CNET Top 5: Real-life 'Star Trek' gadgets Video
CNET Top 5: Real-life 'Star Trek' gadgets Video Transcript
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>> Welcome to CNET Top Five. Each time we meet we count down another hot CNET list, I'm Tom Merit. And my friends, you may not realize it, but we are living in the future. We have gone boldly where no one has gone before. Star Trek is real. Today things that were only imaginary when Star Trek launched in 1966 are now in your hands in some cases. So let's count them down. At number five, the Tricorder, a real, working tricorder is in fact already obsolete. Mark 1TR 107 from Vital Technologies was unveiled in 1996. Unfortunately, they went out of business and the only place you can one now is sometimes on eBay. Coming in at number four, voice activated computers. The Enterprise's computer was very chatty. Well, now speech recognition comes standard on Windows Vista. And it works pretty well. Well, what do you say to Vista? Hello computer. Can you suck less? Thanks. And it doesn't respond in Major Barrett's voice either. Up to number three, the phaser. Sure, it's not quite deadly yet, but the U.S. Air Force has something called the Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response System, or PHSR. It uses light to halt oncoming people. So essentially all we have so far is stun. Sliding in at number two, big screens. That's right. The big wall-sized screen from the Enterprise is definitely a reality called HDTV. A projector can take any image you want from the TV, the net, remote cameras, and put it to the screen. So fun to say. Before we get to number one, let's check in on the top five Star Trek technologies that are really close to becoming a reality. They're not quite there yet. All right. Let's get to our number one. Our top Star Trek technology that you can carry around with you every day. At number one, it's the communicator. The old flip-phone device from the original series. Remember that? Think Razor as but one example, and then [Inaudible] little ear thingy is easily seen on any city street. It's a Bluetooth headset. And yet, there's still no intelligent life down here. What gives? Well, that's it for this edition of CNET Top Five. Please, pop in with your own suggestions at our blog, blog.cnettv.com. I'm Tom Merit, beam me out of here.
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