I couldn't resist checking out this working Star Trek communicator for sale on eBay.
Here's how it works; it connects to your cellphone via Bluetooth like any other hands-free device. Leave the cellphone in your pocket, and just pull out your Communicator like it was the real deal. It even has a control that plays the authentic communicator sound as you pick up your call. The bad news: it's a one-of-a-kind prototype unit.
The streamlined future
I'm still waiting for these science-fictional communication devices on eBay:
- the audio relay from Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters or
- the bat-based distrans from Frank Herbert's Dune. Even Batman never had one of these!
Related Stories:
Taprisiot - now that's a long-distance call
Pocketphone - Robert Heinlein's cellphone (in 1953!)
Ray Bradbury's 'sea shell' radio
(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction.)
