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
 |
| Adnix | ||
| A device that muted the television to lessen the impact of commercials. |
Billionaire S.R. Hadden made his money the old-fashioned way; he uncovered services that people wanted, and he developed technology to give it to them.
| Years before, he had invented a module that, when a television commercial appeared, automatically muted the sound. It wasn't at first a context-recognition device. Instead, it simply monitored the amplitude of the carrier wave... Before there could be any coordinated response from the television advertising industry, Adnix had become wildly popular. It forced advertisers and networks into new choices of carrier-wave strategy, each of which Hadden countered with a new invention... It was a kind of electronic warfare. And he was winning. |
| From Contact,
by Carl Sagan. Published by Not known in 1985 Additional resources -
|
The networks were not satisfied with mere technical challenges to their supremacy, of course:
Thanks to Randall Glenn for pointing this item out.
They tried to sue him - something about a conspiracy in restraint of trade...
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Contact
More Ideas
and Technology by Carl Sagan
Tech news articles related to Contact
Tech news articles related to works by Carl Sagan
| Fog Computing (AKA Edge Computing) Ad Hoc Networks |
| Biggest HiSeas 'Mars Mission' Problem? No Internet |
| Sansar Social Virtual Reality Platform In 2017? |
| Publishing Technologies In Science Fiction |
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> |
|
|
|
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.
|
'...what's to keep me from showing face, Man? I'm showing a voice this instant... I can show a face the same way.'
'It was cheaper to pay the refugees to go without up-to-the-minute equipment.'
'...a 2045 convertible with a Hennis-Carleton positronic motor and an Armat chassis.'
'You can hook a Thorsen tube into a control circuit... and the tube will "remember" what was done and can direct the operation...'
Nature is a master of fabricating structured materials consisting of living and non-living components.
'The tiny devices chirped their impulse codes at one another...'
Then some unknown race had chanced upon the dreamers and decided to "help them out."
'Improving man by bringing him close to Nature, while they combine the sensations of coasting with the interest of seeing the country well...'
