Touchscreen Kiosks to Replace 250 NYC Pay Phones
Pay phones are fast becoming a thing of the past. If you do see one on the street, there's a good chance it won't work. If it does work, there's a good chance it doesn't see a lot of use. NYC is helping usher out the old pay phones in favor of newer technology. According to GigaOm, New York City now has over 200 high-tech phone booths with touch screens that offer local information like weather and transit details, as well as emergency broadcasts and even nearby deals.
The touchscreen kiosks are the result of a collaboration between New York City, Cisco and another company called City 24/7. The idea is that while old school pay phones provided a useful and much needed surface (indeed, they were a great help during Hurricane Sandy), that idea can be improved upon and, with a dash of modern technology, offer a whole lot more.
GigaOm writes that 250 of these are now live, and City 24/7 CEO Tom Touchet says they've been tested to withstand the wear and tear such platforms might be subjected to on the streets of NYC.
In Japan, they even have a vending machine that runs on Core i5.
A core i5!
One does not simply bust a visible property in the middle of the street without being detected. Most vandals prefer it when nobody is watching.
Do you even live in NYC? Like any big city there are good areas and bad. I doubt they are putting these 250 test cases in bad areas. If a payphone survived without having it's receiver smashed, ripped off, or defaced I think the touch screen has a good chance.
till you have a TON of people use it and get a TON of finger prints to the point where it would be a turn off.
not to mention possible identity theft because it's a public place. But, I think that will only happen if it takes off.
Then that's why you have maintenance workers to wipe them occasionally.
And there's not going to be ID theft because they will be broadcasting public information, not serving as a place where you can log into an account or something.
Geubbered circuitry to protect against crap in case a gasket fails.
But it won't stop someone from ramming into it with a Hummer or sawzalling it.
Those kind of people need to get a cell phone. I mean, you can get a cheap pay-as-you-go phone for less than $10 that includes time on it already. I saw such a phone in the local drug store recently from TracFone.
they also have whole stores that are nothing but vending machines, and many of their vending machines are in the 5$+ range for items, really its not rare to see them go for even more than that. i thing the largest thing i seen in a vending machine was something around the 500$ range.
these things were great back in the 90's you could replace almost every best buy sales rep in the computer department. you just needed 1 computer sales rep in order to call the MOD to open up lock up to get the product out after it was located.
do you still use the restrooms in america? they get tons of use and have more than just fingerprints on them, do you just hold it until you get home, or do you wipe it off or call a store employee to come clean it after 5 other people have used it?
is your knick name the same as paul finch's on american pie?
your argument is moot with one wet wipe or handkerchief. while your argument is valid for gaming, for a blood blinkin pay phone you're making yourself out to be the most brain dead person alive next to george bush jr.