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
 |
Google AdCense Improves Olfactory Relevancy
Google AdCense is now available in a beta release. AdCense computers look at the advertising content on your site, focus on the keywords used in the text and graphic images and deliver a relevant and vaguely agreeable odor.
The new service is intended to improve the experience of most computer users by providing relevant olfactory content. Typically, the way a computer smells has nothing to do with the content presented on the screen. Studies show that increased relevancy results in more satisfied users and improved pay per click advertising.
Science fiction fans will of course recall the odalarm by Frank Herbert, which wakes you up with an appropriate odor. See also last week's Science Fiction in the News article Frank Herbert's Odalarm - A Scent-Based Alarm Clock.
A Google Challenge was issued in late 2002; a team was formed of the best entrants. After coding diligently for 8 months, non-technical people in focus groups were asked to press their noses to CRTs and LCD flat panels displays and describe their experience. The most common response from participants was "sorta smelled like ozone." Noting that people like fresh scents, developers pressed on. A brief success was made with the smell of peanut butter and jelly, but it appeared to function only on "Bring Your Child to Work" day.
Google insiders reluctantly revealed that initially it was hoped that AdScents could be delivered. However, given the difficulty of delivering identifiable, verifiable odors to every computer without additional hardware, this was abandoned. Also, it was realized that this would be very difficult to internationalize.
Finally, developers made use of a combination of downloaded software utilities that would overclock and even hyperclock a computer's CPU, causing small amounts of magic smoke to escape. This, combined with other odors emitted by heavily taxed hard disk drives (using the same technique once used to get drum hard drives to "walk"), would create a small but usable set of vaguely pleasant odors. Thus, AdCense was born.
Why hasn't this program advanced past the beta stage? Cynics point out that rich media online advertising both delays content download and grotesquely interrupts the user's experience; they stink and there's nothing you can do about it.
Happy April Fool's Day!
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/1/2004)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Related News Stories - (" Misc ")
Is There A Subterranean Ocean?
'A vast, limitless expanse of water, the end of a lake if not of an ocean, spread before us, until it was lost in the distance.'- Jules Verne, 1864.
The Robotic Shopping Cart Of The Future
'...the machine would carry his bag in its soft plastic jaws and follow him as faithfully as a well-trained hound.'- John Brunner, 1975.
Arctic Resource Jackpot An Old Wish
By inducing climate change, new resources are revealed.
Marie Curie's Papers Still Radioactive
And the half-life of radium's most common isotope is 1,601 years.
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 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
Current News
Mechazilla Arms Catch A Falling Starship, But Check Out SF Landing-ARMS
'...the rocket’s landing-arms automatically unfolded.'
A System To Defeat AI Face Recognition
'...points and patches of light... sliding all over their faces in a programmed manner that had been designed to foil facial recognition systems.'
Robot Hand Separate From Robot
'The crawling, exploring object was V-Stephen's surgeon-hand...'
Hybrid Wind Solar Devices
'...the combined Wind-Suncatcher, like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'
Is Optimus Autonomous Or Teleoperated?
'I went to the control room where the three other men were manipulating their mechanical men.'
Robot Masseuse Rubs People The Right Way
'The automatic massager began to fumble gently...'
Solar-Powered Space Trains On The Moon
'The low-slung monorail car, straddling its single track, bored through the shadows on a slowly rising course.'
Drone Deliveries Instead Of Waiters In Restaurants?
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'
Optimus Robot Can Charge Itself
'... he thrust in his charging arm to replenish his store of energy.'
Skip Movewear Arc'teryx AI Pants
'...the terrible Jovian gravity that made each movement an effort.'
'Robovan' Name Already Taken - Elon, Try These
There are alternative names that are probably in the public domain by now.
How Old Are Tesla Designs?
You be the judge.
Is Your Autonomous Tractor Safe?
'The field-minder finished turning the top-soil of a two-thousand-acre field.'
Smart TVs Are Listening!
'You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard...'
Police Drones In China Would Like To Have A Word With You
''OVERRIDE,' the City Fathers said suddenly, without being asked anything at all.'
Oh Great (Part 2), Fence-Climbing Robots
Please, no stingers.
