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"I suspect that religion is a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species. And that's one of the interesting things about contact with other intelligences: we could see what role, if any, religion plays in their development."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Newsbox (News-Receptor) | ||
| Also referred to as a microviewer; could search media programming for news on a particular words used in the broadcast. |
| [He] was bending over the news-receptor, his
eyes pressed against the microfilm viewer.
Lazarus cleared his throat loudly and said, "Howdy." The man jerked his head and exclaimed, "Oh! Sorry-I was startled. Do y' a service?" "I was looking for the newsbox. Mind if we throw it on the screen?" "Not at all." The other man stood up, pressed the button to rewind the film, and reset the box to project on the screen. "Any particular subject?" "I wanted to see," said Lazarus, "if there was any news about us-the Families." "I've been watching for that myself. Perhaps we had better use the soundtrack and let it hunt." "O.K.," agreed Lazarus, stepping up to the receptor and changing the selector to audio. "What's the code word?' "'Methuselah.'" Lazarus punched the keys. The machine chattered and whined as it scanned and rejected track sped through it, then the film slowed with a triumphant click. "The DAILY DATA," it announced. "The only midwest news service subscribing to every major grid and private photophone to Luna City... |
| Technovelgy from Methuselah's Children,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1941 Additional resources -
|
I'm wondering if this is the first place anyone described the idea that has finally been implemented on PC television cards. With these cards in your PC, you can not only watch the program on your PC screen and capture (save) programs and screens, but you can put in keywords, and let the PC screen current program subtitles.
Heinlein's version is somewhat more advanced, since it apparently looked for spoken words based on text criteria.
Also, note that some units (although not this one) are equipped with scramblers to remove commercial messages. It seems able to put a broadcast on "hold", suggesting that it has a Tivo-like capability to pause in presenting information while continuing to record:
"Can't we scramble that commercial?" suggested Lazarus. His companion peered at the control panel. "Doesn't seem to be equipped for it."
See the automatic commercial deletion capability from Satellite Five by Arthur Burns (1938).
The machine hummed and clicked and again spoke up. "The DAILY DATA, the only midwest news-"
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Methuselah's Children
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to Methuselah's Children
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Newsbox (News-Receptor)-related
news articles:
- Blinkx.tv And Heinlein's Newsbox
- Nozzl Real-Time Local News
- Bespoke Clothing In 30 Minutes
- Sewbo Robot Perfect For Heinlein's Bespoke Kilts!
- Google's Remixed 'Your News Update' ala Heinlein, Clarke, Pohl
- Rid Thyself Of Ads On The Newsbox
| Positioned Cybertrucks With Free Starlinks WiFi In LA |
| Will Whales Be Our First Contact? |
| NYC/Dublin Portal Fails To Meet 'Guardian Of Forever' Standards |
| Holobox? Who Doesn't Want A Home Hologram? |
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'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
