What Kind of Idiot Will Your Next Phone Take You For?

Amazon has announced a new phone called the “Fire,” and it does all the things that other phones do: calls, texts, photos, apps. There is also a physical button that activates a service called “Firefly,” which allows you to:

Recognize household items, books, DVDs, CDs, video games, and more. Access product details, add items to your Wish List, or order on Amazon straight from your Fire phone.

A ʙᴜʏ button, but for everything! A direct, interference-free line from your worst impulses to your credit card. The world is Amazon’s showroom, and you are its tired, confused customer, wandering the aisles endlessly in search of an exit that no longer exists.

Excerpt from Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth’s The Space Merchants, 1952