Part 3Communicating at All Speeds

Now that you’re in charge of your turf—or a least know what it takes to get there—it’s time to get into a higher and more efficient gear when it comes to staying in touch with the rest of the known universe. The four chapters in this section examine the ridiculous to the sublime in terms of options available for staying in touch.

The key to making the most of these is to recognize that the Revenge Effect is alive and well and waiting to wreak havoc on your day, depending on what tools of technology you’re prepared to abuse. In other words, you can both save or waste oodles of time using electronic pagers (jeepers creepers, I’ll call them beepers), e-mail, the Internet, and snail mail. Since you’d rather save oodles of time, we’ll focus on that.

So, comrade, appropriately use or apply all the tools and methods of communication discussed here. Otherwise, you will quickly find yourself behind the no-time 8-ball faster than you can say “The dog ate my homework.”

We’ll begin with an alarming, insightful, and totally thoughtful look at a tiny little gadget that threatens to decimate your life (but only if you let it) and turn civilization into a smoldering heap of ashes.