Posted on 04/03/2011 7:56:15 AM PDT by Brandonmark
CNN) -- Sunday is the anniversary of something that undoubtedly has changed your life.
Whether for good or for bad is a question only you can answer.
On this day in 1973 -- on April 3 of that year -- a man did something no one had ever done before.
You may bless him for it or curse him for it. At this juncture, it hardly matters. The impact of what he did is so enormous that judging it now is almost beside the point.
The man's name was Martin Cooper. He was 44 at the time.
He made a cell phone call.
The world's first. At least the first public one; the cell phone had been tested in the lab, but never tried in the real world.
"As I walked down the street while talking on the phone," Cooper once told an interviewer, "sophisticated New Yorkers gaped at the sight of someone actually moving around while making a phone call."
There had been car phones before -- mobile radios, really. They were powered by heavy equipment that had to be stashed in the trunk of the automobile.
But Cooper, who was the general manager of Motorola's communications systems division, had the idea that people didn't want to be tethered to a stationary telephone, even if the phone could ride along with them in their car. He thought that the phone should be so portable that it could go anywhere they went.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“Can you hear me now?”
Thanks Brandonmark.
And he’s still waiting on hold!
And every time I use mine (a flip-phone) I am reminded of the original “Star Trek” television series. “Kirk to Enterprise - beam me up Scotty.”
I remember being in a bar in the late 70’s when this guy with a briefcase walks in, sits down and proceeds to open it and start dialing. We were amazed at the device with it’s big coil cord attached reciever, 3 foot antenna and the 9 lb battery! He says “look, I can make a phone call right here at the bar!”. The bartender reaches under the counter, grabs the house phone and says “big deal”!
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