Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Making of a Medley
The Daily Photoist: November 23, 2009
Televisualist: A Kinder, Gentler Televisualist
Source: Toronto Blue Jays Scorebook Magazine, Volume 4, Number 11, 1980.
Because modern technology should never allow anyone the opportunity to be totally removed from the office...will a disastrous business transaction cause our phone-wielding businessman too much anxiety to enjoy a ball game?
Laugh at the exclusive features if you want, but elements like easy-to-read LED displays were bonuses to adapters of this early form of mobile phone. At least this user hasn't caused an accident during the eastbound crawl on Lake Shore Boulevard...yet.
Preferring not to place his call on the Gardiner Expressway, this user's drive takes him past landmarks that are still around (the footbridge from Exhibition Place to Ontario Place) and those lone gone (Exhibition Stadium).
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Notice how the car is starting to veer into the other lane...
It could also double as a club when you're getting car jacked. I'd like to see a blackberry do that!
Seems that part of getting a head start appears to be skipping shaving. And it may well be — with his car phone only just "now small enough to fit in any size car," God only knows how big and cumbersome his electric razor is.
(Also, a copy edit: s/adapter/adopter/.)
AMTS stood for 'Automatic Mobile Telephone System' which was also the generic description of the technology behind the system. Basically, it meant that you could direct dial a number from your car phone's keypad and hold a private conversation.
The previous generation of car phones, known simply as MTS, Manual (or Mobile) Telephone System, were essentially mobile radios that would connect you to a live operator who would dial the number for you and then patch you through. This system functioned on the 'party line' model, so that anyone else with a car phone within the radius of your signal could simply pick up their receiver and listen in.
As the AMTS signal was beamed from the CN tower, you had to have clear sight lines obstacles (buildings or the topography) would otherwise interfere. If you were on the QEW on the far side of the lake, it was possible to get a clear signal but if you were on the north side of Commerce Court, you were out of luck.
The phones cost $5000 each. Our business bought 2. Probably because the salesperson was a former Playboy playmate...
The guy in the ad is Shelley Kideckel, who owned the company.