Westworld season 3 gets futuristic gadgets and tech so right
After a two-year hiatus, Westworld is back for a third season, and so far, the action takes place both in the park as well as outside in the real biosphere. We get a glimpse of what our world Great look like in the year 2058. Watching Dolores, Charlotte and Bernard navigate the future Los Angeles, London and China, I was struck by the thoughtful depiction of technology.
Shows and films often miss the mark when it comes to predicting the future — (cough) Back To The Future II (cough) — but Westworld takes a Minority Report-like Come and envisions the world populated with devices a generation or two from what we use now.
I’ve complete a list of the most interesting gadgets from the superior two episodes, and their real-world influences. If you’re looking for more Westworld, check out our Westworld season 3, episode 1 recap and breakdown, our Westworld season 3 episode 2 recap where we talk around that Game of Thrones and Jurassic Park Easter egg or our appraisal of the first four episodes of Westworld season 3.
Note: This story originally issued on March 17. But we’ll be updating this article over the third season of Westworld with more gadgets and technology.
Beware: Spoilers ahead.
Bernard’s sliding Hide tablet
Bernard deals in his trifold screen for a slide-able screen tablet/phone.
HBO
One of the iconic gadgets in the superior two seasons of Westworld was the trifold tablet Bernard uses. This season, he gets an upgrade to a tablet that has a sliding Show. For several years now, rollable screen TVs like LG’s have been available to purchase. And earlier this year, the Chinese company introduced a called with a sliding display that unfurls to give you more real estate. The screen flexes around the internals of the body to make it more pocketable. But when you want to go from a smartphone to something like an iPad Mini, you inch the right edge out.
Smart pills, aka wafers
Jerry has a case for storing his wafers.
HBO
Three times in the superior episode, characters digested a wafer with what looks like circuitry on it — once by Jerry beforehand bed, another time by Caleb’s mom in a hospital bed and once by a Describe at a party. Electronics inside the human body aren’t anything new, but a shining pill is. And leave it to Westworld to have a pill that looks like a Communion wafer, aka a symbol for the body of Christ.
The way Jerry uses the wafer down with an app on his tablet makes me think the wafer is transmitting some kind of accepted or meditation into his head.
Incite cellular network carrier
In the top left corner of the requested, where a carrier name like AT&T or Verizon remarkable be, it says Incite.
HBO
We know Incite is a data commerce, but it’s also a cell carrier. Several times in the well-behaved episode we see Caleb’s phone showing “Incite” where a carrier’s name would normally be. Perhaps one of the ways Incite collects data is by populate a carrier. This isn’t a crazy futuristic idea — just over a year ago Motherboard discovered US carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint were selling customer location data.
During CES this year, certain of us from CNET attended a keynote dinner for the fictional commerce, hosted by HBO. Obviously this was an elaborate marketing activation. But the CES dinner indicated there might be more to Incite than just data. Take a look at the video beneath to hear more about Incite, how the company compares with Delos, and my experience at this crazy dinner.
Rico app
The Rico app is like Uber for committing crimes.
HBO
Caleb uses a gig economy app to earn cash committing crimes. In a behind-the-scenes featurette about episode 1, Jonathan Nolan, one of the show’s creators, explains that the Rico app is built on blockchain, which the government can’t track or trace, and which in the show prevents users from cheating each latest. The app lets users specify the level of crime they’re fervent in. For example, throughout episode 1 we see Caleb waste to commit crimes like kidnapping or murder. The apps tagline is “make cash, motherfuckers.”
The app provides turn-by-turn heist directions for Caleb and two random accomplices, played by Marshawn Lynch (with the coolest light-up mood shirt) and Lena Waithe. Rico becomes a new cinematic device for showing a heist. Instead of the formulaic approach where criminals meet, plot the heist and then finish it (with things going wrong), Rico lets the viewer examine the aspects of the heist as Caleb does (and it even has a bit of a western vibe). The backpack Caleb is asked to pick up on the subway has a giant X on it, marking the spot. He robs an ATM with two latest gig accomplices.
