Lyndsay Tucker, 25, works at a beauty boutique in San Jose, California. Every day, her mobile phone rings or buzzes with texts, not for her but for Elon Musk. Tucker was randomly assigned Musk's old phone number that made its way online years ago and continues to spread. (It's not clear if Tucker's number is the one Musk accidentally Tweeted publicly back in 2017.) From Bobby Allyn's story on NPR:

One woman volunteered to go to space with SpaceX. Another person sent a blueprint for a bionic limb. "Which is, No. 1, really cool," Tucker said. "But I have no idea how it's built."

A South African businessman asked about buying 1,000 trucks. The Internal Revenue Service called about a complicated tax issue.

"I assumed I had messed something up," Tucker said about that call. "It was a huge relief they weren't looking for me."

[...] NPR reached out to Musk to see whether he knew about his long-lost number. He replied with a short email.

"Wow," Musk said. "That number is so old! I'm surprised it's still out there somewhere."

Some of those who texted Tucker said Musk himself provided the number to them. When NPR asked Musk whether he gave out that number to people he was trying to dodge, he did not respond.

Artisan maker Dick Whitney modifies beautiful antique phones to offer Amazon Echo functionality. His goal with the "Alexaphones" and other creations is to "combine classical design and usability with the most salient elements of your modern world." Unlike other spying smart speakers, Alexaphone only listens when you lift the handset. Absolutely stunning work.

• Secure. Alexa can only hear you when the handset is off the receiver; all of the microphones are physically disconnected otherwise, so you’re not depending on a mute button to be trustworthy.

• Speaker Compatible. Each Alexaphone comes with a 1/8" auxiliary out port, so you can connect it to your home speakers.

• The Lights Of The Future. Status LEDs are carefully made visible in a way unique to each phone, striving for minimal disruption of the original aesthetic. Know when your Alexaphone is connected, listening, and more.

• The Sounds Of The Past. On some phones we’ve been able to preserve or rebuild the antique earpiece electronics, so you’ll hear the original voice of the phone.

• Easy Setup. Just plug in the USB power cable and set up with the Alexa app.

• Uncompromised Experience. These works of art function with your Alexa app and any of Alexa’s skills.

Alexaphone (Grain Design, thanks John Park!)

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In ye olden days, a telephone user had to ask the operator to call the desired party and make the connection. Then the dial telephone empowered us all to, er, reach out and touch someone. This 1927 instructional film from the telephone company explains the basics: "The ringing signal is an intermittent burring sound telling you the bell of the called telephone is ringing." (via /r/obscuremedia)

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From the wonderful blog "Vintage Scans," a page from Lifemanship lesson from Stephen Potter, 1957 (11th impression). Potter was a British writer known for dry, mocking, self-help books, and the TV and film projects they inspired. Read the rest

Photo: Scott Snider

The phone system doesn't allow us to hear people at a distance in the same way they quite literally sound to us when up close. Alexander Graham Bell's accidental dehumanization has been redeemed in part by a technologically related godchild. And it only took about 150 years.

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