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Comment by LeoPanthera | Hacker News Reader

I guess they will not be able to open the "Howard Johnson's Earthlight Room" on an orbiting space station as predicted by 2001: A Space Odyssey, after all.

https://georgehahn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2001-space...

(The "Bell System Picturephone" is also looking pretty unlikely.)

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Wait, the Bell Picturephone was real! https://ethw.org/Picturephone I had known for years that my grandpa Alistair Ritchie worked on this at the Labs, but the book “The Idea Factory” colored in the story with great detail on how advanced the system was AND how few units they ever sold. Everyone wanted to see the other party, but no one wanted to be broadcast. One Bell exec iirc planted a headshot of himself in front of the camera.

Yes! You can watch the first public demo here: https://youtu.be/BQMnlKMFD8M

It required four (I think?) copper pairs to each handset, one for the audio and three for the video. And it was expensive.

Not a huge surprise it didn't catch on. Mostly I was just joking that it's disappointing there isn't a video payphone in space. ;)

(Watched the original Kubrick movie when it was released. Thumb my nose at StarWars peasants ;-)

Ah, well, the future isn't what it used to be. At least we didn't get nuked yet, a distinct possibility at the time.

In my teens I spent a whole paycheck on the Stanley Kubrick DVD box set. In hindsight this was dumb but then again all of the films are amazing.

The set: Stanley Kubrick Collection (Lolita / Dr. Strangelove / 2001: A Space Odyssey / A Clockwork Orange / Barry Lyndon / The Shining / Full Metal Jacket) https://www.amazon.com/dp/6305440093/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_4XQ9...

Be sure to check his old B&W film about the racetrack heist.

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