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"All fiction is propaganda, and the fiction we like is the propaganda we believe in, and the fiction we don't like is the propaganda we don't believe in."
- Samuel R. Delany
 |
| Polycarbon Phone Screen | ||
| A telephone that provides videophone capability using a very thin screen that is folded away when not in use. |
Nokia, are you paying attention? I'm just wondering if you have to wait for it to dry the first time you use it, like butterflys need to wait for their wings to dry and become stiff enough for flight.
| "We'll key that to the image on this phone." He took an elegant modular unit from the bag and placed it in front of her. A paper thin polycarbon screen unfurled silently from the top of the unit and immediately grew rigid. She had once watched a butterfly emerge into the world, and seen the transformation of its drying wings. "How is that done?" she asked, tentatively touching the screen. It was like thin steel. "One of the new polycarbon variants," he said, "one of the Maas products . . The phone purred discreetly He positioned it more carefully in front of her, stepped to the far side of the table, and said, "Your call. Remember, you are at home!" He reached forward and brushed a titanium-coated stud. Alain's face and shoulders filled the little screen. |
| From Count Zero,
by William Gibson. Published by Arbor House in 1986 Additional resources -
|
Very thin screens are becoming a reality; however, the designs I've seen so far show the screen unfurling in a very pedestrian manner (rolling out like a window shade from an enclosed cylinder). Clients would not fail to be impressed by this phone, which could be used by more than one person (unlike the screens on current cell phones, which one person can barely see).
I'm wondering whether you could make a disposable screen of this kind, by analogy to "instant" photography. The film used in these cameras contains developer chemicals that are released when you eject the (all black) picture from the camera by squeezing it between rollers.
Compare to the flexible car map from Heavy Weather (1994) by Bruce Sterling.
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Additional
resources:
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and Technology from Count Zero
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and Technology by William Gibson
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Tech news articles related to works by William Gibson
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- Polymer Vision Readius With Merely Foldable Display
- Readius Rollable Display Starts Mass Production
- Readius Cell Phone 5-Inch Fold Out Display
- Readius Polymer Vison E-Ink Video
- Samsung Folding Screen Cell Phone Video
- Self-Folding 'Origami Robot' Smart Sheet
- Razer Project Valerie Laptop Unfurls
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- SEL 3-Fold OLED 9 Inch Display Is Pocket-Sized!
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- FlexPai Foldable Phone By Royole
- Unfurl The Future! Huawei Mate X versus Galaxy Fold
- LG Wing Twisting Smartphone Might Be Fun
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| 5G Will Be Crucial Backup For Self-Driving Cars |
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'... with large padded feet, who were apparently polishing their way the whole length of Rama's six artificial suns.'
'Anything larger than a BB shot it picked up and placed in a tray on its upper surface...'
'the human seats took up two-thirds of the room in each'
'the curious absent look of a robot talking on the TBR circuits...'
'Over her lacerated right shoulder he sprayed art-derm...'
Now, that was a Pontiac Trans Am with some real style.
'There is a built-in microphone that hears everything you say, and an electric brain that selects a suitable answer.'
