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

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

"...the elements of cyberpunk have dissolved into the whole SF genre, so it’s hard to find anyone writing who doesn’t owe serious debts to Gibson and his crew."
- Richard Morgan

Videophone  
  A person-to-person communication device offering sight as well as sound.  

As far as I know, the first use of this word in science fiction.

On his desk there reposed an instrument comprising a disc of silvery gray metal, framed in darker gray, and mounted vertically upon a base of similar material. This instrument was Roy’s private videophone, and it was the calls from it of a voice repeating, “NY-19-635,” that occasioned his numerous returns to it. As he returned and answered his number, a face would appear in the disc and inform him in a monotonous voice that no success could as yet be reported on his call. Each time this was a signal for his renewal of the nervous pacing and muttering, accompanied by further rumpling of his hair.


(Videophone by Harl Vincent)

It was preposterous! Here he had been trying for two hours to get a connection with one of his patrons in Paris. Constant reports there had been that something was wrong with the continental video. Pity that the Terrestrial Videophone Company couldn’t keep their confounded voice and vision ether waves working, he thought angrily. Or whatever kind of waves they were! Roy was no scientist.

Technovelgy from The Golden Girl of Munan, by Harl Vincent.
Published by Amazing Stories in 1928
Additional resources -

Harl Vincent made good use of this new expression in his 1929 story War of the Planets:

At that moment the news announcer’s voice burst forth from the videophone:

“Connections have now been established with the great reflector at Castle Mountain. If you darken your rooms, you will find that the newly discovered phenomenon is dimly visible in the disc of your instrument.’’

Walter switched off the lights and drew two chairs close to the videophone.

Thelda joined him there and the two gazed intently at the disc.

The view was very indistinct at first, but, as their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, a small group of weird objects became visible in the center of the disc...

At this juncture their individual call sounded from the videophone and Walter flipped back the news lever to permit the incoming personal call to be made. The disc flashed brightly and the face of his father appeared.

“Hello, folks,” spoke the cheery voice of the man they both loved, “Why in the world are you sitting in the darkness? Oh. I know — you have been listening to the absurd reports of some menace from the skies...

"All right, dear. I’ll be home in ten minutes, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to keep an eye on that son of ours this evening,” grinned Roy, “So long.”

The disc went dark and the voice was gone.

A videophone could also have a huge screen so many could see, again from The War of the Planets:

They found the southbound moving ways unusually jammed for the time of day and a holiday spirit prevailed. Everyone wore a smile and the names of Roy Hamilton and Professor Nilsson were on the lips of all. They left the moving platform at 125th crossing and mingled with the crowd in Square T-17 on the sixth level. Here was a huge videophone screen, fully thirty feet in diameter, and the voice of a news announcer filled the entire area with natural distinctness, but amplified to such an extent that it completely overcame the crowd noises. Still it was not painful to the ear, but seemed rather to come from a point immediately adjacent to the individual listener in ordinary speaking volume, The scene in the disc was again that through the Castle Mountain reflector and the three women thrilled with secret pride as they watched the drifting, weaving convolutions of the approaching fleet and realized that their men had recently left the vicinity of the menacing mass with a victory to their credit.

In case you're wondering why videophones had a circular screen, it's because the mechanical scan version of television technology of the Twenties made use of a disc:


(1929 advertisement)

A.E. van Vogt used this same term in 1945 in The World of Null-A:

He closed the door, fastened the three plasto-windows and put a tracer on his videophone.

Not to be outdone, Philip K. Dick, shortens it and makes it more mobile in his 1955 story War Veteran:

LeMarr dropped a coin in the vidphone mounted on the dash-board. He gave the hospital number, and when the monitor appeared, asked hoarsely for Vachel Patterson.

For an earlier version of this idea, see the telephot from Hugo Gernsback's classic 1911 novel Ralph 124c 41 +.

Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |

Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Golden Girl of Munan
  More Ideas and Technology by Harl Vincent
  Tech news articles related to The Golden Girl of Munan
  Tech news articles related to works by Harl Vincent

Articles related to Communication
EBS-260 Handjet Free Hand Dot Matrix Printer
CD, DVD Bit Rot And PKD's Civic Notification Distorter
Zoom Education Idea Is 100 Years Old
'A Sign in Space' Gives Practice In Decoding ET Messages

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>

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

 

 

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 Science Fiction 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

Science Fiction in the News

The Warp And Fabric Of Spacetime
'Jenkins had evidently fallen into a warp in space.'

'Birds Aren't Real' An NPR Gen-Z Conspiracy
Keep your eyes on the skies!

Wearable Energy Harvester
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'

Drones Participate In Buddhist Rites
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'

Anna Indiana AI Singer-Songwriter
'She is a personality-construct, a congeries of software agents'

Video Manicuring ala Schismatrix
'The program raced up the screen one scan line at a time'

'Feel the AGI' OpenAI Leader Now OpenWorship
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'

NASA Tests Prototype Europa Lander
Why have legs if they don't walk around?

Tailsitter Drone Aircraft For SAR
'...it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair.'

Forward CarePod The AI Doctor's Office
'It's an old model,' Rawlins said. 'I'm not sure what to do.'

More SF in the News

More Beyond Technovelgy

Home | Glossary | Science Fiction Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.