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Yesterday's science fiction, shipping with a subscription.
Devices, platforms and updates nobody asked for. If it has a firmware version, it eventually has a story here.
8 stories
A concept under discussion among appliance financiers would let a household appliance hold its own payment history. The appliance would not own itself. It would merely be the party that fell behind.
A proposed update schedule for implanted medical devices would standardise when your hardware restarts. The working title of the document is said to be deliberately boring, for reasons its authors consider obvious.
A budget template under discussion among small-town finance officers would open a standing line for extortion payments. The debate in the council chamber would not be about whether to pay. It would be about the realistic unit price.
A claims framework under discussion among European home insurers would make a burglary payout depend on whether the box in the hallway was still receiving security updates. The device would not have to be broken. It would only have to be out of support.
A draft customs instruction would add computing power to the list of things a traveller must declare, alongside cash and tobacco. The threshold would be given in a unit that appears on no form currently printed.
A draft coordination mechanism would rank states for access to the small fleet able to repair submarine cables. Position in the queue would be fixed months in advance, and would be very much worth negotiating over.
A district heating contract under negotiation for one housing estate would take its warmth from the data centre next door. Residents would be warmest when the machines are busiest, and would learn to read the weather in workloads.
A design collection is reportedly considering an acquisition category for controls that move. Curators would face the unusual problem of an exhibit that visitors are physically unable to stop pressing.
MISTAKE
One email a week. The future, before it files a press release.
Worst case: you laugh. Best case: we predicted the future.