 as their visual focal point. Additionally, linguistic differences play a factor. Street says clinicians often share a specialized linguistic code that allows them to better communicate but comes across as difficult to understand medical jargon to the patient. Street recommends that the benefits of doctors being able to talk with each other can be further enhanced if they give patients more opportunities to speak by using partnership-building methods like asking for the patient's opinion and other patient-centered responses, such as offering encouragement and showing concern and interest in the patient. "These communication strate- gies would both legitimize and effectively increase patient participation in these encounters," he says. Chapter Nuts and Bits- Telecom Hardware, Software, and More Advanced telecom services aren't of much use without sophisticated telecom hardware and software to make everything run. In the Telecosmos, phones are computers and computers are phones. Many communication devices sit on desks and tables; some are carried, and others are worn. Is that a lamp or a phone? Can this room's walls hear me? Why did my refrigerator just talk to me? In the years ahead, these won't necessarily be silly questions. 2.1 PERSONAL COMPUTERS A PC doesn't look much like a telephone; however, when equipped with a microphone and speakers (or headphones), it sure acts like one. Plus, when it comes to sending and receiving e-mail and instant messages, it's hard to beat a PC. New chip and software developments will make PCs an even more useful communication tools. To renew the venerable PC, vendors are starting at the heart of the matter- the processor. Back in 1981, the original IBM PC featured an amazingly modest-at least from today's perspective-4.77 MHz CPU. Twenty-three years later, the two leading PC processor makers-Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)-are relentlessly pushing processor speeds toward 4 GHz on both desktop and laptop models. Telecosmos: The Next Great Telecom Revolution, edited by John E