What Todd takes for granted part 2

While portable flexible computer technology has replaced most of what people today would recognize as desktop and laptop functionality it is the low end of computing use in the Face in the Mirror setting. High end uses requiring intense processing power and memory usually require augmented reality or virtual reality systems.
The basics of augmented reality should be familiar to most smart phone users who are familiar with things like QR codes. Those familiar with google glass are aware that an infant version of the technology already exists in the real world. Just as few could have predicted what we do today with smart phones back when cell phones were first introduced it is hard to say where augmented reality will go. In an interview author and futurist David Brinn once suggested some possibilities of the intersection of A.R. and social networking. Imagine someone you just met being able to see your Facebook or Match.com profile overlaid over or around your face. David Brinn suggested such an innovation being coupled with dissenting opinions about you from your exes.
In the Face in the Mirror Todd speaks about using them in his engineering work. Imagine when building or repairing something having a wire frame schematic of what you're working on right in front of you superimposed on what you are working on. Broken or deformed parts would be immediately visible and helpful hints would make your life much easier. This technology will also fit into many other professions and day to day activities. Most businesses won't bother with name tags anymore assuming that customers will just use A.R. to know who their employees are. Hospitals are an exception to this since they can't count on patients having A.R. on at any given time.
Physically an augmented reality system looks like a pair of glasses fused with headphones and is most often just a display unit linked to the processing power of the computer in someones pocket. Contact lens and even implanted A.R. displays exist but are not in widespread use in the Face in the Mirror. The former are inhibited by the limited battery life available to such a small device and the fact that they are considerably less comfortable than vision correction contacts. Cybernetic augmented reality hasn't caught on because of the inherent risks and costs involved in having such a device permanently implanted especially when an external version exists.