CityBridge’s LinkNYC Program Takes a Blow
As a Telebeam lawsuit comes back to haunt CityBridge it may behoove regulators to consider the wisdom of granting a monopoly franchise to a company hawking a "BETA" product.
LinkNYC Customer Urinating on the Street
I and other Starbucks customers watched yesterday as a LinkNYC customer urinated onto the street. Scenes like this have come to be expected wherever Links are found. Nevertheless CityBridge is full steam ahead in placing its "payphone of the future" every 50 feet.
LinkNYC Arrives in Queens at IPANY’s Former Stomping Ground.
If their quantity Third Avenue is any indication we should expect to see hundreds of Links up and down Queens Boulevard, as far as they eye can squint.
Photographing LinkNYC Users Has Become a Niche Fascination
New Yorkers seem to regard the growing number of LinkNYC encampments as anything from adorable to terrifying.
Using a LinkNYC Device for Free Phone Calls
If you are soft spoken or simply unwilling to scream your conversations into public space then LinkNYC's free phone call feature might not be for you.
A Mile of Sound: 20 LinkNYC VOIP Phones Heard All At Once
Up to twenty VOIP phones along a Manhattan Avenue were connected one by one, creating a snapshot of sound comprising all that the phones could capture over the distance of about a mile. City noises and car horns mix with occasionally intelligible words spoken by passers by. It forms a lightly organized cacophony that actually…
LinkNYC Revisited, and Reconsidered
When Links first appeared I was happy to give them half a chance on æsthetic merit. But their numbers greedily increased. They are becoming a caricature of themselves, a ludicrous army of blinking, blistering eyesores.
LinkNYC: Your New Homeless Office?
Citybridge's new LinkNYC devices have become magnets for loiterers of all stripes.
Gunk on a Link
LinkNYC kiosks seem to have avoided a lot of vandalism since they first hit the streets of New York back in February. A “Vote for Hillary” sticker I spotted a few months ago might have been the first evidence I saw of a vandal’s poison sword wielded at a Link device. Since then I’ve spotted a few more stickers but that’s been…
LinkNYC: The Payphone of the Future Is Here
The "Payphone of the Future" is here: Put your recyclables aside and settle down at your nearest LinkNYC device.
Digital Divide Bridged? LinkNYC Expands to Eighth Avenue.
Links appear to be a breeding ground for the 21st century version of people hanging around by the payphone. New behaviors of loitering and noise beg an obvious question: When will the complaints begin?
LinkNYC. The Word on the Street: “It’s Amazing!”
The best way to be heard and clearly understood when placing a call through a Link is to yell. That appears to be what happened in this audio capture, where a LinkNYC enthusiast encountered one of the devices.
(212) 477-3063 Is The New (702) 992-9550
It is illegal to spoof CallerID info “with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongly obtain anything of value.” It is hard to imagine that CityBridge itself has any malicious intentions by spoofing CallerID from its Links, but the shield of anonymity now offered by these devices could make them an attractive resource for those who do.
Links Are Here, And People Are Using Them
Despite overblown privacy concerns people really are using these things. If you want to try one yourself it's looking like you might have to wait in line, just like the old days of the payphone hog.
The Linksters Are Coming
Links, expected to replace most of New York City's outdoor payphones, are rising fast on Third Avenue and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. Most of them do not work yet but that's OK. They're BETA.
Link.NYC’s Free Phone Calls: You Get What You Pay For
I have used CityBridge’s Link devices a number of times since they went into active service a few weeks ago. My primary interest has been their ability to make phone calls. It turns out the “free phone calls” feature is worth about what I paid to use it.
Link.NYC: Putting Links Through Their Paces.
It seems inevitable that telephonic conspirators will use Links as back doors into public space, turning them into platforms for propaganda or even malicious pursuits. Links could effectively function as megaphones.