As we approach the release of the newest iPhones, Chuck Joiner, Marty Jencius, and Jeff Gamet look at how science fiction and popular culture imagined modern communication long before the technology existed. From early video-phone concepts and Dick Tracy to Star Trek, Get Smart, Space: 1999, and more, the panel examine fictional devices that anticipated smartphones, wearables, Bluetooth earbuds, video calls, authentication, mobile computing, and maybe even foreshadow what's coming next. (Part 1)
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Show Notes:
Chapters:
01:31 Introducing Jeff Gamet and Marty Jencius
02:47 Communication Devices and the Origins of Modern Tech
03:13 Early Cell Phones, The X-Files, and Mobile Communication
05:12 Car Phones, Batman, and The Magician
06:22 Communication Predictions from the 1800s and Early 1900s
07:28 E.M. Forster's Remarkably Prescient Connected World
09:08 Metropolis and Early Video Phones
09:59 Hugo Gernsback and Wireless Video Telephony
11:01 The Jetsons and Star Trek Video Phones
12:54 Forbidden Planet and Its Influence on Star Trek
14:45 Lost in Space and Early Visions of Future Technology
16:51 Which Came First: Fiction or Technology?
17:18 Get Smart's Shoe Phone and Wearable Technology
18:13 The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Pen Communicator
19:47 Space: 1999 and the Comlock
21:35 Why the Comlock Resembles the Modern iPhone
23:01 The iPhone vs. the Star Trek Tricorder
25:03 How Fiction Imagined Wearable Communication Devices
25:50 Babylon 5 and Hand-Mounted Communications
26:26 Total Recall and Embedded Communication Technology
27:28 AirPods and Uhura's Star Trek Earpiece
28:38 Why Fictional Communications Aren't Always Private
30:13 Speakerphones and Real-World Communication Etiquette
31:43 How Star Trek Inspired Motorola's First Handheld Cell Phone
34:05 Star Trek's Influence on Flip Phones and the Motorola Razr
34:49 From Simple Cell Phones to Multifunction Smartphones
Guests:
Get detailed bios and contact information about for the panel on the MacVoices Live! Panel page on our web site:
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