Star Trek has been a boon to the wireless industry. Our present technology now almost matches some of the technology in the original Star Trek TV series. There are products that mirror Star Trek, iPhone phasers and games.
There is a fun article over at ZD Net by Jason Perlow. that matches current technology to the tech used in the original Star Trek TV shows from 1966-69. He makes some great comparisons, many of which related to cell phones and smartphones. Here's the tech mentioned that falls into the realms of wireless and cell phones, our comments are in italics.
- Communicator - any flip cell phone, it could even have push to talk capabilities.
- Wireless earpiece - worn by Communications Officer Lt. Uhura and Science Officer Spock, it is very similar to our present Bluetooth headset.
- Personal Access Display Device PADD - is very close to MID internet devices, iPod Touch, BlackBerry Storm, T-Mobile G1 and tablet computers.
- Talking computers on board - Nuance's voice commands for cell phones, services like Vlingo are getter closer to having computers recognize people's voices. GPS navigation devices give verbal directions.
The top story Saturday night, however, was the new Kirk and Spock appearing with the "old" Spock on Saturday Night Live:
There is a lot of use of wireless technology and what we would call speaker phones in Star Trek and we at Wirleess and Mobile News consider Sync by Microsoft for autos a precursor to when Kirk talks to the ships computer using voice commands in the original series. Microsoft Sync works with cell phones, MP3 music players and will call 911 in case of an accident. Sync also has traffic, turn by turn directions and information. Sync even has caller ID, which the Enterprise's computer did not have, say for instance, Kirk received a communication from an Klingon that he didn't want to talk to, he could have sen the Klingon a message that said, "This Star ship is no longer in service." Like Google Voice does...
Perlow is not the first to think that the communicator looks like a
wirelesss phone, fans of Star Trek can get a VoiP Phone that looks
like a communicator, unfortunately it does not use Wi-Fi but a USB
connection. It sells for $45.00 at USB Geeks.
Phase out aliens with the Star Trek Phaser
iPhone app. It turns an iPhone into a phaser and it's also a
game and a video app.
Of course there Star Trek games especially through the Verizon. There is a game you can enter "Find Nero" via texting KIRK to 41414. You can also get the Star Trek phone from Nokia, the Nokia 7205 Intrigue at Verizon The Nokia 7205 sells for $129 with a plan. They claim it is like a "communicator."
From vet it Now from any Verizon phone you can get tricoder app on it that scans your friends and lets you know if they are Vulcan, Romulan or other life form or the phaser app.
Nokia and Verizon have teamed up for free online center with a holodeck, and mobile recreation center.
The Verizon phone that looks and works most like the Star communicator, however, is the Motorola Krave which is only $79.99 with the Wireless and Mobile News' Instant Phone Rebate Only Available with Online Purchase. Reviewers found the design innovative and the touchscreens on the outside and inside accurate
If you would like to see more information about JionStarFleetAcademy.com and the latest Verizon Nokia commercial, read this Verizon Star Trek article.