Dug up this old pic. 11:49 PM. October 11, 1997. Tokyo street.
Futuristic Japan was already here. No Wi-Fi. Just an Apple Newton, an RJ-11 cable, and a grey NTT ISDN public phone booth.
I used GRIC to dial a local node, pulling my email from Hong Kong for a few yen a minute. Listening to the modem handshake in the dark, it wasn't just about checking messages. I was trying to prove to myself that a new world was coming.
We're living in it now, but nothing beats that cyberpunk feeling. 📟
James Montano I only had the MessagePad 100 myself, so couldn’t do anything nearly as cool, but I do miss that “I’m living in the future.” feeling. Yesterday 1 like
Patrick Ng Author I guess you were eager to find something to beam things to right? Yesterday 1 like
James Montano Hey, a guy can dream, right? 😊 Yesterday 1 like
Patrick Ng Author I remember beaming apps and nonsense to each other and changing restaurant TV’s channels using infra red hahahha Yesterday 1 like
James Montano That does sound like fun!!! My favorite Newton party trick that was only somewhat practical, touching a contact’s phone number and the Newton generating the proper “Touch-Tone” frequencies to dial the phone when you held the Newton’s speaker up to the phone’s mouthpiece. Yesterday 1 like
弾き語りジェームス Japan resident since 96. Thank you for the smile. Yesterday 1 like