Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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
"Writing about the future, I have a vested interest in there being a future for me to write about."
- John Brunner
 |
| Wristpad | ||
| A tablet computer worn on the wrist. |
| They were up on the crest, in fact, one afternoon near sunset, when John looked up from the equation on his wristpad, and stared up the long slope toward Olympus Mons... "Look at that," he said to the others, and pointed. "A dust storm." John called up the weather satellite photos on his wristpad. ... Frank was cursing into his wristpad, switching between Arabic and English. Trying vainly to find out what had happened... Nadia looked fearfully at the little images on her wrist, directing the robot cameras with dread. Shattered rovers. Some bodies. Nothing moved. One rover still smoked. ... He walked feeling lighter, chattering into his wristpad’s diary file as he went. “The park reminds me of what Orwell said about Barcelona in the hands of the anarchists; it is the euphoria of a new social contract, of a return to that child’s dream of fairness we all began with-” His wristpad beeped and Phyllis’s face appeared on the tiny screen, which was annoying. “What do you want?” he asked. |
| Technovelgy from Red Mars,
by Kim Stanley Robinson. Published by Random House in 1992 Additional resources -
|
Robinson uses this in New York: 2140 (2017):
Clark Perry uses the same word in Red Dreams (1994):
Compare to the Wrist Search Display from A Matter of Size (1934) by Harry Bates,
Wireless Wrist Intercom from The Shape of Things To Come (1936) by H.G. Wells,
Reserve Bracelet from Plague (1944) by Murray Leinster,
Tattletale from The Game Players of Titan (1963) by Philip K. Dick,
Wristband Viewer from Changeling (1980) by Roger Zelazny,
Implant-Watch from Cloak of Anarchy (1972) by Larry Niven,
Predator Wrist Display from Predator (1987) by John McTierna,
Wrist Command from Tides of Light (1989) by Gregory Benford,
Tracking Bracelet from Shadowspeer (1990) by Patricia Jo Clayton,
Inertial Bracelet from Psychohistorical Crisis (2001) by Donald Kingsbury and the
Command Bracelet from Sagramanda (2006) by Alan Dean Foster.
Charlotte Armstrong's alarm went off and she jabbed her wristpad. Time to go home...
They walked toward the nearest tower. At its base was a winch with a small elevator car, designed to slide out over the abyss where it could be lowered. Freddie reluctantly entered the small cage. Anna followed and closed the wire-mesh door behind them. She pressed buttons on her wristpad, activating the winch’s radio mechanism. The elevator car was quietly wheeled out over the edge of the dark hole. She pressed another button and they started down.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Red Mars
More Ideas
and Technology by Kim Stanley Robinson
Tech news articles related to Red Mars
Tech news articles related to works by Kim Stanley Robinson
Wristpad-related
news articles:
- I Wish This Plaudit Pin Was More Like A Wristpad
| Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer |
| Cortex 1 - Today A Warehouse, Tomorrow A Calculator Planet |
| Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness? |
| Jetson Orin Nano Super 70 Just $249 |
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 Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