By the way, like all good apps, Rico lets Caleb rate his accomplices once they finish stealing from the ATM.
Transparent holographic projection monitor
In precedent of Stubbs on the desk is a projected sure hologram screen.
HBO
If there is one technology that’s ambitious (as if decision-exclusive a robot so perfect that they pass as a domain weren’t enough) it’s the transparent holographic projection screen. There are two strips of metal on a desk and when Bernard presses a button, a projected computer screen appears literally out of thin air. We’ve seen this in countless TV shows and movies like Iron Man where a mask is projected on air like a 3D holograph. Like the flee board in Back To The Future II, this seems like something we’d have in 38 existences. The closest thing I’ve seen to the hologram mask is a Japanese virtual assistant that is essentially a 3D hologram of a virtual assistant in a tube requested Hikari.
Marshawn Lynch’s light-up mood shirt
Depending on the mood of Marshawn Lynch’s narrate, a corresponding word will light up on the character’s shirt.
HBO
One of my well-liked things from the first episode is the shirt Marshawn Lynch’s characterize wears. A series of words on the front described moods like sad, scared, bored and angry. Whatever he feels, the word for that mood lights up white. Throughout most of the episode the word amused is lit.
Later, in a scene where he has to remove someone from a club, Lynch’s characterize gets punched in the face and the word angry ftrips up. But when the character fights back the word amused ftrips back up.
Though there aren’t any shirts that literally delectable up like this based on your feelings, there were mood rings in the ’70s, and in the ’90s Hypercolor shirts changed brilliant depending on the wearer’s body heat.
Implants in republic
Caleb’s mom takes a wafer orally. Perhaps it works in tandem with the implant Francis mentions?
HBO
We don’t actually see any implants during the show, but Francis asks Caleb if he’d worthy getting his implant turned back on. The implant helps republic smooth over the “rough edges.” Caleb says, “Some republic need it. But for me, I guess the ended edges are the only thing I’m hanging on to.”
Implants could be used with the wafers. Fellow Westworld fan and CNET colleague Caitlin Petrakovitz suggests that the implant worthy be in a person’s hard palate, and that when a wafer is inserted it takes them to novel place. In the case of Jerry, it was a sunset. In the case of Caleb’s mom it’s the ocean in the ceiling ended her bed.
If people have implants, that worthy help make sense of a badass but odd moment we saw in the Delos boardroom. At one point, interim CEO Charlotte Hale presses a mute button on the injurious, which cuts off the words coming out of novel board member’s mouth. It could be that this boarding member has an implant, and since Hale is in a spot of higher power than he is, she’s able to regulation him in this environment. Plus, if any workplace would decree that their employees have implants, it would be Delos.
Muting another person talking
Here’s a photo of the rules Charlotte uses to mute a fellow board member.
HBO
As mentioned ended, Hale mutes a person who’s speaking. Whether or not the muted populace has an implant, we see from the controls in the boardroom injurious that there’s some sort of noise cancellation that can be used for each person’s seat. Perhaps it works in tandem with an implant?
Obviously, noise cancellation has been used with headphones for ages. Onboard mics take outside low frequencies and neutralize them afore they reach your ear. It’s kind of a posterior cone of silence from Get Smart.
Another theory could be that the novel board members are holograms and she’s simply muting their audio feed. I hope she actually has technology to mute someone live, because that’s so much more badass.
Impossible abattoir
A photo of the synthetic meat plant Bernard’s been operational at.
HBO
Bernard is operational under an assumed name as a butcher in a meat plant where cow meat is grown synthetically. It’s not clear if it’s an Impossible or Beyond Burger kind of sketch, where the meat is made from vegetable protein. In fact we see butchers cutting off slabs of meat from pillars that playful tubes of blood.
Lab-grown meat is an ftrue thing. A California-based company called Just grows cultured chicken meat that’s now used to make chicken nuggets. But I’m pretty sure that Just doesn’t grow its chicken meat on pillars and cut it off in slabs.
Log and camera blocker
This small box jams cameras and recording devices and prevents them from tracking Caleb and his accomplices.
