Learning through the Internet is a great advancement. In the episode where Nomad wipes Uhura’s mind, seeing Uhura relearning in sickbay through the terminal access to the computer library was a glimpse of what the Internet would be like.

I wanted to let you know that the article was informative and supportive of the way technology has changed in the years since the airing of Star Trek and how we actually did have people who used ideas from the show and how it assisted in their inventive minds to work towards their goals.
Star Treks have given us some great impressions on what we would like in our futures from computer use to medical advancements.
One use that I use the internet for is the advancement in my education, attending classes on line with live seminars and interaction at the time of a seminar instead of a lecture.

Not really in widespread use yet, but shouldn’t be long!

Another great example of how imagination provokes invention. Science Fiction/Fantasy in the form of art, literature and film have pushed the boundaries of countless forefronts. This is not limited to technology but theology, politics and philosophy as well.

I also as a kid wonder why the color discs were not marked in anyway – as all of my 3.5″ and 5.25″ discs had labels – Now that I have a lot stored on USB flash drives I find myself plugging and unplugging looking for the file I want. But I am glad to see I was not the only one who wonder that!

I might also point out that PDAs started off with a black and white display (quickly moved to color as the LCDs become cheaper and where able to consume less power) – But I had one of the first PDAs black/white display, didn’t do much more then the basics, I think it would play MP3s but I had to install a program to do it…someone said something about PDAs being color – they have been around for a long long time but have not always been in color.

Even though most people are bored of my invention posts or are confused about the differences in them, I’m currently working on “Top 10 Inventions That Star Trek Failed To Foresee.” One of them is the flat panel display. Take a look at the clunky monitors in crew quarters. These monitors are flat screen, however.

indyKing, you’re right in your updated comment about the tricorder screen. I think Wah Chang, the prop guy who made the tricorder, incorporated the small cathode ray tube television. For the purposes of matting in images, he probably should have faked a flat screen.

Regarding PDAs that could display photos or movies, does anyone know why these PDAs before the iPod Touch failed? Was it the lack of Wi-Fi? Was it the lack of multi-touch capability? Or was it poor advertising?