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'."

Orgasmatron

[meehawl]

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

Hmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

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

I'm just not ready

[Anonymous Coward]

To live in a house without a bathroom.

Beam me up scotty!

[xot]

Palm probably has an easter egg which is a pre recorded message that says "Beam me up Scotty", a feature that capt kirk could have used in his days!! :-)

i am still anxiously awaiting

[Neuropol]

The Holodeck.

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?

Star Trek?

[molafson]

Star Trek? Screw that! Where's my flying car?

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:Hmmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Microsoft Bob was a dismal failure.

Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

$tv_series really shows what a visionary $creator was.

It is very logical

[amichalo]

(1) Extend arm 90 degrees in front of you
(2) Rotate palm side up
(3) Make the sign of a Vulcan

Viola! The first spork!

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!

Re:i am still anxiously awaiting

[Anonymous Coward]

The Holodeck.


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

Good idea.

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:Orgasmatron

[shystershep]

It's attached to your wrist.

Patents

[harumscarum]

I am just waiting for the lawsuits.

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.

Re:But what about...

[doconnor]

Still in theoretically impossible stage.

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?

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: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.

Re:i hope

[Short Circuit]

I found it interesting that only Admirals were generally physically unfit. So why the hell aren't I an admiral right NOW?!

Re:i hope

[Anonymous Coward]

just hope that the military uniforms don't follow futurama's Zapp Brannigan. He just seems to love Velour mini-skirt type outfits without underwear.

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!

Re:The most important Star Trek innovation

[eln]

Incorrect. Wesley Crusher lasted far longer than 60 minutes.

Re:horrible

[Sloppy]

Don't fuck with Data's union.

Re:Several episodes in original series AND TNG

[Chris Tucker]

"In episode 14.3, "Voyage to Gomor's star" the small, rectilinear object that Ohura uses on the salt monster looks EXACTLY like a Palm"

Ohura ye say? Sure, and she must have been one o' them black Irish.

Tanx for clearin' that up for me, boyo.

Re:Then why?

[Jhon]

Great... and with bluetooth technology, how long before we see some geek walking around tapping his "federation logo pin" on his "Picard's Capt. Jacket" to activate his "speaker phone". Yet another thing to annoy me at the local electronics store check-out line.

Sigh. What ever happened to just wearing a tee-shirt to demonstration ones devotion to a "show"?

-jhon

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.

Re:handing out pdas

[fiannaFailMan]

They don't have computer networks either. I saw an episode of Voyager where Janeway gives an order, puts it into a PADD, gives it to a crewmember who then walks down into the bowels of the ship and gives the PADD to another crewmwmber who looks at the order and presses a few buttons. Cups and string would be more efficient.

Re:Lapel phone?

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, when I'm "brushing somebody's lapel", I wouldn't want to accidentally phone her mother or anything.

Re:handing out pdas

[epiphani]

The email system of the star trek universe was made unusable due to massive amounts of spam in the early 21st century. The majority of these spam messages were from a time traveller seeking out a dimensional warp generator.

Re:Where the hell is my holosuite?

[Short Circuit]

Picard didn't do Holmes. Data did Holmes.

Picard did Dixon Hill, a much more unsavory character.

You know, perhapse getting all the seasons on DVD wasn't a healthy choice...

Transpoter, Warp Drive & Universal Transelator

[Forge]

Transporter, Warp Drive & Universal Translator.

The 3 most important Star Trek technologies are still unavailable. Sure there are people working on these things but they are not yet workable. Except for the Translator which has a barely working prototype available now.

BTW: Artificial gravity should be invented 1st since it appears to be by far the most reliable of all the technologies as It never once failed in all the episodes of TOS, TNG, DS9 or Voyager.

AG even survived, life support shutdown. :)

uh oh

[No. 24601]

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'

Wonderful... now Paramount will have an opportunity to cash in on the ubiquity of Star Trek once again - "time for some litigation boys!"

Re:Hmmmm

[Schemat1c]

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

A company I used to work for many years ago had a good sized VAX in the typical early 80's fishbowl/raised floor computer room. The thing had tons of cabinets and was pretty big but the only real light on the thing was the power light. One of the engineers stuck a bunch of led's on a black wooden box and set them up to blink randomly, just like in the cheesy old sci-fi films. He put it on the top of the VAX to impress customers when they got the tour.

Fortunately...

[Magus311X]

Fortunately for us, Star Trek didn't influence Peter Jackson's take on Lord of the Rings!

I mean... wtf is this [mac.com]? (quicktime required)

----- -----

Re:The first PDA in a Sci-Fi movie...

[JoshWurzel]

a robot that behaves like a tool without developing his own will

What, like Carson Daly?

Re:Things from Star Trek universe I want to own -

[CoolToddHunter]

The jet boots Spock wears when he saves Kirk from certain death at El capitan..

Ha! You just admitted that you've seen Star Trek 5! Oh wait...

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:Things from Star Trek universe I want to own -

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, but read the book :-P

Re:handing out pdas

[Chester K]

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...

Of course not. By the 24th century, there's so much spam in email that you pretty much have to give you entire computer to someone for them to notice your message!

Re:horrible

[thanasakis]

There is one button on it

Yeah, and it says: "I feel lucky"

Re:horrible

[Dun Malg]

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!

How DARE you call my TV friends a hallucination.

Re:handing out pdas

[Anonymous Coward]

Besides, how do you film in a very visceral way the Captain sending an email to a subordinate with orders?


[CAPTAIN] (types for a while and finishes off with a very final looking keypress)

[COMPUTER] (makes a sad, something's wrong kind of sound.)

[CAPTAIN] Huh? (types some more and finishes with a emphatic kepress)

[COMPUTER] (makes a sound almoust exactly like a rasberry)

[CAPTAIN] Why you worthless piece of... (types savagely and finishes off with a violent keypress)

[COMPUTER] (makes a very happy sounding "ding")

[CAPTAIN] Well that's better. (turns to Riker and starts to speak)

[COMPUTER] (makes a "nope, that didn't work" kind of sound)

[CAPTAIN] (screaming) SON OF A... (whips out a phaser and melts the computer terminal)

[COMPUTER] (makes a broken kind of a sound)

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:looking for the captain's log

[shfted!]

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

Re:No, give me a phaser instead.

[CPM User]

Have a look at this [bbc.co.uk]

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: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.

Re:Transpoter, Warp Drive & Universal Transela

[Tony Hoyle]

Naah. *All* of these are eclipsed by the non-invention of the holodeck.

It'd revolutionise the porn industry!

Re:handing out pdas

[c.emmertfoster]

You make it sound like the next spin-off is going to be "Star Trek: The Continuing Voyages of Ellen Feiss."

Groan.

BTW, there is something missing

[sharok]

This gadget needs the Exploding Panel (c) technology to make it complete.
Just think, somebody jostles you in the subway and POOF ! lights, sparks and burning wires.
Great way to promote replacements too.

Re:looking for the captain's log

[first.last]

Of all the characters....why do we get stuck with the kid? Why the hell couldn't Seven of Nine be a linux geek instead???? In space, no one can hear you fart.