I always thought the worst drink in america is the Phillips Screwdriver:

Vodka
Orange Juice
Milk of Magnesia

and hey, I got to use this joke twice in as many weeks, it went up on http://www.toolmonger.com when they were looking for wacky tool definitions.

Yeah, Distraction was outstanding, Schsmatrix is mindblowing... but Zenith Angle was like Mega Maid: Sucks and Blows.

How can Sterling be so far ahead of the tech curve ten years ago, and in his most recent novel (and that's three years ago), he can barely keep up a curren-tech thriller?

Anybody who's read BoingBoing can see the macguffin coming... and will hate it.

I did some literature research on this 25 years ago, and aside from putting the guts of the sensors in the eyeball, it really hasn't changed much. The problem is creating a decent, clear map in the optical cortex: electrodes will create huge "light blobs" in your visual space, nothing like a pixel. Part of this is that the eye does a fair amount of the graphics processing in the retina: the signals passed to the brain are, to some degree, shapes and patterns. If these devices can piggyback on those higher retinal functions, there's a shortcut. Doesn't help those with optic nerve damage, though.

Cochlear implants are relatively easy: the cochlea runs a straight frequency map on the spiral, so dropping electrodes into that gets you a high degree of functionality, no brain surgery needed.

Brother Guy is a frequent guest at Chicago local SF conventions, a cool guy and a hoopy frood. If his book's as good as his presentations, you're in for a good read (this from another atheist)