ACM CHI 1992 Issue 79 - Knowledge Navigator. The Open Video Project. Future Shock, Apple 1988. Knowledge Navigator. The Knowledge Navigator is a concept described by former Apple Computer CEO John Sculley in his 1987 book, Odyssey. It describes a device that can access a large networked database of hypertext information, and use software agents to assist searching for information. Apple produced several concept videos showcasing the idea. All of them featured a tablet style computer with numerous advanced capabilities, including an excellent text-to-speech system with no hint of "computerese", a gesture based interface resembling the multi-touch interface later used on the iPhone and an equally powerful speech understanding system, allowing the user to converse with the system via an animated "butler" as the software agent.
In one vignette a university professor returns home and turns on his computer, in the form of a tablet the size of a large-format book. The agent is a bow-tie wearing butler who appears on the screen and informs him that he has several calls waiting. See also[edit] References[edit] Starfire Home. In 1992, I launched a project at Sun Microsystems in an effort to both predict and guide the future of computing.
It drew together the talents of more than 100 engineers, designers, futurists, and filmakers. The output of this effort was threefold: Starfire, the Movie, showing a day in the life of a knowledge worker in the far-off distant year, 2004. Starfire, the Book, entitled Tog on Software Design, which not only covers the film in intimate detail, but lays out several more equally thought-provoking scenarios developed during the initial phase of the project. In March 2009, Popular Science Magazine reported on a new video Microsoft had just released showing life in the year 2019: "The 2019 Microsoft details with this video is almost identical to the 2004 predicted in this video produced by Sun Microsystems in 1992.
" The Original Film in Mpeg 4 See the entire film in full digital quality. Tog on Software Design "The 'Starfire' Video Prototype Project: A Case History"