AJ and Jen talk about the technology in J.D. Robb's "In Death" series: what Nora Roberts got right, what Nora got wrong, and what we're not sure about yet.

 

What the series got right:

 

Voice Commands - Alexa/Siri

 

AutoChef - Tovala Oven

 

Drying Tubes - Tornado Body Dryer

 

PPC (Personal Palm Computer) - Though, Palm Computing had come out with their first generation of Palm Pilots in 1996, So not much of a stretch.

 

Droids in menial positions. (again, not much of a stretch)

 

Seal-It - Several brands of “invisible glove” solutions are on the market now like Ghost Glove

 

VR goggles (already been around for several years before the series started)

 

Holo-Rooms: Euclideon Holographics - Jen wonders if a tactile Holoroom, where you can actually feel and interact with things would work. AJ talks about news stories she's seen where that technology is actually in development. See: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/78xa5x/how-haptics-make-holograms-you-can-touch

 

Hologram meetings - DVE Holograms

 

What the series got wrong:

 

No text messaging in first several books

 

Palm Prints: Should be facial recognition?

 

Still having big, clunky computers

 

Memo Cubes

 

Compuguard? Or is that under “we don’t know about that yet”?

 

What we’re not sure about yet:

 

Stunners - We do have some companies making “wireless” tasers now, but it will still shoot a dart into a victim. No “laser” style tasers yet, though China has in development a weapon (ZKZM-500) that can shoot a laser beam that burns things.

 

Flying Cars

 

Credit Tokens

 

Privacy Screens

 

Holorooms

 

Airboards

 

Recreational Space Travel - Virgin Galactic, SpaceX

 

Something like the Olympus Resort in space - Aurora Station