BlackBerry Predicted a Century Ago By Nikola Tesla

andylim writes "According to the Telegraph, the BlackBerry was first predicted more than a century ago, by Nikola Tesla, the electrical engineer. Seth Porges, Popular Mechanics' current technology editor, disclosed Tesla's prediction at a presentation, titled '108 Years of Futurism,' to industry figures recently in New York. Recombu.com has published the original Popular Mechanics article in which Tesla predicts a mobile phone revolution."

Not Surprised

[MaxwellEdison]

I don't find it very surprising that someone obsessed with perfecting the wireless transmission of electricity would envision the wireless transmission of information. The fact that he predicted Apple would abandon flash though, was a bit of a shock.

Re:That's all fine and good

[lxs]

Just wait until you read his letter on why the iPad sucks.

Prior Art!

[rnturn]

It appears that Tesla thought of everything. So let's just toss out all those silly mobile patents and let the real innovation -- and competition -- begin.

What did he have to say about audio and video encoding?

Re:Loser

[redJag]

I have my secretary print out the slashdot comments and leave them on my desk every hour, you insensitive clod!

Re:Free advertising going too far

[Anonymous Coward]

This is just another patent troll... This guy Tesla wants a piece of the cake. Then, he'll probably go after Apple.

Re:Tesla in 1909? Try Francis Bacon in 1623

[bunratty]

Bacon got it totally wrong. Everybody knows the Internet is a series of tubes, not pipes. Pfffft!

Re:Prior Art!

[L4t3r4lu5]

What did he have to say about audio and video encoding?

Yeah, he pretty much said to use Ogg formats. Further, to quote: "Verily, Real Audio is gash."

Re:Blackberry?

[jonbryce]

You mean the windmill, invented by Heron of Alexandria in approx 50AD?

Re:Yet another example of why...

[Mindcontrolled]

While this is surely a worthwhile endeavor for a young novice of the Church of St. Tesla, St. Tesla's day should be a great opportunity to just try your hands on some electronics.

Just follow these simple commands:

Thou shalt not presente your body as a path for ye electrone to reach ground, lest ye be smitten down.
Thou shall only manipulate HV circuits with one hand, keeping the other behind your back, lest thou presenteth a path for ye electrone through thine hearte and be smitten down.
Thou shalt not touch a big-arsed capacitor without discharching it before, lest ye be smitten down.
Thou shall always remember that woode is only an isolator below a certain voltage, lest it presenteth a path for the electrone and filleth yer room with holy flame and smoke.
Thou shall always use a decent head-sink for yer MOSFETs, lest ye olde magick smoke escapeth.

Keep that in mind and rise from the lowly status of novice!

Re:Count the misses, not just the hits.

[Khyber]

"The device that Tesla predicted would look completely different from a technical standpoint than the devices we have today."

Really?

Tesla mentioned one device being the size of a watch that you wore on your wrist to communicate with people all over the world.

I HAVE ONE, it's called the M810 Tri-band wrist phone.

Do you even pay attention to the things we have today or do you just sit in the cave, on the computer?

Re:Count the misses, not just the hits.

[paulej72]

Well GPS is receive only, and SatPhones are huge.

Re:Count the misses, not just the hits.

[Khyber]

Satphones are not huge. An Iridium is the size of a cordless handset at home, without the handset's base station.

And they're getting smaller every single year.

And GPS is *NOT* receive only. How the hell is it supposed to sync with multiple satellites if it can't send a signal out for triangulation?

Re:Count the misses, not just the hits.

[cybernanga]

On the other hand, they had radios capable of transmitting hundreds of miles that could fit into something the size of a clock by the 20's, so maybe he wasn't that far off.

Travel Alarm Clock, or Grandfather Clock?