Remember public pay phones? When was your last call? How much was it? Could you avoid the bubonic plague while using pay phones? Does anyone clean them? If yes, who? Gadget archaeologist Anna Jane Grossman has the same questions.

I remember the last time I used a pay phone. It was one of those dark winter once-upon-a-times in Madrid when I was a teenager. I remember having to wait in line to call my parents, trying not to give away my drunkenness after a night out. It sounded like crap, it was full of crap, and my mum gave me crap for telling her that I was arriving home late once again.

I can’t even remember how much the call was, but I remember that the two by two-metre tall guy behind me asked me for a coin. His bloody—as in full of blood—Iron Maiden T-shirt and black eye were good arguments. I gave him two. I’m pretty sure a hand came out of his ZZ Top beard to grab them.

Obsolete author and Giz collaborator Anna Jane Grossman went to the Third Avenue, in New York, to check out the life of the metal animals that don’t give a damn about your iPhone. She did this great video with filmmaker Dan Scofield. Enjoy it. [Obsolete and JustaGuyWhoKnows]

Vintage Gadget Tattoos

I may have an original 1984 Macintosh on my work desk, but I would be out of my f—king mind to get a tattoo of it forever burnt in my skin. A ZX Spectrum, on the other side, is a very likely possibility. It just depends on the amount of Zacapa rum and Margaritas this weekend.

Note to the VHS tattoo dude: If you are going to drill a video tape into your skin for the rest of your life, at least pick a Sony Beta. [Obsolete]