::scr DNA

[Alaric Snell]

On Tuesday 07 May 2002 23:14, you wrote:

> i keep having this recurrent fantasy about building a distributed wearable
> network - for the wombles, for example, where each node has a webcam and
> audio feed. powersupply seems like the main issue, and it would have to be
> done at an incredibly low cost. hang on, this is a distraction.

The coolest description of a wireless network in day to day use I've seen is 
the 'datavising' system in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy.

Everything has a radio interface by default - a lot of things lack manual 
pushbuttons! People have neural implants that interface with this, and the 
protocol is such that you can see the relationship between network nodes and 
physical objects (perhaps a glyph is superimposed over the object that's a 
node in your visual field).

He makes a passing reference to the standard APIs they use to make it all 
happen seamlessly. It's only a short range network like Bluetooth, but if 
you're within LOS of a WAN router (like a mobile phone base station), you get 
WAN connectivity.

People who are too young or poor to get neural implants carry around PDAs.

There's a scene in one of the books when a character from a backwater planet 
- with no experience of datavising at all - gets into a taxi then is 
perplexed by the lack of a driver or any kind of control panel. A kindly 
passer-by asks her where she wants to go and sends the taxi off for her!

ABS

-- 
                               Alaric B. Snell
 http://www.alaric-snell.com/  http://RFC.net/  http://www.warhead.org.uk/
   Any sufficiently advanced technology can be emulated in software