Subj : Re: My, God; It's Becoming Real! To : alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise From : Kweeg Date : Tue Oct 11 2005 22:35:27 From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise "Ron" wrote in message news:1129033244.217339.14310@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com... > I just saw on the news this morning that some of the > cops here in Oregon are using ultra-sophisticated > PDAs to give tickets and store information. It has > occured to me that we're not even a generation from > Star Trek's PADDs; some are already here. Even my > doctor has a PDA with all of the drugs from the > Physicians Desk Reference stored in it. Maybe it's > just me, but I have a hard time calling them PDAs > anymore; at least not the little small ones. I just > have to wonder how long before everybody starts calling > them PADDs? Maybe in a generation I'll be able to buy > that tricorder I always wanted as a kid. :-) A real-world device comparable to the tricorder was developed by the Canadian company Vital Technologies Corporation in 1996. Known as the TR-107 Mark 1, 10,000 of them were sold before the company went out of business. The TR-107 could scan electromagnetic radiation, temperature, and barometric pressure. http://www.stim.com/Stim-x/0996September/Sparky/tricorder.html Also of interest... a medical "tricorder" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2231989.stm -- Qa'pla Kweeg Ten of Canadian Clubs in the Eeeevil Trek Cabal http://members.shaw.ca/iksbloodoath "Half a gallon a'scotch!" Scotty (Spectre of the Gun) .