6 everyday objects that used to be science fiction

In his 1968 film "2001 - A Space Odyssey," Stanley Kubrick showed what can happen when computers and people are capable of communicating with each other. The computer HAL 9000 (pictured center) turns into an assassin when its owners consider shutting it down. Modern computer assistants like Siri or Cortana are more friendly to humans - at least so far.

When Apple presented its first iPad in 2010, Trekkies weren't particularly amazed. After all, they had already became familiar with similar devices in their favorite series "Star Trek" 30 years before. Captain Picard and his crew made frequent use of so-called PADDs for gathering information and writing reports.

Another invention of the Star Trek universe was the Communicator, which enabled Captain Kirk's crew to contact the spaceship from a distant planet. Actually, Motorola called the world's first flip phone "StarTAC." Just a coincidence?

In George Orwell's famous dystopian novel "1984," Big Brother watched over society with the help of "telescreens," which were basically televisions with built-in cameras. As Wikileaks recently revealed, the CIA does use cameras and microphones built into smart TVs for surveillance purposes.

The US television animation series "The Jetsons," which kicked off in 1962, was set a hundred years in the future. It featured the very first "automatic vacuum cleaner," a cute little robot eager to clean the floor. Gadgets that are able to vacuum the entire house on their own have been available in specialized stores since the late 1990s.

K.I.T.T. was the true star of the 1980s US television series "Knight Rider." The smart vehicle helped Michael Knight, played by David Hasselhoff, chase the bad guys. It was able to speak and drive autonomously. What was still unfathomable back then may become a reality sooner than we think. Various companies are currently developing fully self-driving cars.