Celgel. Celgel is the organic paste that makes mod technology possible. Like stem cells, this undifferentiated cellular material can grow into hands, ears, tentacles or tails, but much more rapidly and under the control of the mod artist. This allows for an array of human modifications limited only by the imagination, and sparks rapidly-changing body fashions among the rich as well as high-brow biological art. Unfortunately, radical uses of this technology like the Dachnowski treatment can allow the fast redifferentiation of cells to get out of control, resulting in DNA rot. I first introduced mod technology in my short story All The Rage This Year, the title story in the anthology All The Rage This Year by Phobos Books.

Fabrique. Instant buildings! Fabrique is a fast-expanding, fast-curing foam that can be shaped by electrical impulses. It can be used for many purposes, most dramatically as a strong and rapid building material. A skilled crew can grow a new house in less than an hour. As far as I know, this idea is unique to Terminal Mind. No such technology exists today.

Foam Sticks. A non-lethal weapon meant to stop the advance of mobs by making so much foam the members can neither see nor hear one another. This concept exists today, but it must be created from huge tanks of liquid, not from handheld sticks like in Terminal Mind.

Flares. This is a real phenomenon generally associated with the Iridium satellite constellation built by Lockheed Martin. The satellites have highly reflective main antennas which cause bright flashes to cross the night sky when the angles between sun, satellite, and observer are just right. I've seen them, and they're pretty cool, though as far as I know, no one has ever hacked the system to actually create one like in Terminal Mind. Programs like this one can predict when you might be able to see one in your area.

Hesselink Array. An example of holographic computing, this crystal array is a neural network of light -- instead of relying on poky electrons and binary switches to regulate the flow of information, it uses beams of light to regulate other information-encoded beams of light.

Holographic Computing. The computing technology for Terminal Mind was based on ideas from the book Mind at Light Speed by David D. Nolte, a physics professor at Purdue University. Nolte envisions "luminous machines of light made from threads of glass and brilliantly colored crystals" like the Hesselink array, above. For such computers, holographs become standard instruction sets, processing pictures as easily as today's computers process ones and zeros.

Jetvac. This collapsible personal vehicle is a vacuum thrust aircraft--a technology that has been proposed as the basis for flying saucer UFOs. The idea is to use a super-conducting magnetic coil to create a vacuum on one side of the aircraft, which achieves thrust from the atmospheric pressure of the surrounding air. If possible, this technology would allow for a simple, clean, and cheap way to levitate vehicles and propel them forward. No such device exists today.

Microwave Heatgun. These non-lethal weapons heat the skin to cause pain and encourage a mob to disperse with causing permanent damage. These weapons exist today and have been tested for use by the US military. You can read more about them in this article in New Scientist.

Pods. Urban transportation via cars levitating on magnetic fields (maglev) -- a currently existing technology. Compared to standard rail, maglev is quiet and much faster -- up to jet aircraft speeds -- though the current cost makes commercial ventures infeasible. Nevertheless, maglev systems are being tested in various places around the world, the most notable being the German-built Transrapid train in Shanghai, China that connects the Poo Dong area of the city to the airport, runs for 18 miles, and reaches a top speed of 431 mph.

R-80. A hand weapon that fires tiny computer-controlled rockets which use the optical network to avoid striking friendly forces. Like most modern weaponry in Terminal Mind, the guns themselves are print-locked so that no one but the owner can fire them.

Slicer. A slicer is created by uploading a human mind to a computer simulation. The mind, overwhelmed by the adjustment to a bodiless state, can be manipulated by the creator to be used as a sophisticated virus. Unfortunately, mind upload requires that the original brain be ablated (or "sliced") layer by layer so that the internal patterns can be scanned with an electron microscope and reconstructed in the computer simulation. The original human does not survive.

Slip Canister. This super-lubricant is an anti-traction device, used to make it impossible for people to pass a certain area since they can get no purchase to move forward. This technology has been pursued by the US military in laboratory settings, but no usable and effective substance has yet been put to practical use.

Spider Gun. This non-lethal weapon immobilizes an opponent by covering them in sticky strands. The closest to this that exists today is the sticky foam invented to stop rioters in their tracks. Sticky foam was carried by Marines into Somalia in backpack/hose arrangements like flamethrowers.

Taser. This non-lethal weapon disables an assailant with a shock of electricity. This device exists today--in fact, you can buy one for yourself at www.taser.org for only $399.95.

Visor. The Visor is a combination of Terminal Mind's biological and computing technologies. Mod tech makes possible the creation of a biological laser, an improvement on the light-producing organs of deep-sea fish or fireflies. The lasers shine through an embedded crystal where the light can be encoded with data before leaving the host. The result is an output device for vision--just like hearing and speech complement each other for sound, so the eyes and the Visor complement each other for vision. People can transmit holographic information to each other and interact with the network made possible by the Non-Attentuating Infrared Laser (NAIL) satellites.