Via this Habrahabr post (in Russian), I’ve learned about a Reinvent payphones initiative, which I think is pretty cool. According to the article, the contract for provision of payphone services for the New York City expires in 2014. So the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has started the initiative to figure out what would be the best use for such a vast infrastructure (around 11,000 booths throughout the city). Some of the ideas are really cool, for example:
- Free WiFi hotspot
- Power socket for recharging mobile devices
- Weather and air quality censors
- Location and other information (“you are here”, places around, etc)
- Ad-supported free services
Here are some of the project suggestions: beacon, NYFi, smart sidewalks. Also, read more here.