3D AV entertainment system
Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Society / Technology
An audio-visual entertainment system developed in the 21st century featuring a 3D sound map run through a VR system during playback, offering a vivid 3D-sound experience. The listener can control the 3D sound map with its 3D equalizer, making it possible to achieve the same audio experience regardless of their location in the room. The sound will follow the listener in real time, with the system making corrections for any acoustical changes caused by the layout of or type of materials present in the room. Capable of more than simple playback, it allows the listener to adjust specific frequencies of sounds as well, creating environments that raise alpha wave activity in the brain or contain 1/f noise, for example.
3D data code
Information and Communications / Society / Technology
A holographic data encoding method that allows for larger amounts of data to be sent than previous data processing techniques by adding a z-axis to a traditional 2D barcode. An example of its use would be its inclusion in the license plates on BCP's police cars. There are sensors located at various points around Beyond Coast that read these data codes and can use them to detect a vehicle's location and model, among other data, even during times of electronic interference.
AID
Acronyms / Information and Communications / Technology
Acronym for Auto-analysis Identification Device. An analysis device equipped with various sensors such as a spectrograph, a gas chromatograph, and a geotechnical sounder, as well as an AI system. Also contains 3D measuring instruments like optical and atomic probes. Designed to assist with forensic analyses, the increase of which being the direct result of a soaring crime rate. Although it does not possess a complex AI with emotions and a personality, it is capable of compiling case facts, delivering accurate analysis results, making inferences, and drawing its own conclusions. Introduced at the beginning of the 21st century for cost-reduction purposes, it later fell into disuse after all police stations on Earth were joined under one network, and a centralized, large-scale analyzer was developed.
Victor Jurgens uses an AID he brought with him from Earth, containing a simple AI enhanced with a CG face. He has nicknamed it "Gorby", after the last president of the former Soviet Union.
BBC
Acronyms / Information and Communications / Society
Acronym for Beyond Coast Broadcasting Company. One of the colony's broadcasting organizations, its network covering the whole of Beyond. BBC has frequently been the one breaking new ground in the media over the years. Its information programs in particular, such as News Order and Beyond News, have received both wide praise and high ratings. It broadcasts throughout space via an array of several dozen satellites.
Karen Hojo is a popular news anchor with this station.
Beyond Coast Organ Distribution Network
Information and Communications / Life Science / Society
A network allowing for the registration and exchange of information related to all aspects of organ transplantation, such as donor and recipient blood types. Established in 2015 as a response to the beginning of the era of mass organ donation, which includes hearts, livers, kidneys, bone marrow, corneas, joints, and bones.
Beyond News
Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Society
A BBC news program, featuring a wide area of topics covering both Beyond Coast and Earth. It conducts interactive, around-the-clock broadcasts via a series of satellites, covering breaking stories as they happen.
burst line
Information and Communications / Society / Technology
A private communications exchange terminal that uses codified information and burst transmission. Television stations such as BBC have set up their own burst lines as a means of obtaining information from sources, and many businesses and individuals also use their own such network to collect information, rather than any public network. A burst line compresses and codes information in real time, transmits it, and then decompresses and decodes it in real time, with virtually no time lag between the sender and the receiver. Nearly all communications systems employ this method of coded communication, as the world stands on the verge of yet another information explosion. In order to maintain a high processing speed, video or images are not usually sent.
Home accent
Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Outer Space / Society
Refers to the inflectional and emotional tone of voice and way of speaking of people on Earth. Also known as an Earth accent. Does not refer to any language in particular, but instead refers collectively to the various accents, intonations, and pronunciations of words found in all languages, the way they are spoken on Earth.
On the other hand, in space, people are taught to communicate in a clear and concise manner due to the constant threat of danger that they face. Even a small verbal misunderstanding could be fatal; therefore, any vague or indirect expressions, contractions, or signs of emotion have disappeared from peoples' speech, resulting in a form of language that could almost be called "digital". The only exceptions to this are contractions such as "let's". This is to avoid the ambiguity that such contractions would bring about in their unabbreviated form, i.e., "let us play" could be either a request or a suggestion, whereas "let's play" is unambiguously a suggestion.
