It’s such a chore – if you’re 11 years old or more – to wade through all the TV listings for the upcoming week and pre-program the video recorder to switch on at the right magic moments – but computer technology has replaced the US Cavalry when it comes to coming to the rescue these days, and Metaview Corp of San Francisco has the answer in the shape of the $6,000 SmarTV system: as soon as you’ve shelled out six big ones and lugged the thing home, it asks you to answer a detailed questionnaire on your TV tastes, whereupon it tirelessly scans the listings, recording everything it thinks you’ll like, offers you a menu of its goodies when you get home – and automatically loads the right tape at a spoken command; it’s said to be the last word in artificial intelligence – and we don’t want any sour comments about people needing to be equipped with artificial intelligence to watch any American TV.
