displays the user can actually flex. The earliest I'm seeing actual foldable devices coming out is 2015, so those would be phones, etc. that fold a particular way.

That means we're probably several years away from screens you can roll up or even twist any which way. The main problem is that few materials will be both highly flexible and stand up to that kind of abuse while still being able to hold a clear image. There's definitely progress being made, though. I think the real issue is finding a good use case for arbitrarily flexible screens in personal information devices. Curved screens are one thing--the display is curved then set for life, so to speak. Having screens that can be folded up in various ways, rolled up, bent, twisted, etc. seems like a solution in search of a problem.

 

Problem: how to carry that Ipad size display around in your pocket.

Smart phones keep growing in screen size (Galaxy Tab anyone?), making them less convenient to store. Folding/rollup screens are a great solution.

I'd love a 30" screen I could roll up and stuff into a duffle bag.

I really don't see this as an example of "a solution in search of a problem".

 

You apparently didn't bother reading the rest of my post because that sounds like a use case for "folding along predefined creases," which I did account for.

I question how commonly anyone would need or want to carry around a 30" screen. Why isn't there already one at the destination? How much work will it require to set up, i.e. flatten it out and mount it stably?

Once again, what's the common use case for an arbitrarily flexible display?

 

It could be like one of those Asian folding fans.

Uhura can start doing iPad fan dances!

 

In a world full of tablets and laptops you really can't see a use? A world where movies are streamed in HD to tiny smart phone screens?

 

M-brane, by Sony--its the return of the scroll...

 

LOL good one. It proves that history does indeed go in circles.

Since it's only a few weeks till Easter I'd like to show you an unusual type of scroll, popular over here:


How to make it is pictured here: http://www.teddys-handarbeiten.de/xostern-t-spruchbandei.htm

 

It would be like the mediatronic devices from The Diamond Age.

I always wanted one of the globals. Whenever I read the J. D. Robb "In Death" novels, that how I always imagine their links to be.

 

The LG Flex is a curved phone that can bend/flex when necessary. You can't roll it up, but that is due to the rest of the materials/components rather than the screen.

 

It's been a few years since this was replied to.

SO,in a few years, has technology changed now to make the GLobal a complete reality? I recently looked it up..and it was bigger than i recalled... aren't several smart phones as big as the global (when it's closed up)?

 

We're a little closer to what we saw in Red Planet. Still not quite there though.

I still can't find the two-part rod computer bueprint from ST:TMP

The phaser for it, yes
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/image...bc86f92034151990ea04b5196ad0e7b674b2eddb8.gif

The wand computer had a "slave unit"

 

Well there is this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35230043

It's a year or so old, and there are still issues to work out

 

My ideal project would be a book on action scenes from ST II: TWOK.

Each page has limited memory--showing different battle scenes in a loop.