First fondleslab found in 1970s kids TV sci-fi gem
Apple iPad inspired by Tomorrow People
At last it can be revealed: Apple owes the look of the "magical" iPad to a team of telepathic teens from the 1970s - The Tomorrow People.
The 'jaunting' group's leader, John, played by actor Nicholas Young, could often be seen sporting his futuristic tablet - complete with silvery casing, shiny black bezel and 9.7in display - during the ITV series that ran from 1973 to 1979.
That's more than 30 years before technology caught up with television - and long before the PADDs of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which don't look much like the iPad in any case.
Jonathan Ive, Apple's British designer-in-chief, could well have been inspired by John's fondleslab. Born in 1967, he was aged between six and 12 when The Tomorrow People was shown.
The Tomorrow People themselves were said to be the next stage in human evolution, homo superior. The comparison with Apple fans is perhaps invidious, but unavoidable. ®
Thanks to reader Marie Griffiths for the tip
COMMENTS
prior art
Yes, Arthur C. Clarke did describe geo-stationary orbit in a book, but it wasn't a Sci-Fi book, it was a rocket science book! He also a published a paper in the British Interplanetary Society journal and Wireless World.
'Extra-Terrestrial Relays — Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?', published in Wireless World in October 1945
That's uncanny, although form-follows-function makes it inevitable
I used to watch the Tomorrow People as one of my favourite shows.
They did not need 3G or any cellular technology, because they had an alien mentor from a more advanced planet (the Trig) who provided access to a limited amount of advanced technology to augment the still developing telepathic abilities of the group. They regularly used remote data gathering and communication devices, so this proto-ipad probably did not need 3G, and may have used a near-field technology, as it was only used in their lab.
In addition, they had an advanced AI called TIM who coordinated all of the technology, although it was not portrayed as techno-magic, and there were definite limits to what they could do.
On a related note, was Captain Kirk in ST-TOS not forever using a device, often given to him by Yeoman Rand (gotta love those uniforms) not an electronic device? I know it used a stylus, so was probably more like a Newton than an iPad, but still.
what about
the flat-panel screens Bowman and Poole are watching during dinner in 2001?
Sounds about right.
>Surely it was God that invented the paving slab if we're basing it on the commandments.
Sounds about right - he never was one for making life easy.
"You should live here. It's wonderful" - lacks fresh water, surrounded by enemies on three sides and faces a contested sea on the other side with plenty more enemies waiting to attack.
"Tell these people where they are going wrong" - results in you being nailed to a tree.
Any sensible God would have given Moses the commandments on paper. Or better yet, shown everyone in the camp by means of ten metre tall glowing writing in the sky. But no. This poor sod stumbles to the top of a tall mountain and all God can say is "Hello there. Take these paving slabs with you when you go back down willyou? There's a good chap".
