If you were a Star Trek fan back in the ’60s, or even a Star Trek: The Next Generation fan in the ’80s and ’90s, then for you, the world we live in now is in many ways the future as envisioned by the show. Ok, so maybe we don’t have warp drive or transporters yet (sadly). But the smart phones we use every day are basically tricorders. The Enterprise had the universal translator to speak to aliens, and we have a voice translator app that understands 71 languages. And the pads that Captain Picard and company are so fond of is basically your average everyday tablet now.
But there’s one thing Star Trek fans have not been able to do, and it’s not even something that’s terribly hard to make happen. On the series, whenever Kirk, Spock or Picard wanted to ask the ship’s computer for any kind of information, they would simply address the computer as “computer.” Nowadays, we give fancy names to our interactive systems like “Alexa.” Well, that’s all about to change it seems.
Thanks to the folks at AFTVNews, we’ve learned that there’s a new software update for the Amazon Echo and the Echo Dot that adds the option to select the word “Computer” as the device’s wake word. So you’ll no longer be forced to use the name “Alexa,” or one of the alternate options like “Echo” and “Amazon,” you’ll be able to go full on old school Star Trek and simply refer to the computer as “Computer” in your home. Unfortunately, it still won’t answer you in Majel Barrett Roddenberry’s voice, but nothing is perfect.
It was Reddit users who first noticed the new option, on the German Amazon page for Echo software updates. Right now it seems that Amazon’s page has since removed the new feature listing, but other Redditors are reporting that the option is starting to turn up in random places. Basically, it is only a matter of time before all your Trek fantasies come true. Now, if only someone would get working on those food replicators, that would be amazing.
How stoked are you for this little bit of Star Trek coming to life? Let us know down below in the comments!
Image: CBS
