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News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Way cool

The future is here, and New York City is jumping into it:

. . . more than 7,000 of the city’s existing outdoor pay phones will be completely removed and replaced with so-called Links: Wi-Fi-emitting charging stations where the public can make free domestic calls and access a range of city services via built-in Android tablets. The handy-dandy touch-screen displays will also provide directions and maps to bewildered tourists (and New Yorkers who don’t venture forth from their home boroughs very often). What’s more, each ADA-compliant Link station will include a tactile keypad with Braille lettering, a dedicated 911 button and a headphone jack. And then there’s the all-important USB charging for users in need of a quick battery boost.

My sense is about the only ones who use pay phones these days are people doing drug deals and married people having affairs -- don't wait that pesky call history to show up as evidence against you. Oh, and if Clark Kent is in New York, he'll have to find some place besides a phone booth to change in.
 
The story notes that it isn't clear what's going to happen to all the pay phones. Maybe they ought to auction them off. A lot of people might like to get one to put next to the barber chair and the diner booth they have in the family room.

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