The Sword and Laser discussion

Woke up this morning and was barraged by a staggering amount of information on mobile tech about phones and tablets when I went to read news.

As far in the future as LW is you'd imagine some sort of personal carried entertainment even if cell communication wouldn't always be practical. Imagine what kind of texting bill they'd have going from the Canterbury to Earth. I don't remember mention of any kind of semi-ubiquitous mobile communication or mobile personal entertainment tech devices that Holden or Miller could play angry birds on while they waited.

While the authors might not want to distract too much from the main story, a brief mention of something of this sort would seem appropriate. Only explanation I can think of is the delicateness of electronics in space combined with having to worry about the weight of everything due to fuel costs. Even this seems a bit of a stretch to omit something that might help avert cabin fever in space.

"Hand terminals" or personal terminals are referenced. It doesn't go into detail on what the tech involves but they are used for communication, financial transactions, accessing local networks etc. There's no reason to assume playing "angry proto-molecule" was out of the question.

@David - Cool! I had hoped I was wrong since it just seems so unlikely they'd completely skip that.

I'm guessing going into further details on that kind of thing or even a public type internet would work against the "noir" style mood of the book too.

There's a little bit more about the capabilities of the hand terminals in Calaban's War, particularly about how they gather news. Nothing earth shattering.

Im sure that stuff exists, just it wouldn't fit into holden or millers' character. C'mon the guy has almost died three times and he's playing angry birds? And miller, the alcoholic with delusional visions of his ex wife is going to text havelock "on eros!!!! Lol! <3" ha, i think not. But fred playing solitaire kind of fits. Or chess... Yeah chess is better.

Sean wrote: " C'mon the guy has almost died three times and he's playing angry birds? "

"Fruit Ninja" maybe? "Plants Vs. Zombies"? Or wait .. is there a "Mar's Attacks" game app?

Nick wrote: "Fruit Ninja" maybe? "Plants Vs. Zombies"? Or wait .. is there a "Mar's Attacks" game app?"

Clearly the only sensible answer is Asteroids.

Miller is also able to access his "partition" from his office, his apartment, and his hand terminal. So we know they're using a networked 'cloud' data storage system.

Nick wrote: "Plants Vs. Zombies"?

I can't imagine that would remain on the main characters' hand terminals for very long after the end of this story.

David wrote: "Nick wrote: "Plants Vs. Zombies"?

I can't imagine that would remain on the main characters' hand terminals for very long after the end of this story."

HAH!!

@Nick and @Tony - yeah, the personal tech is mentioned, but not elaborated. It exists, that's all we need to know for now within the story.

Now of course the, ahem, million dollar question

What are the phone charges from Earth to Saturn?

I thought it was cute they called them "hand terminals" rather than mobiles or similar. Sounds like the future of the 80s rather than the future of the 10s, if that makes sense.

@Cattfish: well seriously the speed of light delay would really alter what using the Internet was like. I wonder how it worked in LW. Would certainly contribute to the cultural rifts, since humanity would again not be united with one medium.

I agree. Asteroids. Asteroids and Left 4 Dead. Those were on Julie's terminal ironically.