Yesterday's News Now on DVD

Photo taken by Paul Pasieczny. (mm904ut) There are no usage restrictions for this photo

CustomFlix, a division of Amazon, allows customers to choose from thousands of news clips and news shows dating back more than ten years.

For example, you may be interested in reports on the Middle East presented on "60 Minutes." Set your topic and search for your shows. Up to ten clips with as much as 90 minutes of content are burned onto a DVD for $24.95 and mailed to you.

This kind of personalized news delivery has a surprisingly long history in science fiction. In his 1889 story "In the Year 2889," Jules Verne wrote about custom news collections available on phonograph records:

Instead of being printed, the Earth Chronicle is every morning spoken to subscribers, who, from interesting conversations with reporters, statesmen and scientists, learn the news of the day. Furthermore, each subscriber owns a phonograph, and to this instrument he leaves the task of gathering the news whenever he happens not to be in a mood to listen directly himself. (Read more about Jules Verne's recorded news)

Here are some other science-fictional customized news choices:

Personalized News (Hugo Gernsback - 1911)
News Roundup (Robert Heinlein - 1942)
Homeopape (Philip K. Dick - 1964)

Read a bit more about this story here.

(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction.)

Bill Christensen catalogues the inventions, technology and ideas of science fiction writers at his website, Technovelgy. He is a contributor to Live Science.