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- <text id=92TT0068>
- <title>
- Jan. 13, 1992: Business Notes:Telecommunications
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- Jan. 13, 1992 The Recession:How Bad Is It?
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 45
- Business Notes
- TELECOMMUNICATIONS
- Reach Out and See Someone
- </hdr><body>
- <p> If AT&T has its way, the term blind date may end up an
- anachronism. This week the communications giant is scheduled to
- unveil its VideoPhone 2500, a compact telephone with color
- screen and camera lens that allows callers to get an
- up-close-and-personal look at each other while they're
- conversing. Although video telephone conferencing systems have
- become almost standard equipment in the world of business, they
- come with a $25,000 price tag and require special operating
- networks. AT&T's home phone is expected to cost $1,500, and will
- plug into a standard telephone outlet.
- </p>
- <p> Advanced compression technology shrinks the video signals
- to fit through conventional phone lines. "Psychologists tell us
- that 55% of a message is delivered in body language," notes
- Stephen Clemente, an AT&T executive. O.K., but what if your
- repertoire of phone language includes yawning and eye rolling?
- No problem. Callers can zap themselves invisible at any time by
- closing the shutter over the lens. The VideoPhone 2500 is due
- out in May.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
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