h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dude, its really simple what you could do. Have the GPS and all, but instead of a constat connection to h2g2, you could do it like Douglass Adams did it. Have a PDA w/ a whole lot of memory and sell them with the most updated h2g2 on them at the time. Then, it would plug into a port on your computer where you can update and add the information stright from the h2g2 website. TDV could charge for this if it wants, but that would be kind of shallow. Also, the user could add his entries to the h2g2 website for others to add to their PDAs.

I wonder how big h2g2 is? I think a CD through the snail mail would be faster...

There'll be communicator phones out before very long with GPS built-in - Ericcson demonstrated one at CeBIT in March. Take a look at http://www.symbian.com/news/2000/pr000224f.html for details!

But doing it that way would surely defeat the object of it being up to the minute. Also, you wouldn't need the whole Guide in there, just the bits you want to look up.


No, none of those cities had entries

Pastey

You'd only need to download the entries that you wanted to read. I had the WAP phone over the weekend. It was quick, it was fun. All it needs is the GPS system in place and it would be the H2g2 Vision as seen above.

Except that there is still a lot of work on the energy consumption issue: a cell-phone would not last through more than 2-3 hours of browsing/guiding... unless you happen to lug around a car battery on your back to provide the necessary energy (has anyone else thought it funny that a digital watch could run for years but that we still accept to have to recharge our mobile phone every week?)
A non-mobile user, trying to get his engineering degree (-> I tend to have a pessimistic viewpoint of what is realisable... give us engineers 3 more years and the energy problem might be solved)

Erm... no, it wouldn't...

If by 'the vision' you mean purely the technology then, well, yes, obviously the technology is there. It's a little more cumbersome, but you could just carry around a WAP phone (or a Palm VII, for that matter) and a GPS device and do it that way...

But... if by 'the vision' you mean what is actually said in the entry this is attached to, then no, we're nowhere near that point. You couldn't possibly arrange even a single day out with H2G2 yet...

Sorry to sound so down, but I'm honestly not being a pessimist - merely a realist....

Personally I think you *are* being a pessimist. But I would. I'm an optimist.

Erm... I'm an optimist - I'm called Smiley Ben after all... And I would *love* for h2g2 to be the complete encyclopaedic guide it does (indeed) have the potential to be. But clearly that potential is not yet fulfilled, and it isn't being an optimist to claim that it is, and that you could use h2g2 as a serious tourist guide (for example) - it's just plain wrong...

h2g2 will -never- be a serious tourist guide...
it'll -always- be humourous. See the entry on Amsterdam, for example.

Although you could argue that that's what people -really- go to amsterdam for...

*ducks dutch dog*

I think that the vision is what the potential of the Guide is. And although the content may not be there yet, afterall it's still not even a year old, the structure is, and like the technology it just needs to be worked on a bit.

Not an optimist, not a pessimist, just someone who thinks that this 'ere thing might work.

There's only one thing that could stop it working - that'll be us then. The technology will come, in time, it always does. The hard bit will be getting the supporting information, and that is down to us, the researchers. The great thing about the guide as it stands is that it does provide space for the frivolous and the serious, and there is nothing to stop us producing both types of articles. There is space here for articles on 'Things not to do in Bognor Regis' *and* 'A guide to Architecture in Bognor Regis' so let's get busy....And remember, H2G2 won't tell you what to do, you can always turn the damn device off!

Here, here...

I don't think anyone could have worded that better

Exactly!

"...your regular use has earned you loyalty points that reduce your overall phone bill by a considerable amount."

*sarcastic snigger*

I think it's got a chance of happening... it'll all depend, basically, on whether h2g2 catches on or not.

And there's no reason why it shouldn't...

26199

I think this is a great idea, I'll take two.

Well, now every-one is falling over themselves to offer free internet access over land-lines the mobile networks can't be too far behind

I've just had a thought:

Apparently you can write guide entries and that from a WAP phone, yes? Or am I wrong?
If I'm right, then how would it work? I can't really see it happening, I can't figure it out.

(not a pessimist, not an optimist, just a WRATHCHILD!)

Does anyone know how advanced the technology is towards what's shown on this page? e.g. can you have street maps and directions on WAP phones? It all looks very nice, and if we could have all that I'd get a WAP phone right now...

(and do they really expect us to write H2G2 articles on those fiddly keypads?!)