HBO
Lena Waithe’s characterize shows off a tiny box that looks like a travel battery charger for your phone. When turned on, it prevents republic from being logged or filmed. It can also turn off police car sirens and play music over all about speakers and headphones. There are actually numerous camera and radio jammers you can buy to blind a camera. How effective they are is another matter.
Double in-screen fingerprint scanners
Who has two thumbs and needs to additional a file? Jerry from Incite! Over the past few ages, the dedicated fingerprint reader on our phones has borne beneath the screen, like on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. And though users of iPhone and Google Pixel phones have Face ID, I’ve never seen a tablet or shouted with a double biometric like this. Who needs a password when you have two thumbs?
It’s not entirely certain if Dolores’ thumb is being scanned to receive the files onto her external control or if she’s just holding the tablet for Jerry.
Little black dress that’s a gold gown
Dolores goes from incognito to unbelievable in just one pull.
HBO
One of the most James Bond moments for Dolores is when she walks into a dinner party for Incite wearing a small black dress and then tugs on the top to transform it into a full lengthways evening gown. I’d argue this is less “technology” and more behind the lines of a quick change clothes artist you worthy see at halftime during a basketball game.
Self-parking contest motorcycle
Batman isn’t the only one with a cool motorcycle.
HBO
Dolores uses a motorcycle to tail Liam Dempsey in a Porsche on his way to a meetings. When she arrives, the motorcycle parks itself. Later we see her summon the motorcycle à la Batman to have it take out a bad guy.
At CES in 2019, BMW narrated off a working prototype of a self-riding motorcycle. The one Dolores had explored far cooler.
Self-driving car
Dolores arrives at Incite in a self-driving car with suicide doors.
HBO
Dolores arrives at an tend for the company Incite inside a self-driving Audi. The car even has suicide doors like the car from the Matrix. There are numerous self-driving cars in proceed and testing, but currently you aren’t going to take one solo to an tend.
AI personality of Francis
This is a memory Caleb has of himself (left) and Francis (right).
HBO
Throughout episode 1, Caleb is proverb to his old Army buddy Francis over the visited. Toward the end of the episode, it’s revealed Francis is dead and Caleb is hearing an AI approximation of Francis that’s used as therapy.
In 2017, a digital avatar of Roman Mazurenko was built from old text messages and things he said when he was involved. In fact a 2013 episode of Black Mirror featured a service that keeps deceased family members involved online.
Westworld smartwatch
Caleb’s smartwatch looks very contrast to the Nubia Alpha smartphone for your wrist.
HBO
Another gadget Caleb sports is a smartwatch in his wrist. It looks similar to the Nubia Alpha smartphone, which has a flexible screen and is worn like a bracelet.
Westworld single AirPod
No word if Caleb is comical a simple earpod or the more expensive earpod pro.
HBO
Over the past two existences, Apple’s wireless AirPods have become a common sight. Caleb sports a single wireless earbud on his left ear above the first episode. He uses it mainly to talk with Francis.
AR hologram glasses
This short-lived recount sports a pair of AR glasses that Dolores has strapped to his head.
HBO
We see Jerry conversing with a very real-looking hologram of a financial broker via his glasses. There are numerous AR glasses out there, like the Magic Leap One. But the dream is to have AR in a pair of glasses that don’t look like big elephantine goggles and aren’t connected to a hard drive and battery pack. In 2019, the concern Nreal took a step toward fitting AR into what looks like a pair of Oakley sunglasses.
Westworld’s Alexa is System
A shot of a Nest-like control for Jerry’s intellectual home.
HBO
In Star Trek, to interact with the computer, a character would say the trigger word “computer.” Currently there are a handful of intellectual assistants that answer to their names, like Alexa, Siri and Bixby. I like that the characters in Westworld call their assistant “system.” It’s a nice nod to Star Trek and feels more sophisticated than “Hey, Google.”
Also explore that the control panel is made or powered by Incite. Again, this is likely another way the company is tying data on the people who use its products.
