videotex

n. obs. An electronic service offering people the privilege of paying to
read the weather on their television screens instead of having somebody read
it to them for free while they brush their teeth. The idea bombed everywhere
it wasn't government-subsidized, because by the time videotex was practical
the installed base of personal computers could hook up to timesharing
services and do the things for which videotex might have been worthwhile
better and cheaper. Videotex planners badly overestimated both the appeal of
getting information from a computer and the cost of local intelligence at
the user's end. Like the gorilla arm effect, this has been a cautionary tale
to hackers ever since. See also vannevar.

