Yes, I know what you are thinking: Yet another geek who is enamored with all things Star Trek -- what else is new?

Yeah, it's true. I'm still pretty much flat on my (injured) back for hours each day which has allowed me to watch several (many) episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation which is now available on both G4 Videogame TV (2 Episodes Per Day) and Spike TV (3 Episodes Per Day).

Stunning plot lines aside (this comment could go either way depending on your perspective) the Star Trek franchise continues to hold a very tight industrial and user experience design aesthetic in my opinion. Gene Roddenberry and his collaborators were absolute visionaries whose inspirations are seen even today with Tablet PCs, Pocket PCs and smart phones (among many other devices).

Star Trek: The Next Generation continues to be my favorite series. The Library Computer Access and Retrieval System (LCARS) user interface introduced with ST:TNG designed by Michael Okuda continues to capture my attention whenever it appears.  His designs for Star Trek (commonly referred to as 'okudagrams') have quite a following. The LCARS user interface has continued to be used in subsequent Star Trek franchises and movies since it's inception.

There is even a volunteer LCARS Standards Development Board which...

"...was formed with the specific purpose of developing a standard LCARS system. On the internet, there are literally hundreds of websites using LCARS as the navigational system, however no one has ever taken the time to develop a method of using LCARS as it was meant to be used."

I think it would be an interesting project to create a Media Center application in the Windows Vista timeframe with our new Windows Media Center Presentation Layer which uses the LCARS look and feel.

What would be fun to implement in LCARS...?