Inside the lobby of the Seminole County DMV, the directory is a hologram scale model of the building. On it, Jennifer finds the registration office for her new implants located on the 3rd floor.
Looking at the weak translucent flickering image, she thinks to herself, Even my daughter’s Dora The Explorer doll projects a higher definition hologram than this thing. -
And then she presses the highlighted door on it.
A blurry smiling receptionist sitting at a desk replaces the model of the building, and says to her, “You are 12 minutes early for your appointment Jennifer. Thank you. Your wait time is 2 to 3 hours. Please wait outside the building but stay nearby. You will receive a notification on your phone when you are down to five minutes. Thank you. Any questions?”
Waiting in line is almost extinct in 2040, except of course at the DMV. Today is Jen’s deadline for registering her new Beats In-ear System™. If she fails to get them registered today, she will need to wait one year for a new one-week registration window to be opened.
Jen stomps her foot and barks, “Are you kidding? 2 to 3 hours? -
Then recomposes herself with, “Sorry for that. No, no questions. Thank you. -
The receptionist answers, “Thank you too. Remember not to miss your five-minute readiness notification that you will now hear on your new in-ear speakers, which I just activated for this purpose. Repeat, your implants are now activated. If you are not physically here within five minutes of our announcement, you will need to reschedule, and will miss your deadline as a result, I am sorry to have to say.”
She thinks to herself about the receptionist, Why's she got to be such a bitch? -
Jen’s about to turn around to exit the building to go kill 2 to 3 hours of wait-time but stops because she notices the receptionist in the lobby giving her the side-eye -
The receptionist asks her, “What did you just call me? -
Jen knows she called her nothing out loud, loses and catches her balance, then replies, “What?”
Rubbing her eyes like it’s a routine stress habit, she thinks to herself, This place can eat me. I'm going home.
The receptionist replies, “Understood. 2 to 3 hours is a long wait-time. However, we strongly advise you not to leave. If you fail to successfully register your device today, you will have to wait one year for a new one-week registration window to be opened - resulting in one year of unregulated settings and permissions control over your pair of in-ear devices, and its related apps. Thank you. –
Again, Jennifer knows that she said nothing about going home out loud, and repeats, “What? -
She bolts out the lobby. Now outside, in front of the building, she summons her car in the parking garage to come meet her right there. She uses her phone, which reminds her how much she wishes her new Beats In-ears were already set up and synced with everything so that she could be using those right now instead.
The receptionist’s voice starts speaking to her through her Beats In-ears, reminding Jennifer that they got activated while she was in the lobby. The receptionist urges her to stay and keep her appointment.
Jennifer lights a Marlboro Indica, has no idea how to get to her Beat’s In-ear settings, and starts saying her best guesses out loud, “Beats In-ear System, please stop DMV notifications… Silence all notifications please… Airplane mode please… Please. Power. Off. -
The receptionist’s voice continues in her ears, urging her to stay for the registration process.
Jen’s car arrives. She flicks the rest of her cigarette, hops into the driver seat, and speeds away.
***
As soon as Jennifer gets home, she rushes straight to her Hologram PC to start the set-up process for her Beats In-ear System. From the moment she got them surgically implanted, she’s been dying to activate them. She is mad at herself for bothering to wait the week she did for today’s appointment to register them at the DMV. She is freaking out that the receptionist continues to talk into her ears every few minutes, trying to convince her to return to the DMV.
Even though she has the top-of-the-line personal Hologram PC, it always takes a long minute to start up. It is situated on a little wooden round table in her bedroom. Her bedroom is spacious, so the table is positioned far away enough from anything to accommodate four wooden chairs. One of these chairs is the dedicated spot where the hologram image of whoever Jennifer is interacting with sits. This Hologram PC produces such an exquisite rendering, it can sometimes feel like the actual person is sitting right there across the table.
Dr. Dre is the 1st person that appears to introduce the Beats In-ears System and says, “You ready for the next -
The receptionist from the DMV pops up replacing Dr. Dre who was just sitting across the table from Jennifer, urging her to return and get her in-ears registered. Jennifer endures this pop-up knowing that nothing she has tried to get rid of them has worked.
Once the receptionist is done, Dr. Dre reappears and says, “You ready for the next episode? Welcome to Beats In-ear System. Ain't nuthin' but a Beats thang, baby. Now let me hand this off to Truly, she will be your personal assistant.” -
The Beats assistant replaces Dr. Dre, and introduces herself with a radiant smile, “Hi, my name’s Truly. I am here to assist you through your new Beats In-ear System set up process. Before we get started here, do you have any questions?”
Jennifer replies, “Yes, please advise how I can disable my notifications from the DMV. The receptionist there keeps popping up and –
Truly interrupts her to say, “Done. Your notifications from the DMV are now disabled. Any other questions before we get started here?”
Jennifer answers, “No thank you, nothing else for now. And I so thank you, you have no idea how bad the -
Truly interrupts her to continue, “Okay. Please let me know your desired username. This is how Beats, and all the 3rd party Apps that we support, will address you from here on out.”
She answers, “Jennifer. Jen’s fine though. Most of my –
Truly interrupts her to continue, “Okay Jen, nice to meet you. We are now going to go through a list of settings so that you can choose your preferences. Sound good?"
