December 4th, 2012

NYC’s Mayor Challenges Designers, Hardware Hackers, And Policy Buffs To Reinvent The Humble Payphone

phonebooth

With cell phones as ubiquitous as they are (a recent report from the Pew Research Center purports that around 85% of American adults have one), it seems safe to say that the age of the pay phone is winding down.

That said, they haven’t outlived their usefulness yet and now New York City seems dead set on dragging them into the 21st century. That’s why earlier tonight mayor Michael… → Read More

April 14th, 2008

2600 mag declares the payphone dead

2600, the Hacker Quarterly, has declared this year, 2008, to be the payphone’s last year. The payphone is dead, long live the payphone. The cover of the publication’s Spring issue has what looks to be a shrine dedicated to the memory of payphone; a picture of Alexander Graham Bell adorns the top of the shrine. 1889-2008. Never forget. But is the payphone dead, really? AT&T sold all… → Read More