From Hewlett-Packard in Mountain View to Apple in Cupertino, receptionists along California's computer corridor are killing time between cigarette breaks by wadding together discarded visitor name tags. It's not a recycling program. It's "badge balls." The biggest balls — some the size of monitors — compete with keyboards for desk space.

Such are the dreams of badge ballers, the practitioners of an art form that is sweeping Silicon Valley. Look around at reception desks and guard stations, in lobbies big and small. Badge balls are everywhere.