Jen answers, “Yes.”
Truly continues, “Good. Your Beats In-ears are equipped with GPS, do we have permission to access your location?”
Jen asks, “For what purpose?”
Truly answers, “Location data helps enhance a wide variety of things. One example being - when using maps for turn-by-turn directions, this is how we would know your starting point. Just like your phone does today.
Jen’s eyebrows crinkle up a little at the bridge of her nose as she asks, “Can’t I just use my car’s on-board maps app for turn-by-turn directions?”
Truly answers, “Of course you can Jen. But what if you are walking to a destination? Or are inside of a store and cannot locate a section or even a specific item? The –
Jen interrupts, “Yeah but I can just use my -
Truly jumps in to answer, “Of course you can use your phone for that Jen. And now also - with your Beats, you now have the option to ask where something is and get the answer through your in-ears just like you and I are talking with each other right now. Not to mention, with your location enabled – you can get in-ear distance and pace type notifications for activities like running, bicycling and hiking."
Jen’s eyebrows relax and she replies, “That’s right, what am I saying? The running App was the biggie for m-
Truly cuts her off to say, “Exactly. And now here we are Jen. So do we have permission to access your location data?”
Jen answers, “Yes.”
Truly continues, “Okay Jen, location data enabled. Next. Your Beats In-ears are equipped with microphones, do we have permission to access your microphones?”
Jen's eyebrows return to their crinkle, “If I have not yet provided you access to my microphones, how are you able to hear everything I am saying?”
Truly answers, “Good question Jen. The Beats System ships with the microphones enabled, so as to be available for the initial set-up proces –
Jen interrupts to ask, “So is the DM–
Truly interrupts to answer, “Yes, the DMV’s access was disabled at the on-set of this set-up process, when you asked me to turn off their notifications. As for your Beat’s in-ears, do we have permission to maintain access to your microphones after the conclusion of this set-up process?”
Jen answers, “Yes. No. Wait. Question. Can I turn off my microphones whenever I want?
Truly answers, “Good question Jen. Short answer, yes – you can instruct your microphones to turn off by saying ‘Okay Beats’- or ‘Okay Truly, turn off microphones’. But in order to re-enable them you must use a different device that is synced to your Beats System – such as your phone or car or –
Jen interrupts, “Wait, why couldn’t I just –
Truly interrupts back to answer, “You couldn’t just tell your Beats System to turn the microphones back on because your microphones would be off at that moment, we won’t hear you. So, in order to re-enable them you must use a different device that is synced to your Beats System. Make sense?"
Jen blushes a little, lights a Marlboro Sativa, and answers, “Duh. I don’t know why I – Yes. Makes total sense. And yes, enable microphones please.
Truly’s radiant smile returns as she replies, “Okay Jen, microphones are enabled. Next. Your Beats In-ears are equipped with MEA, do we have permission to access your neurological interface?”
Jen asks, “What’s MEA?”
Truly answers, “MEA, which stands for Microelectrode Array, is what enables the feature that you might know better as the product name Beats Think/Send™ -
Jen nods and interrupts, “That’s right. Think/Send. The main thing.”
Truly’s smile re-doubles as she asks, “Bingo. So do we have permission to access your –
A man pops up replacing Truly, he is now sitting across the table from Jennifer. He is not moving - he is sitting like a marble statue, a marble statue with a high-definition photograph-quality surface.
Jennifer’s in-ear speakers tell her, “Call from Michael Ex Hubby.”
Jennifer cups her face and starts rubbing her eyes and says, “What? Uh, Beats. Or, uh. Okay Truly, please reject call.”
The statue of Michael Ex Hubby disappears, and Truly returns with her big bright smile.
Truly picks right back up where they left, “Welcome back Jen, we were on the Think/Send part of the set-up process. So do we have permission to access your neurological interface?”
Jennifer is now standing and pacing, she lights a Marlboro Indica, and asks, “So what was that? Why’d my phone just –
Truly interrupts to answer, “Exactly, Jen. That’s why this set-up process is so important -
Jen stomps her foot, “Stop interrupting me. We have not gotten to phone settings yet. I am so not okay with this. Now why did my phone just go to my in-ears?”
Truly’s ever-present smile is still there, but it is now tempered with measured professional posture, and she answers, “Understood Jen. Beats devices are all shipped out with all permissions enabled. It is during this set-up process that you can disable them. And you can always go to settings any time you want to change your permissions. Make sense?”
Jen sits back down, taps the ash of her cigarette, and replies, “I mean shit, I understand what you just described. But I do not love the fact that Beats chose an opt-out model rather than an opt-in one. –
Jennifer looks like she’s about to say more but starts rubbing her eyes and stops talking.
Truly’s posture relaxes a little and she gets back on script, “I understand, Jen. The set-up process of anything always feels like work, when all we want to do is enjoy our new gadget. You are doing great. We were on the Think/Send part of the set-up process. So do we have permission to access your neurological interface so that we can enable the Think/Send feature?”
Jennifer takes one last long and thoughtful draw from her cigarette, extinguishes it in her ashtray, and says, "I uh. I think I need to take a little break from this. Thank you for everything so far but I uh. Let's pick back up on this a little later."
Truly says, "Wait. Wait -
Jennifer powers down her Hologram PC.
---END OF SAMPLE---
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