[PLUG-TALK] The Telephone: Hidden History of What we Take for Granted
Keith Lofstrom
keithl at gate.kl-ic.com
Mon Feb 11 00:39:09 UTC 2013
On Sat, Feb 09, 2013 at 06:11:29AM -0800, Rich Shepard wrote:
> Some of us remember dial telephones and exchanges with names; I grew up
> with the telephone number of TRafalgar 7-1186. Now the 12-key
> rectangular-layout numeric pad is ubiquitous (as are all-digit telephone
> numbers).
>
> The man responsible for both the all-digit numbers and the size, shape,
> and placement of the number keys died recently. His professional life is a
> fascinating story: <http://tinyurl.com/b5tem7j>.
The reverse vertical order of phone keypad to calculator keypad
still irks me. But I'm an oddball, I use calculators 100 times
as often as I key numbers into telephones.
Now if we could only get rid of the cutsy numbers-to-letters
substitution that some companies use for their main line.
"1-800-I-FLY-SWA" - okay, that's easy to remember, but I must
go find a keypad with the little letters large enough to read
in order to translate it. They must have a heck of a time
with military callers, since some of their button phones have
an A-B-C-D row (does the military use base 14?)
Ah well. The numbered phone system is being replaced by VOIP
and URLs, so in a decade or two it won't matter.
Keith
--
Keith Lofstrom keithl at keithl.com Voice (503)-520-1993
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