Nevertheless, Beyonds who were born and raised on Earth still retain a Home accent.
informed consent
Information and Communications / Life Science
In medical terms, this refers to the information a doctor is required to convey to a patient regarding a diagnosis and treatment; they must ensure that the patient understands and agrees to undergo a course of treatment based on the following main principles:
1. Inform the patient of their current condition and diagnosis.
2. Inform the patient, in terms they can understand, the goals and particulars of any procedure deemed necessary for their treatment.
3. Explain any possible risks of a given treatment.
4. Explain the success rate of a given treatment.
5. Go over any other treatment methods applicable to the patient's medical condition, should they exist.
6. Inform them of what might happen should they reject any form of treatment.
They must not simply tell them this information; they must ensure that the patient understands it as well. This doctrine is built on the idea that the relationship between a doctor and their patient is based on mutual agreement, not one where a patient must blindly obey their doctor regardless of the situation.
News Order
Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Society
BBC's premier news program. Anchor Karen Hojo's popularity, in part due to her hard-hitting attitude, has earned the show consistent high ratings. It has also received the award for Outstanding News Program from the Beyond Coast Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the last 3 years. Is broadcast live via satellite to the Moon and Earth as well.
Picno 8
Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Society / Technology
The latest model in the Picno series of handheld graphic computers first released by Konami at the end of the 20th century. It is the size of a standard handheld drawing board and works with its own pen. Its built-in solar cell makes it convenient for portable use, and it can connect to a printer for making printouts. Features several drawing modes, from watercolors to oil paints. It offers a Visual Field Screen to allow for stress-free drawing even in large crowds of people, and G Pixel Stability for drawing in zero gravity.
The graphic computer Marc Brown carries around with him is a Picno 8.
Specs
* 64-bit bus with custom RISC CPU (including 16 48-bit DSP chips)
* 1536x1152 resolution 48-bit color screen
* Real-time 3D rendering, wireframe modeling, and various imaging effects
PVR
Acronyms / Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Society / Technology
Acronym for personal virtual reality. A virtual reality system designed for home use, consisting of a data suit, visor, computer, and network connection. Numerous types of software can be downloaded.
radio-controlled watch
Information and Communications / Technology
A wristwatch that automatically makes daily corrections to its displayed time via an ultra-sensitive miniature antenna that receives a radio signal from an atomic clock containing the correct time. Its time base will fluctuate by only 1 second every 10,000 years. If it cannot obtain a radio signal, it will automatically switch over to a built-in sensor that will make any necessary adjustments to the time. Found mainly on Earth. It is rarely used in space, where the constant bombardment of cosmic rays interferes with its reception.
This is the type of watch Jonathan Ingram received from Lorraine.
remote ticket
Information and Communications / Society / Technology
A ticket card containing an IC chip with a radio wave transmitter that allows a person to pass through a ticket gate at a linear railway station without having to insert the ticket into a machine. A card reader can read the ticket even while inside a person's pocket or handbag, at the same time recording where the person entered and exited the train system.
All BCP police badges are compatible with this system, allowing officers to freely move about the colony.
space weather forecast
Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Outer Space / Society / Technology
A forecast designed to predict the arrival of large doses of radiation and magnetic storms caused by solar flares. Solar flares, released from the surface of the Sun, can have various harmful effects not only on the human body, but on computers and other sensitive equipment as well. Space weather forecasting aims to predict these before they happen and inform people of when they will occur via television, radio, and the Internet. When a flare does occur, scientists can estimate the size of the flare and any effects the resulting solar wind might have by observing the wavelength and time intervals of the radiation released during the several stages of the flare, and issue reports and warnings as necessary.
Shield warnings are issued during times of intense radiation, with a colony's outer walls and block shields lowered for protection. All extravehicular space activity and the takeoff of space flights are prohibited during this time.
