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Heck, I’m sure savvy fans have even figured out the dissolution of the Klingon-Fed alliance, given the messy inter-galactic politics started towards the end of Deep Space Nine and continued during Picard’s final days on-screen. But it’s always good for geeks to see the niggling details their favorite mythos fleshed out by a professional graphic designer, and the timeline’s definitely whetting my appetite for the upcoming online game. Definitely a Q’apla!

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As the underage and rebellious James T. Kirk drives down in an “antique” Corvette, he gets a call from the angry owner. And how did he know a call was coming in? Why, through the futuristic version of the Nokia ringtone of course! And who would’ve thought Nokia moved past the typical standalone phone, featuring products of more integrated form?

Unless earlier parts of the movie’s timeline have changed, it’s good to see that the world’s number cell phone manufacturer has survived World War III.

Oh and by the way, Star Trek is a blast! Watch it if you haven’t!

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Well, the TNG variant at least. The “Okudagrams” that characterize the controls of the USS Enterprise-D (as well other ships within the same timeframe) actually seem counter-intuitive. Granted, the bright colors and adaptability—similar to how an iPhone changes whats on screen depending on what app is running—make the futuristic interface look cool. But nobody’s ever considered just how easy it is to use (or not).

Hard to Understand

For starters, if fan-made Okudagrams are any indication:

…then the learning curve in the Star Trek TNG universe must be very steep indeed. As we unconsciously know, the best interfaces communicate immediately what you can do and how you can do it. And both Okudagrams did a great job of obscuring both.

The examples above were full of rounded shapes that looked like buttons—imagine my surprise when practically none of them worked! And imagine my confusion when I ended up on succeeding pages at lcars.org.uk. Suddenly buttons were everywhere, but I only found this out by moving my mouse over each and every shape. Such a cumbersome way to redirect the plasma flow into the quantum manifold of the navigational deflector, no doubt.

Text Input Without a Keyboard?

Call me a luddite, but after using devices like the iPhone and the LG Cookie, I’m convinced physical key input is still the fastest and most reliable way to enter text. At least until they finally perfect mind-to-machine interfaces.

Yes, you see our heroes (especially Data) input text furiously by tapping rapidly on the touch panel. That may be easy for an android like Data, but who’s willing to bet that Starfleet’s secretaries prefer actual keys to touch-type on?

Dependency on Power

Remember those scenes where the starship is under heavy fire, and those control panels flicker all over? Wouldn’t that make it harder to change interfaces, much less actually use them? Sorry Captain, I can’t vent the plasma—my buttons keep on disappearing!

Granted, those old-school panels of buttons can fail, if their completely cut off from the rest of the ship. But I’d rather rely on controls that work on minimal power, and not on interfaces that depend on a steady stream of power to function properly.

If the trailer is any indication, the upcoming Star Trek movie will feature physical controls. Self-changing plexiglass panels of virtual buttons may look cool, but nothing beats the real feeling of an actual button or lever. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, let us know what you think through the comments below.

(All images are screenshots)

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PS: iTunes users can click here)

PPS: Was this trailer trying to evoke The Dark Knight or something? Still awesome though.

PPPS: Don’t forget our special Star Trek Messenger Bag promo!

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Here’s our own special Star Trek related promo, as promised yesterday: get a chance to win the Star Trek Messenger bag pictured above!

So how can you enter?

Over the next week two weeks, just leave a comment here about the new Star Trek movie and what you think about it. Will it revive the currently moribund franchise? Or doom Gene Roddenberry’s creation for good?

Say whatever you want, just play nice, stay relevant, and please use your real email when you comment! Only US residents may participate, while comments received after 10:00 PM, March 21 (PST) will not be considered.

I will choose the best comment (based on my subjective judgment) and email its author for his or her delivery address. If for some reason I can’t declare my first pick as the winner (ineligibility, does not reply, etc.), I will move on to my next pick, and so on and so forth. Contest starts today; good luck!

