PC users are begrudgingly familiar with the infamous BSOD, or Blue Screen of Death, that unpleasantly familiar intrusion on productivity which has swallowed countless hours of unsaved work. User of CityBridge’s Links might want to get to know the the GSOD, the Green Screen of Death. The screen of this recently activated Link was locked on a screen of mostly green with white lines, looking like a game of Pong waiting for players to join in.

For all the attention Link’s Loiterers have received of late can you imagine the crowds gathering around these things if video game apps were installed, or when web-based games are discovered by today’s first generation of Links devotées.

Interestingly I happened to roll past this exact location several weeks ago, while the Link unit was being installed. If this kind of infrastructure interests you then feast your eyes on the underlying foundation of a LinkNYC device. Links are replacing outdoor public pay telephones throughout New York, with the promise that the devices would be built on some elements of the payphones’ pre-existing infrastructure. To be honest, though, I am not certain if the infrastructure shown below has any re-used elements or if it is entirely 100% new.

The leading indicator that a Link is coming soon to a street corner or curb near you would be a conspicuous orange colored pylon made of plywood. This particular pylon did not seem to have any signage on it but others I’ve seen indicate something like “Ultra-Fast WiFi Coming Soon!”

The adjacent carnage of the torn up sidewalk is not typically present unless CityBridge workers are available to supervise the scene. These photos are from after 6pm on a Saturday, so maybe the CityBridge crew had gone home for the night. This potentially hazardous quagmire of metal and wires was protected only by a strip of yellow “CAUTION” tape.

A copper wire is threaded throughout the base of the stand, landing on a round post at the corner of the space. This reminds me of an archaeological dig, with the cigarette butts and blue work gloves rising like relics from a previous generation. In fact they are probably from the same day, and will be buried under the sidewalk for future generations to uncover and interpret.

Here are a couple more images showing all the metal and wire that make up the foundation of a single LinkNYC device.