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" I sometimes suspect that we're seeing something in the Internet as significant as the birth of cities. It's really something new, it's a new kind of civilization."
- William Gibson
 |
| Control-Face | ||
| A small liquid crystal display (LCD) unit linked to a larger network; gives a window onto your larger network world. |
Everything that William Gibson describes in his novels is something you want. It's irritating to have to wait.
| Masahiko undid the tip two buttons of his tunic and withdrew a six-inch square of something black and rigid, no thicker than a pane of glass. He brushed it purposefully with the fingers of his right hand, beaded lines of colored light appearing at his touch. Though these were fainter here, washed out by the train's directionless fluorescents, Chia recognized the square as the control-face of the computer she'd seen in his room. He studied the display, stroked it again, and frowned at the result. "Someone pays attention to my address," he said... |
| Technovelgy from Idoru,
by William Gibson. Published by Putnam in 1996 Additional resources -
|
In the novel, the control-face was actually a part of the computer itself. It was like being able to detach a touch screen display from the computer and then take it with you, remaining in control of the remote computer system.
On the other hand, those of you who have not yet read this novel are closer than we were in 1998, when, as I recall, the Palm Pilot was the thing to have, even though you couldn't control your remote computer with it. It was a bit thick for a control-face, and after a short wait, there was a backlight for the LCD.
For the "classic sf" view, you might also want to look at the Calculator Pad, from Isaac Asimov's Foundation.
Masahiko's computer was on the carpet in front of him; he'd put its control-face back on and peeled a very compact pare of tip-sets out of the back of the cube...
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and Technology from Idoru
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Tech news articles related to Idoru
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Control-Face-related
news articles:
- Toshiba Ubiquitous Viewer Lets Phones Control PCs
- iPhone To Control Desktop Computer Remotely?
- Galaxy Z Fold 3 Perfect For William Gibson's 'Control-Face'
| Transparent 4K OLED Wireless TV From LG |
| DOTPad Braille Device Offers Live Access |
| Transparent MicroLED Screen From Samsung |
| Augmented Reality Book Covers Reveal The Inner Book |
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'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.'
'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.'
'Norman... had never ridden any motorized device that lacked onboard steering and balance systems.'
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!
'As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped...'
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'
'... he realized that the moving thing inside was - of course - a robot.'
