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"The thing that I'm most interested in at the moment is the so-called Infinite Energy solution - the possibility of finding new ways of tapping into virtually limitless sources of energy."
- Arthur C. Clarke
 |
| Stick-Tight | ||
| A general term for surveillance devices that will follow a subject and record speech or video. |
Vance provides an interesting variety of spy devices, both mechanical and animal.
| Suthiro knit his furry brown eyebrows in puzzlement, glanced for the most fleeting instant upward.
Gersen continued, "There is a stick-tight watching us, although I have not yet located it. Its microphone probably registers our conversation... |
| Technovelgy from The Star King,
by Jack Vance. Published by Berkeley in 1964 Additional resources -
|
According to Vance, the stick-tight comes in at least five different variations:
Thanks to an anonymous reader for providing the source and the quote.
You might want to take a look at a tiny modern-day device that seems to be just what Vance was talking about with his servo-optical stick-tight - the uFR-II micro flying robot. It even has image recording capability!
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Star King
More Ideas
and Technology by Jack Vance
Tech news articles related to The Star King
Tech news articles related to works by Jack Vance
Stick-Tight-related
news articles:
- Wing-Morphing Micro Air Vehicles
- Aeryon Scout UAV Gets Upgrades
- Eye-bot Lands On Your Ceiling
- Drones Stick Tight, Remember Your Face
| Brin's 1990 Novel Earth Still Full Of Predictions |
| Amazon One Is Frank Herbert's Palm Lock |
| Who Needs Dogs? Trained Bees Detect Explosives |
| Government In-Home Surveillance - Yes! Say Third Of Under-30 Adults |
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'Provision had been made to meet the terrific cold which we knew would be encountered the moment we had passed beyond the atmosphere.'
'You are who we say you are, Dr. Dakin,' Turner said.'
'It's area, and its consequent light-gathering capacity, was many times greater than any rigid mirror...'
'Tell me your torments,' the Padre said, in an elderly voice marked with compassion.
'...a slender-legged tripod surmounted by a spherical body no larger than a football.'
'... making the point that their likenesses, every move they made, were being transmitted.'
'But the stars are only atoms in larger space, and in that larger space the star-atoms could combine to form living matter, thinking matter, couldn't they?'
'...to build up a video picture would require, say, ten million decisions every second. Mike, you're so fast I can't even think about it. But you aren't that fast.'
