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"Bureaucracies hide their mistakes, because people's careers are tied to those mistakes. Therefore, bureaucracies are a perfect mechanism for perpetuating mistakes."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| Gesture-Controlled Device | ||
| An electronic device that is controlled by hand gestures. |
| A loud clatter of gunk music flooded through the Heart of Gold cabin as Zaphod searched the sub-etha radio wave bands for news of himself. The machine was rather difficult to operate. For years radios had been operated by means of pressing buttons and turning dials; then as the technology became more sophisticated the controls were made touch-sensitive--you merely had to brush the panels with your fingers; now all you had to do was wave your hand in the general direction of the components and hope. It saved a lot of muscular expenditure, of course, but meant that you had to sit infuriatingly still if you wanted to keep listening to the same program.
Zaphod waved a hand and the channel switched again. |
| From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,
by Douglas Adams. Published by Harmony Books in 1979 Additional resources -
|
Compare to the hand wave control from Philip K. Dick's 1955 novel Solar Lottery. See also the filing crystal from Samuel R. Delany's Babel-17 (1968).
Thanks to Erik Nodacker for contributing this item.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
More Ideas
and Technology by Douglas Adams
Tech news articles related to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Tech news articles related to works by Douglas Adams
Gesture-Controlled Device-related
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- Robot Accepts Gesture Commands
- Arm Swing Authentication For Mobile Phones
- Walky iPhone Finger Gesture Robot Controller
- Gesture Cube Touch-Free Input
- 3D Input Interfaces For Gesture-Controlled Phones
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- Geremin Gesture-Controlled Dashboard
- Control Robot Planes With Hand Gestures!
- GestIC Gesture Recognition Controller Uses Electrical Fields
- AllSee Low Power Gesture Recognition
- VW Golf R Touch With Gesture Control
- WatchSense Perfect For Fat-Fingered Smartwatch Owners
| SolarXOne Solar-Powered Drone Flies (almost) Forever |
| Experts Decry Planet-Scale Schemes To Limit Global Heating |
| Shine On, Portable Wind Turbine |
| The Mojo Smart Contact Lens Experience |
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