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
 |
Blinkx.tv And Heinlein's Newsbox
In his 1941 story Methuselah's Children, Robert Heinlein wrote about a more advanced form of television called a newsbox:
A new service at Blinkx.tv provides the capability to search the web for video
(and audio) clips. Blinkx claims to be unique among other providers in that
you can not only search with standard keywords and Boolean queries, but you
can also enter normal text for a conceptual search. The search is done on a
transcript of the words taken from the soundtrack of the television video
clip.
"I was looking for the newsbox. Mind if we throw it on the screen?"
"Not at all." The smaller man stood up, pressed the rewind button, and set the controls for projection. "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 sound track and let it hunt."
"Okay," agreed Lazarus, stepping up and changing the setting to audio. "What's the code word?'
"'Methuselah.'"
Lazarus punched in the setting; the machine chattered and whined as it scanned and rejected the track speeding through it, then it slowed with a triumphant click.
(Read more about Robert Heinlein's newsbox)
(From Blinx.tv)
The homepage starts with an interesting application; a large matrix of screen capture thumbnails. Some of them are moving; run your cursor over the moving thumbnail, and get a short text summary. Click on the thumbnail to see the clip.
(From Blinx.tv)
This interface looks quite similar to an earlier effort - see 10x10's User Interface Cooler Than Google's By A Factor Of Ten for more information. Finally, here's a shot of a standard search results page:
(From Blinx.tv)
Blinkx.tv also provides Smart Folders, which reside on your PC. Content is automatically pushed to these folders, based on user-specified criteria, keeping them current for offline viewing.
Read more about Blinkx.tv and other similar services here.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/3/2005)
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 ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Media ")
'Facetime Facelift' Beautifies Video Chats
Always look your best - on Facetime.
Meeting Wendy Of Wendy's
Wendy of Wendys meet Rondald of McDonald's.
Narrative Science And Phil Dick's Homeostatic Newspaper
'The structure... was once a great homeostatic newspaper, the New York Times.'
BookTrack Adds Sound To Books
I really don't think this is a very good idea. Readers?
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
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..'
DIY Robot Scorpion Crushes It
'...it raised its front end off the ground and waved its antennae at them, then raised one armoured claw as if to snip them out of the sky.'
How To Settle An Argument Between Two Robots
'Henry... assumed the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits.'
The Wind Phone Calls Those Who Have Passed On
'Only I heard that!'
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.'
Biological War: A Scenario
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
Pole-Dancing Stripperbot Robot
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand!
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
Instant Journalists: Ordinary People With Cell Phones
'We'll show them whose planet this is!'
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...'
Meta's Horizon Studio's Unique Avatars From Text Prompts
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
VaMEx Biomimetic Mars Robot Inspired By Skink
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
