Exploding The Phone

Back to Australia, where payphones are free for domestic calls and well maintained. Ricky-Lee and Tim, it seems, are radio show hosts in Sydney. (Hasselblad SWC, Zeiss 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Kodak Tri-X)

Uploaded one of my many recordings from my #5ESS phone line. I figured I want to get this stuff recorded and preserved as my line card has already changed after recording this a few weeks ago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=95pi... #5ESS, #1ESS, #1AESS, #5XB, #3XB, #1XB, #SxS

reject modernity of ai data centers and packet switches, embrace tradition of crossbar switching tandems. #5xb #1xb #4axb #xbt #1ess #5ess #phone #phreaking

Last call for 'Phone Phreaks'. Phil Lapsley join us tomorrow for a talk on how a group of hackers found the Achilles heel in AT&T's massive network and changed technology forever https://ow.ly/oaLq50ZCnoS

The original hackers didn't use computers, they used phones. On Sat Aug 22nd, Phil Lapsley is at TNMOC to share how the Phone Phreaks changed technology forever. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/phone-phreaks-what-can-we-learn-from-the-first-network-hackers-tickets-1992544355806?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has located approximately 43,671 pages of records subject to the FOIPA that are potentially responsive to the subject of your request.” If anyone is interested, the FBI response to my #FOIA request on Junaid Hussain aka TRicK from Team Poison.

Phreaking village. This really made me smile, hanging out at a phonebooth to go blue boxing... #defcon34 🔁 RT @hackerfantastic | reposted by @gleeda https://x.com/hackerfantastic/status/2086223849390215312

Delighted to report that yer man here has bamboozled those pencil-necked desk jockeys at the phone company #NiceThings

@se.au Your wonderful work at se.au/notes/george... was mentioned in Hacker News news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4912... today, very cool!

A battery of phones sits at the ready down a hallway in Toronto's Metro Hall. It was not obvious why a key lock box is attached to the phone on the left. (Rolleiflex Wide, Zeiss 55mm f4 Distagon, Kodak Tri-X)

A watercolor that I made #art #watercolor #painting #illustration

In honor of the Joybubbles documentary finally being screened, we ( @swhite-photos.com) have restored his old 206-FEELING (2063335464) number that he recorded Stories and Stuff on. When called you will get a random recording from the archive. Enjoy. 🎉 Cc @explodingthephone.bsky.social

The phone to me was the closest thing to God on earth —Joe Engressia Jr, aka Joybubbles If you’re noticing a similarity between Engressia and the character Whistler in Sneakers, that’s not a coincidence #Joybubbles was curiosity given human form decipher.sc/2026/02/02/p...

How did artists working for newspapers in the 1970s view computer crime? How did they depict it? This blog goes year by year with a selection of images from newspaper archives

This one was shot some time ago but someone missed going through the scanner until now. The Byward Market Parking Garage, Ottawa. (Leica M2, 35mm f2 Summicron, Kodak Tri-X)

OK, back to phones. This one across from Hyde Park in London was painted black perhaps to indicate its claim that it offers WiFi. That may be true. I didn't test it. (Leica M Monochrom, 28mm f2.8 Elmarit M)

Bay Area friends! JOYBUBBLES is coming for SFFILM's San Francisco International Film Festival! Screening on April 25 at 3:30 PM. Director Rachael J Morrison, producers Sarah Winshall, Will Butler, and Annie Marr will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. ☎️ Get tickets NOW — loom.ly/pz47E20

Tokyo, Chiyoda City. Note the small, sort-of stool in anticipation of protracted conversations. (Eboy GP69F, Zeiss 80mm f2.8 Planar, Fuji Acros 100II)

"not a success"

Before transistors, relays were widely used in telephony switches. They were much slower, but much more reliable than vacuum tubes. This 1951 booklet, "NO. 5 CROSSBAR" from Bell Labs describes the bad-ass mainframe of relays. Lots of photos and diagrams. drive.google.com/dri...

RIP Robert Tinney (November 22, 1947 – February 1, 2026), the artist famous for his playful covers for Byte magazine, a hobbist magazine that ushered in the microcomputing age from the mid-70s through the 90s. I'm honored to have included his work in my own art collection.

The new-ish Montreal intercity bus terminal is fully equipped with pay phones. (Mamiya 7ii, 43mm f4.5, Kodak TriX)

I had little hope of finding payphones in Switzerland this week. It put its last phone booth in a museum in 2019. This sign in Zurich's Rheinfelder Bierhaus got my hopes up. But the phone has been replaced by a mop, a bucket and some cleaning supplies. (Leica M Monochrom, 28mm f2.8 Elmarit M, v3)

Rue Sherbrooke, Montreal. Perhaps inevitably for an urban booth, a fast food wrapped has been dumped on top of the phone. (Mamiya 7ii, 43mm f4.5, Kodak Tri X)

A dépanneur in Rigaud, Quebec. One of the few phone booths I've encountered that is the primary lighting source of its surrounding area. (Mamiya 7ii, 43mm f4.5, Kodak Tri X)

nationalpost.com/feature/last...

I'm very indebted to @panamstyle.bsky.social for alerting me to this sad couple in Rochester, N.Y. While I'm not about to add color to the phone project, these kiosks are blood red and the first line on the pavement behind them is more or less matching. (Mamiya 7ii, 43mm f4.5, Kodak Tri X)

The grocery store on the main street of Mitchell, Ontario, a town that I don't think I've previously passed through. The phone appeared to be in good order. (Mamiya 7ii, 43mm f4.5, Kodak Tri X)

The Pronto Market in Russell, Ontario. The phone has not survived what appears to be several pointless attempts to light it on fire. There's neither a dial tone nor a scroll on the LED display. (Chamonix 45N2, Schneider 135mm f5.6 Symmar S, Kodak TriX 320)

Joseph Popp, the godfather of #ransomware, is such a hard to pin down character in documents and references to the point that the #FBI refer to him as "Joseph Lewis Popp" and "Joseph Louis Popp" in the SAME document. There are multiple versions of every basic detail about his life out there.

Now some Mexico City phone action. This one earns its keep by propping up a bicycle cafe. (Leica R8, 21mm f4 Super Angulon R, Kodak TriX)

Bayview O Train Station, westbound platform, Ottawa. (Leica M Monochrom, the M9 based original, 50mm f1.2 Noctilux ASPH)

Terrible news: American Science & Surplus is closing. The stores in Geneva and Milwaukee may have a future if they can work out terms of a proposal for current workers to buy the business, but Park Ridge (which moved there from Jefferson Park) is permanently shuttering. sciplus.com/important-in...

This pair, with an aging transit map for handyl reference, are in the Jean Talon station of Montreal's Métro (Leica M Monochrom, 50mm f1.2 Noctilux ASPH)

“I thought it would be fun to get a lot of mathematicians to try and re-enact” That’s Mathematics by Tom Lehrer #TomLehrer youtu.be/U9norkmRXDY