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 Determined To Provide Joymaker Infrastructure
In his excellent 1965 novel The Age of the Pussyfoot, science fiction writer Frederik Pohl wrote about a future society in which every social interaction is mediated by the joymaker, a scepter-shaped device that surely constitutes the ultimate PDA. The wireless joymaker made use of an amazing back-end computer infrastructure to make appointments, find out new things for you to do, get you jobs and keep you on top of your world.
Now Google is determined to provide us with the computer information architecture to make this possible.
(The Googleplex in Mountain View)
Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, wants the company to encompass not just book-based information, but your personal information as well. He says:
“The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as ‘What shall I do tomorrow?’ and ‘What job shall I take?’ ”
To this end, Google is relaunching iGoogle, a personalized Google search page with user-related content. Google's personalized search lets users give Google permission to store their web-surfing history to create search result pages that contain more of what you are looking for.
The company is also working on Google Recommendations - a service that the company hopes will give users personalized suggestions based on their established preferences.
For tips on future services, Google would do well to consider the feature set of Pohl's fictional joymaker. Filling out an interests profile makes sure that the joymaker can help you find what you need among the endless possibilities available.
Online Employability Profile Testing makes sure that you can find the job you want, and helps employers find you - just like Google wants to do.
The answers made no more sense than the questions; tardily he realized that the joymaker was undoubtedly monitoring his nervous system and learning more from the impulses that raced through his brain than from his words, anyway......the joymaker was talking.
"Your profile, Man Forrester, indicates relatively high employability in personal-service and advocative categories.
(Read more about Online Employability Profile Testing)
Google isn't the only one who wants to bring the Joymaker and its services to life:
- Web Services Wizard And Frederik Pohl's Joymaker
One of the people working to make that happen in Charles Petrie, senior research scientist in the Stanford Logic Group. - Cellular Phone Robot And iPhone - Joymaker Wannabes
The Cellular Phone Robot has 12 micro-nozzles to emit odors that are intended to identify the caller... - Rity - Sobot Longs To Be Near You
Rity - a software robot (or "sobot") - can transfer itself from one computer to another to serve his masters.
From Google's Goal: To organize your daily life. Thanks to Zac Hunter for pushing me into writing the story.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/24/2007)
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 - (" Artificial Intelligence ")
Teslas Have Minds, Says Elon Musk
'The machine scans the patterns of the mind; ...Impress these same waves on a robot computer.' - Frederik Pohl, 1955.
Are You Ready To Zoom With Dr. ChatGPT?
'Skarwold pushed a switch and Katz’s autodoc sprayed sedative into his lungs.' - Larry Niven, 1965.
Ancient Cuneiform Texts Translated By AI - Sort Of
"I believe they're trying to communicate with us..." - Schachner and Zagat, 1931.
AI Tutors For Every Child - Thanks, DARPA!
'...fullest attention to the visions and voices which were poured directly in to his mind.' - James Blish, 1951.
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
Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'
Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels
'If you surf over a bump... If you surf over a pothole...'
Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
'Then the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and they stood an instant transfixed...'
The Electric Balance Bicycle And The Decline Of Western Civilization
'Noiselessly, on rubber-tired wheels, they journeyed...'
'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
'...a power pack the size of a pea.'
ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
It's Data's day - at last.
CD, DVD Bit Rot And PKD's Civic Notification Distorter
'...copy two of the original document no longer can be superimposed on copy one.'
Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot
My prize robot, tall, dashing would speak and act for me...
Amazon One Is Frank Herbert's Palm Lock
'A palm lock must be keyed to one individual's hand shape and palm lines.'
DroneDog Ground Security Robot Dogs From Asylon
'I have transferred the ego of a dog to a synthetic dog brain in the skull case of a robot dog.'
Who Knows What Might Be Found When Visiting A Metal Asteroid?
'...inspect the tiny speck of matter that swam toward them out of the bottomless void.'
Giant Lunar Surface Test Bed Built On Earth
Astronauts first walked the site, then flew over the site at a few hundred feet in a small Cessna.
FlyCroTug Drones Work In Teams Now
'It slid smoothly out of its cell like a metal wasp emerging from its nest, and hung in midair.'
Zai Pits (West Sahel) And Dew Collectors (Dune)
'Each is planted most tenderly in its own little pit.'
Delivery Robots Being Bullied, Robbed
'Robots have worse problems than anybody.' (A Present for Pat)
Zoom Education Idea Is 100 Years Old
'... the frosted glass squares began, one by one, to show the faces and shoulders of a peculiar type of young men.'
