Samsung’s latest salvo against Apple and its attempts at barring the company from selling its line of Galaxy phones and tablets in the U.S. involved a bold trick last week: saying Apple’s iPad design patent should be tossed on the grounds that others have gotten there first.
The proof for that claim? Science fiction, of course.
Samsung cited Stanly Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey” wherein two of the astronauts watch video on two separate tablet devices while eating a meal (pictured). In its brief, Samsung says that because those tablets share design similarities with the tablet depicted in a granted Apple design patent, the patent should therefore be tossed from Apple’s effort.
That very idea opens up a wealth of other gadgets to scrutiny of “what came first?” Without further ado: a handful of gadgets that could be targeted for trailing their fictional media counterparts.
Photo by Warner Bros.
Comic book character Dick Tracy sported a wrist-mounted communicator, a device that was the stuff of dreams in its 1946 comic debut, letting people talk to one another right through their wrists. In the 1990 film, the technology was little more than a walkie-talkie, but in the comic book series, the device would later go on to include a built-in digital screen.
Fast forward to 2009 and you get LG’s formal debut of its Watch Phone at the Consumer Electronics Show. The device featured a touch screen, a built-in camera and speakers. Oh yeah, and it made phone calls. Given its high price tag and similarity to an accessory that was on its way out technologically, the phone didn’t become the next big thing, but it was the realization of a sci-fi dream.
See also: The now-defunct SPOT Watch, a one-way communication device that could grab news feeds and deliver them to watches, but not quite grab the “consumers buying it” part.
Photo by Touchstone Pictures
Stepping into a car that could drive you anywhere while you sit there and read a newspaper or take a nap? Sounds like the stuff of science fiction, and–in fact–it has been in numerous sci-fi works. In movie form it’s been seen more recently in 1993′s “Demolition Man” and 2004′s “I, Robot.”
Now we have Google testing out its own driverless car systems the company hopes will cut down on accidents and improve efficiency. That testing follows the path of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency challenges, which pit driverless cars against one another to get from point A to point B. And before that, the idea was pitched by General Motors at the 1939 World’s Fair using radio signals to tell cars where to go.
Seen here is Will Smith’s Audi of the future, from “I, Robot” switching from autopilot to manual override mode.
Photo by 20th Century Fox
Long before it could be considered rude to wear a Bluetooth headset while having a face-to-face conversation with another human being, there was the earpiece worn by fictional Enterprise communications officer Uhura on the original “Star Trek” TV series.
While appearing to be nothing more than a computer heat sync jutting out of the ear of actress Nichelle Nichols, the idea ended up being very practical over the past decade. Hands-free headsets have also become the law for drivers in some states, including California. Electronics companies like Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, and others hold design patents depicting ear-mounted wireless receivers.
Photo by CBS
