Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"The world is really so surreal these days that it's necessary for us to blunt it somehow in order to stay sane. The artist functions to short-circuit the buffering mechanism, so that people can occasionally perceive the weirdness of things as they are."
- William Gibson
 |
| Angel Music Player | ||
| A device that beams music directly into your brain, without wires. |
This device can be used to provide your music directly to your mind, or to the mind of a nearby person.
| Amand glared at him. "Are you on that damn Angel? What have I told you about using that thing when we have guests?
"I've heard of those things," Lily said. "Why don't you show me, Benj?" He fished in his jacket pocket and produced a gadget as slim as a cigarette. It was heavy in her hand, seamless, warm from his body heat. Benj set it with unconscious skill, Lily couldn't follow what he did, and a bright, brassy pop tune erupted inside her head: "I love you more than my phone / You're my Angel, you're my TV..." The Angel beamed its music directly into her sensorium, somehow stimulating the hearing centers remotely, without the need for wires and earpieces... Amanda said, "...And it's a pain to be zapped in the street by some kid who thinks you need a headful of drums and bass." |
| From Flood,
by Stephen Baxter. Published by Gollancz in 2008 Additional resources -
|
In some ways this device reminds me of the tasp from Larry Niven's works; it comes in a portable model that can stimulate the pleasure center of another person's brain remotely. Here's a quote from Niven's 1970 novel Ringworld.
"Have you ever been hit by a tasp? None of my business, of course."
Teela grinned derision for his delicacy. "Yes, I know what it feels like. A moment of - well, there's no describing it. But you don't use a tasp on yourself. You use it on someone who isn't expecting it. That's where the fun comes in. Police are always picking up taspers in parks."
The author also mentions that these devices come in milspec versions for use by the military.
"...Usually a tasp is just small enough to aim with one hand."
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Flood
More Ideas
and Technology by Stephen Baxter
Tech news articles related to Flood
Tech news articles related to works by Stephen Baxter
| Pop Secret Pop Dongle Lets You Smell The Corn A Poppin' On Your Smartphone |
| Transparent Smartphone Prototype From Polytron |
| Not Going To Google IO |
| Dead Cellphone? Try Solar-Powered Public Charging Stations |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
'Vergil had trained the lymphocytes in the past six months to interact as much as possible with each other and with their environment...'
'This was really free power... Power carried across millions of miles on Addison's tight-beam principle.'
'Whoever was placed inside the apparatus instantaneously experienced all the charms, lures, wiles, winks and witchery of all the fairer sex in the Universe at once.'
'It is about the size and shape of a kitchen stool, gyro-stabilized on a single wheel...'
'It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells...'
'A cable, here, from the controller to the interface plug... wires from that to the brain.'
'He set his camera to follow him, and it hovered behind him like a large tame bee.'
'Now shall the brutal murdering of fellow animals and brother vegetables forever stop...'
