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
"[Science fiction] is the one literary medium left in which we have a free hand. We can do any damn thing we please."
- Alfred Bester
 |
| Pocket Computer | ||
| A pocket-sized computer. |
| "...Aub!" There was something imperative about his manner of biting off that one syllable name, but then he was a great Programmer speaking to a mere Technician. "Aub! How much is nine times seven?"
Aub hesitated a moment. His pale eyes glimmered with a feeble anxiety. "Sixty-three," he said. Congressman Brant lifted his eyebrows. "Is that right?" "Check it for yourself, Congressman." The congressman took out his pocket computer, nudged the milled edges twice, looked at its face as it lay there in the palm of his hand, and put it back. |
| From The Feeling of Power,
by Isaac Asimov. Published by Worlds of Science Fiction in 1958 Additional resources -
|
Thanks to Brad Templeton for the tip on this item, and Winchell Chung for pointing me at the right thread.
Another relatively early use of this phrase is in Niven and Pournelle's classic 1974 novel The Mote in God's Eye:
He put the instrument away...
See also this usage from their 1981 novel Oath of Fealty.
Apparently, they also included some sort of wireless link, because (elsewhere in the novel) it says that, when the officers were off duty, they "could always be reached on their pocket computers."
Another early mention of a small "pocket computer" or note-taking device with some mathematical functionality built-in is the calculator pad from Foundation by Isaac Asimov.
Asimov also mentioned a "pocket-computer" in his 1975 story Point of View.
As far as I know, the first pocket computer sold as such was the TRS-80 PC-1 in 1980. It weighed 6.0 oz., had 1.5 kilobytes of RAM, was programmable in BASIC and cost $230.
Rod Blaine scowled at the words flowing across the screen of his pocket computer. The physical data were correct, but everything else was obsolete...
"Sinclair wants to do some outside work while we're dirtside." He took out his pocket computer and wrote quickly with the attached stylus. "Let's see, we're about one and a half billion kilometers from New Scotland, that's uh, make it a hundred hours to turnover. About two hundred hours' travel time, plus what we spend on Dagda...
(Radio Shack Pocket Computer PC-1)
I should also mention the handbag computer from The Futurological Congress (1983) by Stanislaw Lem.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 15 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Feeling of Power
More Ideas
and Technology by Isaac Asimov
Tech news articles related to The Feeling of Power
Tech news articles related to works by Isaac Asimov
Pocket Computer-related
news articles:
- HTC Magic Smartphone At Google IO
| String Art Courtesy Of Robot Artist |
| Tetraplegics Dominate Avatar Races |
| IBM's Grain Of Sand Computer |
| Can An Entire Brain Be Simulated In A Computer? |
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.
|
'... they placed the brain in a special solution, having all the properties of Nursing the brain cells.'
'... Ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.'
'Twin robotic arms with gleaming three-foot sword blades unfolded from the forward hydraulic assemblies...'
'He made an adjustment, pointed the tube at the wall beside Etzwane, and projected a cone of light.'
'A metal... light as cork and stronger than steel...'
'Ken lay full-length in the padded body compartment, his feet resting on the controlling bars of the directional planes, hands on the torpoon's engine levers.'
'... little machines, that went from plant to plant... cutting off the ripe fruit.'
'Recharge the batteries... in almost every town and village...'
'...a tiny, rocket-powered projectile, drove towards the mysterious bulk. It hit, exploding into a cloud of incandescent vapour.'
'The flycycles were miracles of compact design.'
