The Fiction to Reality Timeline

The Fiction to Reality Timeline infographic from attsavings.com brings all of cool gadgets from the future in movies into the present.  Anything is possible!

Do you remember “Star Trek” and all the great gadgets the crew members used in each episode? Or the fancy gizmos from “The Jetsons” or “Minority Report?” Ever wonder when, or if, we’ll invent technology like what we’ve seen in the fictional universe? Satisfy your craving for fictional tech with The Fiction to Reality Timeline.

Although I disagree that some of their actual technology references are the first time certain technologies have appeared in the modern world, the overall message is clear.  Things like Heads-Up Displays have been around in fighter cockpits for much longer, and the iPad wasn’t the first portable display device, just the first mainstream commercially successful device.

I couldn’t figure out if the line colors had any meaning.  Are they color-coded to match some type of category?

Where’s my flying car?!?

Thanks to Ryan for sending the link!

Comments

[Craig]

This "infographic" is one of the worst I've ever seen. Where do they get their dates? It seems like it was put together by someone without any sense of history whatsover - perhaps a current teenager who has never seen anything but what could be seen on a dim computer screen.

All - or nearly all - of the "fiction" entries have earlier representations, for example. The Jetson's hover car in 1988? Doesn't the "author" know that show was from the 1960's and showed the things every episode? "Voice command computer" from Hitchhiker's guide in 1976? Guess the author never saw anything from before 76 (for example, the "voice command" (and also mobile) computer Robbie from "Forbidden Planet"). How about "hand-held communicators" from Star Trek III in 1984 - apparently missed the entire three years of the original series in the 60s.

Terrible, terrible, terrible.

[Jared]

It seems like the colors, on the left side, are there to help differentiate between lines, but the designer didn't work out how to differentiate them once they crossed to the right side, making them difficult to follow. I love the concept, but the fun of the graphic is lost in trying to parse the information.

[Dave Rodgerson]

Very cool, although the 1988 date for the Jetsons seems a little late. They were originally on TV from 1962 to 1963.
I also enjoyed the nod to the IBM commercial in 2000 with Avery Brooks, "Where is my flying car?... I was promised a flying car"
Here's the link for that; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzm6pvHPSGo
Cheers,
Dave

[Pokerseiten Vergleich]

Actual technology references are the first time certain technologies have appeared in the modern world, the overall message is clear. Things like Heads-Up Displays have been around in fighter cockpits for much longer, and the iPad wasn’t the first portable display device, just the first mainstream commercially successful device.

[curby]

How is the M200G Volantor a mainstream commercial success? Either talk about the first successful implementation anywhere, or have some reasonable benchmark for mainstream success (e.g. 50 million users, still less than 1% of the world population).

The current selection of products is arbitrary, especially in light of putting these inventions/implementations on a timeline. You need consistency when talking about what happened when.

[curby]

When I throw a rock into my neighbor's yard, I don't count that as travel. Star Wars does indeed show interplanetary travel. Sending a robot is a much easier task, and a bit of a cop out.

[Pokerseiten Vergleich]

Great gadgets the crew members used in each episode? Or the fancy gizmos from “The Jetsons” or “Minority Report?” Ever wonder when, or if, we’ll invent technology like what we’ve seen in the fictional universe? Satisfy your craving for fictional tech with The Fiction to Reality Timeline.

[Stage Hypnotist]

References are the first time certain technologies have appeared in the modern world, the overall message is clear. Things like Heads-Up Displays have been around in fighter cockpits for much longer, and the iPad wasn’t the first portable display device, just the first mainstream commercially successful device.