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"My feeling is that the chance of our surviving into the twenty-first century as working civilization is less than fifty percent but greater than zero."
- Isaac Asimov
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| Moving Picture Player | ||
| A machine that plays recorded pictures back for a single person - a combination DVD player and screen. |
It is interesting to note that the "cylinders" referred to in the following quotation are taken directly from the recording media of the time.
| The lettering on the cylinders puzzled him. At first
sight it seemed like Russian. Then he noticed a
suggestion of mutilated English about certain of the
words.
"oi Man huwdbi Kin" forced itself on him as "The Man who would be King." "Phonetic spelling," he said. He remembered reading a story with that title, then he recalled the story vividly, one of the best stories in the world. But this thing before him was not a book as he understood it. He puzzled out the titles of two adjacent cylinders. 'The Heart of Darkness,' he had never heard of before nor 'The Madonna of the Future' -- no doubt if they were indeed stories, they were by post Victorian authors. He puzzled over this peculiar cylinder for some time and replaced it. Then he turned to the square apparatus and examined that. He opened a sort of lid and found one of the double cylinders within, and on the upper edge a little stud like the stud of an electric bell. He pressed this and a rapid clicking began and ceased. He became aware of voices and music, and noticed a play of colour on the smooth front face. He suddenly realised what this might be, and stepped back to regard it. On the flat surface was now a little picture, very vividly coloured, and in this picture were figures that moved. Not only did they move, but they were conversing in clear small voices. It was exactly like reality viewed through an inverted opera glass and heard through a long tube. His interest was seized at once by the situation, which presented a man pacing up and down and vociferating angry things to a pretty but petulant woman. Both were in the picturesque costume that seemed so strange to Graham. "I have worked," said the man, "but what have you been doing?" |
| Technovelgy from When the Sleeper Wakes,
by H.G. Wells. Published by The Graphic in 1899 Additional resources -
|
The first phonograph recordings were done on cylinders of foil; these lasted for only a few playbacks.
(Note: this item was formerly [and incorrectly] attributed to Jules Verne. Sorry about that.)
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from When the Sleeper Wakes
More Ideas
and Technology by H.G. Wells
Tech news articles related to When the Sleeper Wakes
Tech news articles related to works by H.G. Wells
Moving Picture Player-related
news articles:
- Apple Video iPod - And HG Wells
| Transparent 4K OLED Wireless TV From LG |
| DOTPad Braille Device Offers Live Access |
| Transparent MicroLED Screen From Samsung |
| Augmented Reality Book Covers Reveal The Inner Book |
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'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs...'
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...'
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...'
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
