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"I think we're still on that topic, still trying to figure out what computers are, how they change us, why we use them."
- Neal Stephenson

Blurbflies (Sing. Blurbfly)  
  Small robotic/organic advertisers.  

Blurbflies are corporate gadflies, tiny mostly robotic flies that create buzz for their sponsors.

The blurbs are the property of the AnnoDomino Co., invented to perpetuate their messages of luck and hope beyond the normal channels.

Blurbflies are allowed to travel the streets, buzzing their adverts alive and direct to the punters.

Blurbs shall stand for Bio-Logical-Ultra-Robotic-Broadcasting-System.

Only the company shall manufacture the blurbs. Other businesses or individuals may purchase blurbs from the Company, pre-loaded with messages and armed to the teeth, for the appropriate price.

None but the company shall know the insides of a blurb.

None but the Company shall capture a blurb.

If captured, a blurb may take the necessary steps to escape.

Technovelgy from Nymphomation, by Jeff Noon.
Published by Black Swan Books in 2000
Additional resources -

Eventually, people learn to hack these ubiquitous beasties; they never give you a moments peace, flying into your house, your pub, your car, you name it.

Benny produced a small package from his gentleman's shoulder bag. It was an aluminum box, tightly crimped. A takeaway curry box that Benny opened up to show Daisy...
"Isn't he a beauty?"
Certainly, a beauty; folded there on a bed of silver, with wings all a tremble, even whilst sleeping...
"It's a bootleg! Surely you're not trusting Jaz to deliver you? Don't you know his blurbs go crazy? ...They crash!"

Compare to the scarab robot flying insect from The Scarab (1936) by Raymond Z. Gallun, the infiltrators from Vulcan's Hammer (1960) by Philip K. Dick an the commercial fly from The Simulacra (1964) by Philip K. Dick.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Nymphomation
  More Ideas and Technology by Jeff Noon
  Tech news articles related to Nymphomation
  Tech news articles related to works by Jeff Noon

Blurbflies (Sing. Blurbfly)-related news articles:
  - Advertising Drones Hover Over Traffic In Mexico

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Robot Snakes No Longer Stopped By Stairs
Challenges Of Two-Armed Robots
AlphaGarden Robot Cares For Gardens Better Than Humans
TeslaBot Uber Driver (2024) And The Automatic Motorist (1911)

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