T-Gear99
Information and Communications / Technology
The Tokugawa Group's internal network terminal, connected by plastic optical fibers to the Tokugawa Building's supercomputer, Hallelujah. The Tokugawa Network is comprised primarily of all the T-Gear99s in operation.
In order to access the Tokugawa Network, one needs to:
1. Possess a Tokugawa ID card for passing an ID check.
2. Clear a password check. The password check uses a special family crest format said to be extremely difficult for a non-Tokugawa Group employee to pass.
The Tokugawa Network offers such services as:
1. E-mail, file sharing, a BBS, and remote access computing.
2. Multi-function search engines such as SADAOKI, Gopher, and Raptor.
3. People databases such as Whois.
4. A business database containing various business information such as reports and memoranda.
5. Confidential financial services.
Furthermore, data on employees of Tokugawa businesses, as well as the families of employees, can only be obtained via the Tokugawa Network. It is also possible to view information from outside the network through its disc device. The media it uses may look like old-fashioned 12-centimeter CD-ROMs, but they are actually holographic optical discs made out of a germanium-antimony-tellurium alloy. One disc boasts 5.12 terabytes of storage space, with the data read not by a laser, but by charging a needle containing an atomic force microscope with a 0.5 volt electric pulse. Combining this type of archaic media format with the latest in super-high density memory technology virtually eliminates the chances of an information leak, should a disc fall outside company hands. Almost all confidential information distributed inside the Tokugawa Group is recorded on this type of disc.
For security purposes, the T-Gear99 is not made available to the public.
videophone
Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Society / Technology
An information platform based on the videophones of the 20th century. Modern videophones also allow the user to turn off the video feature if they want, and it is possible to send still picture- and text-only messages as well. Videophones started to become widespread at the beginning of the century, but with privacy concerns and changes in communications practices, nearly all calls have now become either voice- or text-only, with video calls common only between close friends and family members. The decline of the video feature could be cited as one of the effects of the information explosion that occurred shortly after the turn of the century. Home versions are usually integrated into an information terminal as standard. Public videophone terminals are frequently the targets of vandalism, many having their cameras broken, with the result that governments have decided not to install cameras on all future terminals. Today's videophone differs from previous videophones in that the visual output is reduced in size to allow for faster processing, and it frequently employs burst lines, which codify communications to prevent eavesdropping.
VR girl
Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Society
Slang for an actress who appears in pornographic PVR software. Although VR girls are considered different from regular actresses, they have become just as common as their traditional counterparts. The monthly software product Girls Mate, which features VR girls, averages 100,000 downloads an issue. Since a VR girl is created from CG captured from a real woman, they have necessitated the rethinking of current copyright and likeness laws. Questions have been raised regarding how far a person or object processed with CG should be afforded protection, as well as the creation of new CG copyright laws concerning the right to conduct CG processing. However, the total number of problems raised by the existence of VR girls extends far beyond merely ethical issues.
VR pornography
Culture and Sports / Information and Communications / Society
A virtual reality program featuring adult content. One of the darker sides of the VR experience, this type of entertainment has fast become a major problem, going against the Virtual Reality Ethical Guidelines. Users value its interactivity more than the amount of nudity it contains.
VRE
Information and Communications / Society / Technology
Acronym for virtual recorder. A media system that recreates a location in 3D by simultaneously recording video, sound, and environment data from various sensors, then analyzing and compiling the data via computer. Originally used in planetary exploration and scouting for mineral deposits. The data, recorded on separate sub-devices, is linked piece by piece on a special workstation and supplemented as necessary. This is called virtual processing, and the machine used for this is called a virtual editor. Going beyond simply recording 2D images, it simulates a location in perfect 3D, including air temperature and humidity, smells – even the exact materials the actual objects are made of. However, virtual processing requires a considerable amount of time even with the speed of computers available today.
BBC has several virtual editors at its studios.