Trek Tech that we have today!

[GalaxyClass1701]

This thread is to discuss technology from the various Trek series and films that we are starting to see today.

1. The com officer ear piece from TOS. Today we have somthing similar in the bluetooth headset.

2. The various pads from 24th century shows. We now have the I-Tablet.

What are some other things from Trek that we have today?

 

[jaspertjie]

captain's chair
sensor view thingy binocular looking thingo...

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

WE also have interactive computers now.

 

[jaspertjie]

OMG we left a very important one: SENSORS!!!!

 

[BK613]

-Long-distance, two-way, visual communication on wall-sized viewscreens.
-Control centers in various fields, like this Network Operations Center, that look a lot like you-know-where.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Tricorders. Just add an ultrasound probe to the sensor and you've got a medical tricorder.

 

[Rhionnach]

Touch screens, communicators (otherwise known as mobile phones), bluetooth.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

PADDS--thank you, Steve Jobs.

 

[Meredith]

Standardized user interfaces like LCARS, ie. Windows and OSX.

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

We also now have touch screen computers!

 

[Timo]

To be sure, we already had those when TNG first showed them.

Flatscreen televisions/monitors were already a feature of TOS: even if the displays in the cabins of the Enterprise were clumsy boxes, for example Flint in "Requiem for Metusaleah" had a nice and clean flatscreen. We now have those, too.

communicators (otherwise known as mobile phones)

...More exactly known as satellite phones. A typical mobile phone today is the size of a large industrial yard, when one counts all the vital antennas, switching rooms and power plants. A handheld satellite phone is the closest thing we have to a Trek communicator - although it, too, falls short on some areas such as range or the ability to act as a teleportation beacon...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[RollTide1017]

Everyone does realize that Apple did not just invent the tablet, they have been around for many many years. Apple just finally decided to make one, doesn't mean they invented the thing. My doctor has been using a tablet PC for years now.

 

[Ziz]

A handheld satellite phone is the closest thing we have to a Trek communicator - although it, too, falls short on some areas such as range or the ability to act as a teleportation beacon.

But since we don't have transporters yet, that's hardly a fault of the phone. No point putting in a way for it to interact with technology that hasn't been invented yet.

First things first.

 

[Shaw]

Everyone does realize that Apple did not just invent the tablet, they have been around for many many years.

Apple attempted a tablet back in the early 1990s, but the project was merged with a smaller handheld device project to produce something in between... The Newton. In 1993 a second attempt at a tablet was tried, the MessageSlate. A larger format Newton device that would have been a better platform for applications like Newton Works.

MessageSlate prototype, ca 1993​

But throughout all of that, the TNG PADD was the real inspiration and what Apple was attempting to achieve. The goal was side tracked when Jobs returned, but their have been people in Apple working to revive this since their earliest attempts.

Does that clarify Apple's history with this type of device a little for you?

 

[BK613]

Subcutaneous transponders (aka RFID tags)

 

[Ghrakh]

Everyone does realize that Apple did not just invent the tablet, they have been around for many many years.

Apple attempted a tablet back in the early 1990s, but the project was merged with a smaller handheld device project to produce something in between... The Newton. In 1993 a second attempt at a tablet was tried, the MessageSlate. A larger format Newton device that would have been a better platform for applications like Newton Works.

MessageSlate prototype, ca 1993​

But throughout all of that, the TNG PADD was the real inspiration and what Apple was attempting to achieve. The goal was side tracked when Jobs returned, but their have been people in Apple working to revive this since their earliest attempts.

Does that clarify Apple's history with this type of device a little for you?

Yep. Here is a pic of some of the first conceptual models, from 1989:

 

[RollTide1017]

You guys just proved my point, Apple did not just invent the tablet today with the iPad. People all over the internet are acting like the iPad is some band new tech that Apple just unveiled. My point was that tablets have been around for many years.

Sorry, my frustration comes from being so disappointed in what Apple has done with the iPad. They started the announcement by saying they wanted a device that was somewhere between an iPhone and a laptop but then they gave us a glorified ebook reader/giant iPod touch. I was hoping for something more, something that really push tablet PCs forward but the iPad is not that device. Things like no USB ports and no flash support are my biggest gripes. No flash support just cripples internet browsing, so why would I use this instead of my laptop. If I want crippled mobile internet I'll just stick with my iPhone.

Anyway, sorry to go off topic but, the iPad could have been so much more but, I guess it is a step closer to the PADD with how thin it is. Falls way short in functionality though, IMO.

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

You guys just proved my point, Apple did not just invent the tablet today with the iPad. People all over the internet are acting like the iPad is some band new tech that Apple just unveiled. My point was that tablets have been around for many years.

Sorry, my frustration comes from being so disappointed in what Apple has done with the iPad. They started the announcement by saying they wanted a device that was somewhere between an iPhone and a laptop but then they gave us a glorified ebook reader/giant iPod touch. I was hoping for something more, something that really push tablet PCs forward but the iPad is not that device. Things like no USB ports and no flash support are my biggest gripes. No flash support just cripples internet browsing, so why would I use this instead of my laptop. If I want crippled mobile internet I'll just stick with my iPhone.

Anyway, sorry to go off topic but, the iPad could have been so much more but, I guess it is a step closer to the PADD with how thin it is. Falls way short in functionality though, IMO.

Yea but all those pads were still created by Apple.

 

[Shaw]

...

I was hoping for something more, something that really push tablet PCs forward but the iPad is not that device.

...

Well, then you are missing the point of the iPad (and even the PADDs in Star Trek). It isn't supposed to be a computer replacement. It is not meant to replace a full computer, only extend a handful of abilities away from a computer that work better in a tablet format.

If you were thinking that what Apple was coming out with was a PC replacement in the form of a tablet, then you were very mistaken. PCs are PCs, tablet PCs have (as you said) been around for a while and have had almost no effect on people's lives or their computing habits. The iPad isn't a tablet PC, it is a tablet tablet. Tablet PCs tried to be all things and failed to do any of them well, Apple isn't going down that path.