10 Times Star Trek Predicted The Future
8. Tablet Computers
Michael Okuda, along with Denise Okuda and Doug Drexler, were faced with an issue when it came to designing sets and props for Star Trek: The Next Generation - something that left them in a similar position that Matt Jefferies had found himself in while designing the Original Enterprise.
Okuda spoke about how Jefferies created a pared back, simplistic approach to the bridge on Star Trek. He said that, had Jefferies had the budget, there would have been far more dials and buttons. Going into The Next Generation, Okuda was faced with a similar problem - they simply didn't have the money for elaborate terminals.
This led to the idea of making everything flat and touch screen. This in turn led to the creation of smaller, handheld Personal Access Display Devices, or PADDs, which clearly served as an inspiration for the Apple iPad.
Okuda had experimented with the design (dubbed "Okudagrams") for Star Trek IV, aboard the Enterprise-A. Both Okuda and Drexler, upon receiving and using the iPad first, were blown away with the power of the device. They both felt it was an advancement on the PADD, yet honoured that original device.
They particularly enjoyed the pinch and magnify elements to the screen, something that had proved difficult while on set. As the series had progressed, the initial methods of simply printing graphics on the screens had advanced to including video - something that, while not as time consuming as having to write computer code, still took a lot of time to get right. Here now was a device that did it all - and may have made life a lot easier for them in the early '90s.