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This giant smartphone touchscreen thing could be the future of NYC payphones

Pay phones are nearly dead breed, because who doesn’t have a phone in their pocket or quick access to one? But instead of getting rid of all the old pay phones, NYC is redesigning many of them to be 21st century hubs of information. The above picture is an illustration of the winning design of the NYC Payphone Design Challenge. Called “NYFi”, it’s a large touchscreen where people can not only make calls, request information, get directions and even get new MetroCards.

Things you need right now: The portable old fashioned rotary phone

It’s an old school black rotary phone that’s been modified into a cell phone, so you can carry it everywhere and look like the coolest dude on the block. And it’s only $200!

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Submitted by Delsyd

posted 15 November, 2012
by cranberryzero
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How to use a telephone, a helpful guide from 1917

That’s cool and all, but they don’t tell you how to send text messages or update Facebook.

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posted 01 October, 2012
by cranberryzero
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Area codes: The future of telephone numbers

Found in a National Geographic from 1961 by Delsyd

posted 12 September, 2012
by cranberryzero
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In the 1950s, AT&T may have been trying to scare kids away from telephones

In the 50s, only about 60% of homes in the US had telephones. This film was made to educate kids and families about the awesomeness of having a phone… or maybe it was created to try and show children how terrifying phones could be.

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AT&T future-predicting video of the day: “Seeing the Digital Future” (1961)

In 1961, the digital future sure looked like “A man talking to another man. Man to man. Man to Machine. Machine to machine.” Devices such as the Call Director, “fingertip access to information, ideas and decisions” were considered very advanced pieces of communication hardware. Today, we’d scoff at such a fancy “hold button” taking up so much desk space.

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Mirror photos, old school style.

NYC pay phones to be replaced with 32 inch public smartphones OF THE FUTURE

First, we heard about NYC yellow cabs getting a facelift and now New York is planning on replacing its outdated, old fashioned pay phones with high tech smartphones that will be supported on ad revenue.

IHC After Dark: 1980 commercial for the Touch-o-Matic telephone, starring Popeye

This was hot shit back in 1980, but what the hell does Popeye need to police on speed dial for? I always took him for a raw street justice kind of guy.

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