Then you shouldn't be asking for MP3.

Of course.

Every year, that game looks less like satire and more plausible. If I ever run it again, I'm going to voice the Computer as Tony Blair.

Back on the subject of future language technology, this was developed quite some time ago. It's not an alternative to written language, but it's an alternative to typing and might be of interest for a Shadowrun setting. Note on the demonstrations page, there's an mpeg of someone typing with their eye (the actual eye movements are inset in the lower right corner with what the eye sees as the main movie). I've tried the mouse version and given it a few minutes to get used to (they practically beg you to give it time to learn in the manual) and it is surprisingly fast. Not as fast as typing for me, but I am a fairly quick typer. I can imagine people using something like this rather than lugging a keyboard around or using one of those fiddly little ones. All it would take is a pair of glasses, which with SR tech you would have the interface displayed on anyway.

Pretty neat.

I can certainly see circumstances under which the computer would sound like Blair. It actually reminds me of a 200AD comic... but I'm getting off topic.

One thing I think needs to be born in mind is that iconography has not been developed in SR to supercede the written word, simply that is possible for many not to bother with the written word due to the availability of other communication methods (such as voice mail), so they never develop the skill.

I don't think 2070 books are written in iconography, but your average man/orc/whatever on the street can get a book that reads itself, recognise a place to eat by a familiar sign (Golden Arches, anyone?), tell which door leads to a urinal and which to a pleasantly scented wonderland in the same way.... Oh. We can do that already you say?

My point is that iconography has not developed as a language, simply that the pressing need to be literate is lessened. Even today the number of people that read for fun is falling. How much worse in a world where audio and visual (and even tactile) media are so readily available?

audio books are becoming more and more popular today. with cd based playback you can jump to the individual chapter, and in the future you may even be able to save where to start the next time within the file itself.