Hub-bub
Verizon is reinventing the home phone with its new Hub. The new system nixes the traditional landline phone for a Internet-connected display that links with Verizon cell phones and other content to bring information and technology together.
It uses similar VoIP technology to Skype and Vonage but with some Verizon add-ons like Chaparone ($10) which helps track your kids through GPS-enabled phones. The display posts info like weather forecasts or movie listings.
BusinessWeek criticizes Verizon for not being more open. For example you can text message from the display but only to Verizon-enabled phones. Also the Internet options are limited and features like its calendar don’t synch with popular web-based calendars.
The HUB runs $200 after rebate and $35 for unlimited calling/month. This may not be the answer but it’s the future of the home phone.
A Use For “Change”
Some things can be useful, but at the same time they’re amusing. The Handlink Wi-Fi Base Station is one of those things.
I haven’t used a pay phone since I was about eight years old, so its been awhile. If I decide I need to make a call my cell phone (or someone else’s) is always handy. My main mode of communication these days is definitely computer based, IM, e-mail, facebook …. So, it seems it was only a matter of time until the pay phone resurrected itself (sort of) to accommodate our upgraded needs.
More specifically, Handlink has upgraded our pay as you go communication. They have developed the Wi-Fi base station, or kiosk. Like a pay phone you put in your change to the Wi-Fi station, then grab a printout with your access code and there you go, Wi-Fi internet access.
With the prospect of free wi-fi in certain centers (and possibly certain cities) there is the chance Handlink will be almost unnecessary in many places, but not all. Only time will tell if there’s a place for the new change slot that is the Wi-Fi Base Station, but hey, I still see plenty of pay phones around, you never know.
