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"...if you want to know what your future looks like, don't waste your time on Analog; read Time magazine. We are already saturated in the future. "
- Peter Watts

Talking Nail  
  Used by scanners when not talking.  

Needed for communication.

He saw by her look of stricken assent that he had won the argument. He did not use his voice again. Instead, he pulled his tablet up from where it hung against his chest. He wrote' on it, using the pointed fingernail of his right forefinger — the Talking Nail of a Scanner — in quick cleancut script: “Pis, drlng, whrs Crnching Wire?”

She pulled the long gold-sheathed wire out of the pocket of her apron. She let its field sphere fall to the carpeted floor. Swiftly, dutifully, with the deft obedience of a Scanner’s wife, she wound the Cranching Wire around his head, spirally around his neck and chest.

Technovelgy from Scanners Live in Vain, by Cordwainer Smith.
Published by Fantasy Publishing Co. Inc. in 1950
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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from Scanners Live in Vain
  More Ideas and Technology by Cordwainer Smith
  Tech news articles related to Scanners Live in Vain
  Tech news articles related to works by Cordwainer Smith

Talking Nail-related news articles:
  - Polish Turns Your Nail Into A Stylus

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Polish Turns Your Nail Into A Stylus
'He wrote on it, using the pointed fingernail of his right forefinger...'

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'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.'

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