Star Trek fans and hackers have a lot of overlap, to the surprise of no one. In fact, Star Trek has been inspiring everyone from tech tinkerers to real-life astronauts since it debuted in the 1960s. Here’s an excellent example: One Hackaday Superconference attendee 3D-printed a badge cover that makes it look like a Starfleet communicator. Fascinating.

There’s a long tradition of hacker conferences with fun electronic badges , and the Hackaday Superconference badge is no exception. The tiny, card-sized computer includes an LCD screen and keyboard, plus a wireless antenna, as the badges are intended to form a mesh network. Attendees can enter chat rooms on various topics right from the gadget, which is why it’s called the “Communicator Badge.” The whole conference has a Star Trek theme,

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