Gizmodo: kirk

Star Trek iPhone Is the Definitive iPhone (If You Are Picard or Jason Chen)

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:59:59 EDT

Reader Andrew Aitken saw the article on the iPhone prototype's user interface and sent us this: A video detailing a complete—and absolutely cool—Star Trek: The Next Generation makeover for Apple's cellphone.

I saw your call for a total ST:TNG makeover of the iPhone, and wanted to show you (and the world) mine! It is not completely designed by me, others started the work and I just continued it, or combined several existing models.

I then ported it to winterboard and added my own mods here and there, like the LCARS calculator and SBSettings, as well as sounds and an animated background to make the whole thing look cooler! I even ported the Enterprise's computer font—Swiss911, used for the Library Computer Access/Retrieval System's interface—to the iPhone.

It's not finished yet, my imagination and photoshop skills have really been put to the test, if this gets out to a wider audience, maybe some ideas would come in... here it is, so far.

[Thanks Andrew]

Can Young Kirk Really Survive the Car Jump In the New Star Trek?

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:40:00 EST

PopSci's Adam Weiner did some calculations to see if young Kirk could survive the car jump in the new Star Trek trailer. Adam's wrong. We have the real answer in our own video.

According to Adam, he would have needed to apply a force of 3,900 Newtons with his fingers to stop from falling. His calculations, however, don't take into account the friction of his body, as some of the comments in his article point out. But then again, he gave Kirk a 4m/s liftoff speed on his jump—which is quite high.

In any case, we stand by our answer: Who gives a vulcan ass about this. [PopSci]

The song is "Dead" by the Pixies, from the album "Pixies at the BBC". Go get it. It rocks.

Bar Trek: The Next Inebriation

Mark Wilson — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EDT

It's an unfortunate turn of events when Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Sulu don't get along in real life. But we'd like to believe that through the magic of t-shirts and a night out drinking with the buddies that we can solve most any of the world's problems. Bar Trekkin’ celebrates the original Star Trek cast by capturing a moment in time—probably imagined—when the bridge of the Enterprise could unite in the seconds before a drunken street brawl.

Bar Trekkin’ runs $18 and is available in all sizes for men and women. [Go Ape Shirts via Defamer]

Star Trek Nutcrackers Are Logical Additions to the Holiday Season

Jack Loftus — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 12:30:30 EDT

Rat-fighting red coat nutcrackers? Look me up when you get to the 24th century, pal. That's where I'll be, cracking nuts and taking names with my $35 Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock versions of this timeless classic. They go nicely with my Star Trek synthehol bottle opener, and are handy in a pinch (groan, huh?) when I need something quick to fight off those son-murdering Klingons. Keep the eight ladies dancing away from the Kirk one, though. We hear it has a tendency to end up sweaty and shirtless at least once a holiday. [What on Earth]

Star Trek's Enterprise Boldly Went 42 Years Ago Today

Kit Eaton — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:30:25 EDT

Star Trek fans will be tickled to know that the good ol' starship Enterprise first took flight on network TV on September 8th 1966, and split infinitives became OK. Actually, aspects of the show have become such cultural items that even non-sci-fi fans know the thrilling soundtrack, the iconic hull of NCC-1701 zipping into warp, Kirk, Spock, Scotty, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov, polystyrene alien worlds, and the inevitable death of red-sweatered crewmen. Who hasn't switched on their cellphone (or flipped it open... old Motorola StarTacs were the best) and muttered "beam me up, Scotty"? All that began 42 years ago, a number that'll please a different set of sci-fi fans. Fingers crossed for the upcoming reboot movie. [Wired]

Order Your Wife Around as Captain Kirk For $1000ish

Jason Chen — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:50:00 EDT

Captain Kirk's original chair cost $304,750 when it was auctioned off back in 2002, but now you can own your own replica chair for only a bit over $1000. You won't get Shatner's actual butt imprint in your chair (nor his fart remnants and other juices), but you will save quite a bit of money and get a seat that's as close to the original as you can get without building one yourself.

It's too bad this thing isn't Picard's chair, which is way more comfortable and also has cupholders and the leftover scent of Counselor Troi. And despite what Buchanan thinks, Star Trek rules, and is way cooler than Star Wars. Yeah, I said it. Who wants Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader's chair? You'd be afraid to catch a major case of whininess and teen angst, respectively. [Trek Movie via Retro Thing]

Star Trek Communicator Replica Coming Soon, Sadly Doesn't Communicate

Kit Eaton — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:36:46 EST

This "life-size" Star Trek Communicator is a dream for every budding Kirk out there, sounding like the real thing when you flip it open, and with nine different voice phrases from the TV series built in. So okay, you can't actually contact anyone with it, but who needs that when you can pretend with "Spock here, Captain" or speak to the Enterprise with "Bridge, this is the captain?" Just don't be wearing a red suit. Available in March for $29.99 [Geek Alerts]

Shatner Says Cellphones are Better Than Star Trek Communicators

Jason Chen — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:50:05 EDT

Captain Kirk, while speaking at a Toronto press conference to shill for Canada's Rogers Wireless, says that cellphones today are more impressive than communicators from Star Trek. Assuming he's not just saying this because he's a spokes-rep for a phone company—like the time he said booking online was better than calling a travel agent (Priceline) or boning a green broad was better than doing a human (Greenpeace)—it's cool that technology has surpassed what people envisioned decades ago.

We suppose it would have been pretty impossible for ANYONE to predict 40 years ago that we'd have hand warmers and seat coolers that plug into USB ports. – Jason Chen

Captain Kirk says mobiles are better than Star Trek communicators [The Inquirer]

Star Trek XI: Portrait of the Officers as Young Men

Charlie White — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:00:00 EST

There's another Star Trek movie on the way, and this one's a prequel that will fill in backstory on Kirk and Spock as younger men. The latest addition to the $1 billion+ franchise will be Star Trek XI, and will be helmed by ace director J.J. Abrams of Mission Impossible III fame.

The screenplay will be written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, neither of whom have written a Star Trek screenplay before. The burning question: Who will play Kirk and Spock? Expect to see the movie in theaters by November, 2008.

Question for Trekkie experts: How will the tech in this new movie be different from the original Star Trek series? Somewhere between Enterprise and Star Trek? Discuss. – Charlie White

Star Trek XI [IMDb, via I4U]

Hasee's KHAN Series 15.4-inch Laptops

Jason Chen — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 22:23:32 EDT

Kirk: Khan, you bloodsucker. You're gonna have to get your own Korean Hasee L230E/15.4 Laptop now, do you hear me? Do you?
Khan: Kirk. You're still alive, old friend.
Kirk: Still, "old friend." You've managed to see me in the 15.4-inch screen, but like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target.
Khan: Perhaps I no longer need to try, Admiral.
[beams the Genesis device away]
Kirk: Khan... Khan, you've got a Core Duo T2300, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, an 80GB STA hard disk, and a DVD burner, but you don't have me. You were going to kill me, Khan. You're gonna have to come down here. You're gonna have to come down here.
Khan: I've done far worse than kill you, Admiral. I've hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her: with an ATI Radeon X1600, WLAN, DVI, DMB TV Tuner or an external Sony HDD, marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet, buried alive. Buried alive.
Kirk: KHAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!!!!!!
[echo]
Kirk: KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

– Jason Chen

KHAN Series PC's from Hasee [Akihabara News]

Transcript courtesy IMDB