Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Latest By
Category:


Armor
Artificial Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work

"Real science opens windows for us to look through. We're right at the footsteps of the most interesting scientists around."
- Larry Niven

Bee Cam  
  Small, airborne, self-guided personal camcorder.  

The device is described in the text as pocket-sized (one of the characters stores it in his pocket).

Eddie realized just how close the wess'har camp must have been to the colony when he saw the first of the fighters...

...He made a mental note to have the bee cam permanently active in the future, just in case he missed another chance of good footage...

He set the bee cam to focus on any movement and enjoyed the day around him. Who would have thought he would end up doing wildlife documentaries?

Technovelgy from City of Pearl, by Karen Traviss.
Published by HarperCollins in 2004
Additional resources -

Here is another short excerpt showing that Traviss imagined the bee cam as a kind of "selfie cam":

He set his camera to follow him, and it hovered behind him like a large tame bee.

"Tight mid-shot and pull out on but behind me," he told it. He checked the shot on his handheld screen and moved a few meters to the right. That was better.

It is also implied that the bee cam is able to find its way back to a specified location, in the event that its owner is unable to do so.

Compare to the raytron apparatus from Beyond the Stars (1928) by Ray Cummings, the scarab robot flying insect from The Scarab (1936) by Raymond Z. Gallun, the artificial eye drone from Glimpse (1938) by Manly Wade Wellman, eyes from This Moment of the Storm (1966) by Roger Zelazny, the Ultraminiature Spy-Circuit from The Unknown (1972) by Christopher Anvil, copseyes from Cloak of Anarchy (1972) by Larry Niven, the sky ball from A Day For Damnation (1985) by David Gerrold, the drone floater camera from Runaway (1985) by Michael Crichton, the aerostat monitor from The Diamond Age (1995) by Neal Stephenson and the loiter drone from The Algebraist (2004) by Iain Banks.

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from City of Pearl
  More Ideas and Technology by Karen Traviss
  Tech news articles related to City of Pearl
  Tech news articles related to works by Karen Traviss

Bee Cam-related news articles:
  - iBubble Scuba Drone Follower
  - Hover Camera - Unfold Drone, Shoot Selfie
  - Filmmaking Robot Has Roving Artistic Vision
  - Smart Video Cams - DARPA's Mind's Eye
  - MeCam Selfie Nano Drone Like Karen Traviss' Bee Cam
  - AirDog Auto-Follow Drone Captures Your Awesomeness
  - Nixie Wrist-Ready Flying Selfie-Cam Drone
  - Lily Camera Video Sport Selfie Drone
  - Cool Foldable Mini-Quadcopter
  - Centriphone Whirling Selfie Camera
  - Roam-e Flying Selfie Drone Cam
  - How Can Amazon Patent A Voice-Controlled Drone?
  - Pixy Flying Selfie Drone From Snap

Articles related to Surveillance
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
Perching Ambush Drones
India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking
LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049

Want to Contribute an Item? It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add it here.

<Previous
Next>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Science Fiction in the News

FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.'

Switzerland May Cap Population At Ten Million
'The population of Castle Hagedorn was fixed...'

Project Silica Offers 'Long-Term' Digital Storage
'... folios and tapes and playable discs of platinum alloy.'

Can 'Tactical Umbrellas' Shield One From Drones
'... another corner of his mind began to think about the shields.'

Crystalline Structures In Space, You Say?
A massive space borne lifeform from ST:TNG.

Garçon! A Menu For Artemis II, S'il Vous Plaît
'Michel Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function, which raised no rival.'

Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail
'That sail will be twenty thousand miles at the wide part.'

Rogue AI Replicated Itself
'Sapiro’s computer just kept dialing at random, hanging up on humans, until it got a fellow computer of the same type as itself.'

HandelBot Helps Two-Handed Robots Learn Piano
'I request that you feed the correlation between those dots and the levers of the panel into my memory banks.'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.