Remember making your own wireless phone for 25 cents? Remember the stovepipe antenna? Neither do we. But without all the wacky, experimental telephone technologies of the past century, today we might still be fumbling along without touchscreens and voicemail.
In this archive gallery, we pay our respects to the (admittedly goofy) predecessors of the modern smartphone.
See the gallery.Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


Online Content Director: Suzanne LaBarre | Email
Senior Editor: Paul Adams | Email
Associate Editor: Dan Nosowitz | Email
Assistant Editor: Colin Lecher | Email
Assistant Editor: Rose Pastore | Email
Contributing Writers:
Kelsey D. Atherton | Email
Francie Diep | Email
Shaunacy Ferro | Email