"
On the screen, a small month-view calendar opened and the
upcoming Friday flashed. A moment later "12:00PM Byron Holmes /
Lunch" appeared in the date box.
The Joey Plus's built-in speaker came to life with a robotic
voice. "Lunch with Byron Holmes, noon, confirmed. Is there an
agenda?"
Peter grinned and looked at Byron, who lowered his voice. "A
little something we threw in this morning."
Peter spoke into the microphone. "Yes. Discuss computer
enhancements and - "
"Computer," the Joey said, interrupting Peter, "is unrecognized."
Peter gave Byron a puzzled look. "What happened?"
Byron was scratching his head. "Well how do you like that. We
never considered that. I mean, that if we call the computer
'computer,' then we can't use that word once it's listening to
whatever we tell it."
"Ah," Peter said. "Right. Hmm." He thought about this for a
second, then sat down before the Joey and started typing.
"What are you doing?" Byron said.
"Well," Peter said, lifting the microphone, "since the word
computer won't compute, all we need to do is give it a unique
name that we wouldn't normally use in an everyday context."
"Of course," Byron said. "Good thinking."
Peter pressed a key and the Joey spoke: "Please say my name so
that I know who I am."
"Pip," Peter said, loud and clear.
"Please repeat my name again, faster this time.
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