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
 |
Google's Remixed 'Your News Update' ala Heinlein, Clarke, Pohl
Google is adding to it's Your News Update news aggregation feature; it's podcast news that is carefully tailored for a very special audience - you!
“We want to expand what podcasting is to include more newsy content that you have to work less hard to find,” says Liz Gannes, product manager for Google News. “People want to listen where it's convenient to them. That's why podcasting is blowing up.”
(Via Wired.)
Science fiction authors have been working on this idea for generations. In his 1941 classic Methuselah's Children, Robert Heinlein describes a device that can search for specific news topics:
"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.'"
P<>
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...
Frederik Pohl goes further in his 1966 novel The Age of the Pussyfoot; see the entry for interests profile. Arthur C. Clarke is very modern in his use of this idea; see the entry on personal interest profile from The Fountains of Paradise (1978). See also the personalized news from Ralph 124c 41 + (1911), by Hugo Gernsback, which had the idea of a newspaper printed based on general subscriber interests.
Thanks to Cobra Kai Yoga for tweeting this story.
Google has updated the service to create a more fluid listening experience, so that sitting through an entire session doesn’t feel like you’re just working your way through a hodgepodge of disparate stories. Each personalized playlist is structured to mimic a news program typical of what you’d hear on public radio: short clips about the big headlines up front that gradually shift into longer, more detailed stories. The goal is to create a seamless 90-minute broadcast—a mix of radio, podcast snippets, and text-to-speech article translations—tailored to an audience of one.
"I wanted to see," said Lazarus, "if there was any news about us-the Families."
(Read more about Heinlein's newsbox)
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/21/2020)
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 - (" Communication ")
Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone
Why can't we get more innovative phone configurations?
Positioned Cybertrucks With Free Starlinks WiFi In LA
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.' Vernor Vinge, 1999.
Will Whales Be Our First Contact?
'He had piloted the Adastra to its first contact with the civilization of another solar system.' - Murray Leinster, 1935.
NYC/Dublin Portal Fails To Meet 'Guardian Of Forever' Standards
I am the Guardian of Forever.
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
Proof Of Robothood - Not A Person
'Who are you people? - Show 'em.'
Dancing Robots Taught Dance Moves
'A clockwork figure would be the thing for you...'
Indonesian Clans Battle
'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
The 'Last Mile' In China Crowded With Delivery Robots
Yes, it's a delivery robot. On wheels.
Tornyol Microdrone Kills Mosquitoes
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
PLATO Spacecraft, Hunter Of Habitable Planets, Now Ready
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
Factory Humanoid Robots Built By Humanoid Robots
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
iPhone Air Fulfils Jobs' Promise From 2007 - A Giant Screen!
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
ChatGPT Now Participates in Group Chats
'...the city was their laboratory in human psychology.'
iPhone Pocket All Sold Out!
'A long, strong, slender net...'
Did The Yautja Have These First?
What a marvel of ingenuity the little device was!
Jetson ONE Air Races Begin, Can Air Polo Be Far Behind?
'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
Will Space Stations Have Large Interior Spaces Again?
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
Mornine Sales Robot
'Robot-salesmen were everywhere, gesturing...'
Bipedal Robot Floats Gently While Walking
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs...'
Musk Idea Of Cars Talking To Each Other Predicted 70 Years Ago
'My cars talk to one another.'
