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"The idea I want to push next is that the United States should make Siberia a Protectorate. Pay the Russians off – a hundred, two hundred billion dollars – and simply run Siberia in an ecologically responsible way."
- Gregory Benford
 |
| Hotdesk | ||
| A desk space that was itself ready for input. |
Just a term, really; not a lot of explanation. The concept, it seems to me, is that of a desk that has all of the functions of a modern cubicle built-in: phone, computer, network access, and so forth.
| She propped her feet on the ledge of a hotdesk. She wore meticulous little reproductions of lineman's boots, buckled across the instep and stoutly laced to the ankle. |
| From Idoru,
by William Gibson. Published by Putnam in 1996 Additional resources -
|
As a person who has spent a considerable part of his life in cubicles, I'm trying to imagine one that would be higher tech and more interesting. So, rather than thinking of a computer as something you add to a cubicle, imagine sitting in the computer or being surrounded by it. The calendar on your wall? A flat panel display with a touch screen. The phone? Can't even see it; you come in and the cube tells you what you missed, including emails. Sit at the desk anywhere, and a keyboard is projected from little ports onto the desk surface; your finger motions tell what needs to be typed in (or dialed, in the case of a phone number).
When will Steelcase get together with Gateway and produce the hotcube? Only time will tell.
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'THE red tennis robot scooted desperately across the court...'
'The Consul remembered his first glimpse of the kilometer-long treeship...'
'Do you know what window washing used to cost by the hour?'
'Once the target is confirmed, it uses an IR laser to send a coded signal back to the parent, clearing it to attack.'
'I filled your bullet hole with flesh putty and the lattice.'
'... it will be easy to form an alphabet which shall enable us to converse with the inhabitants of the moon.'
'From the tower's huge octagonal base radiate wide silvery strips...'
'It was about five feet long... a black bullet head and red camera eyes.'
'The Law Society has strict rules on the use of pseudo-intelligent software...'