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For Intel and Lenovo, the Star Trek franchise represents an opportunity to reach the geeky people. You know, the type who give a damn about CPUs and computing equipment. That’s why they’re raffling off access to:

• A trip for four to the Hollywood Premiere of the new Star Trek movie.
• A “zero gravity flight” for a group of four. That’s the trip where you all fly in a plane that climbs up then descends quickly, creating zero gravity conditions for you and friends to play around in.

The so-called New Frontiers Sweepstakes is only open to US residents, age 18 and above. Visit http://boldlygo.intel.com/newfrontiers to join.

Tomorrow, The Gadget blog will be holding its own special Star Trek related promo, thanks to Intel and Lenovo. Stay tuned dear readers!

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Yes, I know the latest Star Trek trailer—which no doubt reveals a lot more about the movie—is scheduled to show with Watchmen this coming weekend. But it’s hard being patient.

Yes, I know JJ Abrams and Paramount, not to mention the people behind Watchmen, have their reasons in keeping the new trailer under wraps until this Saturday. But I want to see the trailer now!

Yes, I know JJ Abrams politely asked people attending the trailer viewing at WonderCon 2009 to not record anything and post it online. In a rare display of solidarity, no one in the audience apparently broke the rule. But, as they say, rules are made to be broken.

Yes, I know at least one website has published a summary of the new trailer, narrating the apparently awesome tableau of scenes, visual effects, and snippets through words. So readers are left to visualize the trailer for themselves. But this is a rare time where imagination fails to do the real thing any sort of justice.

C’mon Paramount, release the new trailer already! My need for geekasm is acute.

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Trekkies everywhere should be in love with Dream Cheeky, because the site’s apparently coming out with a Star Trek themed VoIP speakerphone soon. Constructed like that classic gadget that was William Shatner’s outlet for hammy acting, answering calls with the Star Trek USB Communicator is a simple matter of—you guessed it—flipping the cover up! Talking handsfree is of course accomplished via speakerphone.

And if EverythingUSB’s grammatically-challenged report is accurate, the USB Communicator can also play assorted Star Trek sound “bytes”, comes with independent volume control and mute, and ships with Velcro backing. Supported OSes: XP, Vista, Mac OS X (Tiger and up). No pricing or availability info forthcoming. Stay tuned for updates!

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More updates on the upcoming Star Trek movie: Turns out all those obvious differences—as featured through teasers and trailers—aren’t due to an attempt to update the whole Star Trek “look” for the unwashed 2009 masses. (Before we continue however… SPOILER ALERT!!!).

…Rather, it’s all based on long-established Trek science, that things change thanks to the miracle of time travel. Continue reading to see what trekmovie.com learned through an interview with Star Trek co-writer Bob Orci.

Anthony: OK, now let’s get really into it. From the trailer, and certainly from the four scene preview, there is no doubt that things are different. Pike and Kirk are hanging out in a bar. The ship looks different. Kirk is on the Enterprise and not headed to the Farragut. People are seeing Romulans…things are different. Now it has been revealed in the Entertainment Weekly article that Nero goes back in time and attacks the Kelvin, and JJ also talked about this during his previews. So the big question is: Is the destruction of the Kelvin, the canon reason why everything is different?

Bob: It is the reason why some things are different, but not everything is different. Not everything is inconsistent with what might have actually happened, in canon. Some of the things that seem that they are totally different, I will argue, once the film comes out, fall well within what could have been the non-time travel version of this move.

Anthony: So, for example, Kirk is different, because his back story has totally changed, in that his parents…and all that. But you are saying that maybe Scotty or Spock’s back story would not be affected by that change?

Bob: Right.

Anthony: Does the time travel explain why the Enterprise looks different and why it is being built in Riverside Iowa?

Bob: Yes, and yes.

As a long-time Trekkie, consider me shuddering from the throes of yet another geekasm. Full interview available here.

(Image from trekmovie.com)

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