Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Stop the Noiz

Could the iPhone Replace Star Trek's Tricorder?

Frank Fox - 2009.04.23 - Tip Jar

Popularity:

Bookmark in del.icio.us

Growing up, I loved Star Trek. It's easy to see why people want to recreate the experience with today's devices.

There is a guy bringing Star Trek to the world of Macs starting with LCARS on the desktop (above).

If you prefer, you could buy a tricorder simulator, TR-580 Mark III for the iPhone.

The question is why live a fantasy? The iPhone is better than a tricorder. It is the tricorder, communicator, and universal translator all rolled into one. Sure, you could claim that the tricorder was an advanced sensing device, but what it really did was provide answers to the hundreds of tough situations the crew found itself in.

What would the crew of the Enterprise do if they were given an iPhone instead of a tricorder ?

Could Dr. McCoy use it in the infirmary? Yes, there is VR-Render 0.7 for viewing medical images. Or how about A to Z Drug Facts or a program to help understand lab results, Normal Lab Values.

What about First Officer Spock? He could take a primitive look at how 21-century scientists viewed Quantum Mechanical Atomic Orbitals. If the ship went through a wormhole and Spock had to find their new location, he could whip out Starmap to help pinpoint where they are.

Is there anything for Chief Engineer Scott to use? For starters there is cadTouch, which will open schematics of the ship for troubleshooting. If he needs to run some calculations or pull up a formula, he can open Formula Pro. And when he has to deal with a turbulent atmosphere on a new planet, he can use a fluid dynamics application.

Least we forget, it was always Captain Kirk asking for crazy things to be accomplished by his crew and their trusty tricorders. He could ask that controls for the ship be rerouted to the iPhone so it could be controlled by an application like V-Cockpit GPS. If that isn't good enough, he could find the lost ensign by using iHound to hunt down the ensign's location.

What got me thinking about this was a Newsweek article on the military using the iPod touch and iPhone. We are seeing the iPhone being turned into a solution for situations in real life military conditions from face recognition to ballistic calculations. The iPhone can easily steal the title of "do everything device" that the tricorder was.

Recent Stop the Noiz Columns

iPad Score Card, 01.29. Apple's iPad is almost everything expected, but there are areas where it comes up short.
Making the Computer Even More Personal, 01.25. Portability and wireless networking make computing on the go easier and more personal than ever.
Apple Saves Everyone Money, 01.21. Before the iPod and the iTunes Store, CD prices were increasing. Now they're on the decline, but still not as low as iTunes prices.
Toshiba Passes Apple in Unit Sales, Not Profits, 01.15. Toshiba saw a remarkable 71% growth in unit sales to pass Apple for the #4 spot in the US market, but Apple is far more profitable.
More in the Stop the Noiz index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 'WallStreet' PowerBook G3, May 1998 - WallStreet offered 3 screen sizes and CPU speeds from 233 to 292 MHz.
Group of the Day: Mac UK is for Mac users in the United Kingdom.
February 9 in LEM history: 00: Think choices - Promoting the Macintosh - 01: Apple vs. Mac clones - 05: Apple and the $100 laptop - Yojimbo - Core Duo vs. G5 - 07: The story behind After Dark - Microsoft Office 2007
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, 02.02. Used 2 GHz, $700; 2.4, $999; refurb 2.53, $1,449; 2.8, $1,699; 3.06, $2,199; new 2.53, $1,610; 2.66, $1,839; 2.8, $2,109; 3.06, $2,550; more.
Best G3 iMac Deals, 02.02. 500 MHz CD-ROM, $40; 450 MHz DVD-ROM, $60; 600 MHz CD-ROM, $230 shipped; 700 MHz CD-RW, $300 shipped.
Best eMac Deals, 02.02. 1 GHz SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 Combo, $100; SD, $360; 1.42 GHz Combo, $299; SD, $439.
Best Mac mini Deals, 02.01. Used 1.25 GHz G4 Combo, $369; 1.5, $399; Core Solo, $399; 1.83 GHz Core Duo SD, $439; new 2.26 GHz nVidia, $580; 2.53 GHz, $759; Server, $985.
Best iBook G4 Deals, 02.01. 12" 1.07 GHz Combo, $200; 1.33 GHz, $259; 14" 1.42 GHz SuperDrive, $399.
Best Titanium PowerBook G4 Deals, 02.01. 800 MHz Combo, $285; 867 MHz SuperDrive, $400; 1 GHz Combo, $549.
Best 13" MacBook & MacBook Pro Deals, 01.29. Used 1.83 GHz, $570; 2.0, $599; 2.4 GHz, $800; 2.26 MB, $849; new, $925 after rebate; Pro, $1,108, 2.53, $1,399 a/r.
Best Power Mac G5 Deals, 01.29. 1.8 GHz single, $399; dual, $479; 2.0, $549; 2.5, $609; 2.7, $799; 2.3 GHz dual-core, $709; 2.5 GHz Quad, $939.
Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 Deals, 01.29. Mac OS X 10.0, $30; 10.1, $20; 10.2, $50; 10.3, $50; 10.3 Server, unlimited users, $130.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2010 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.