Latest news with #BETATechnologies
The Star
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
In Vermont, pay phones return free of charge in cellular dead zone
Patrick Schlott repairs an old payphone in his basement workshop on July 16, 2025, in Williamstown, Vermont. — AP TUNBRIDGE, Vermont: An electrical engineer by trade, Patrick Schlott has spent countless hours tinkering with new and old technology. But it wasn't until he found himself living in rural Vermont that he realised his penchant for repairing old pay phones could provide a public service. "I realised, wow, there's no cell service for 10 miles (16 kilometers) in either direction,' he said. "The community could really benefit from something like this.' Schlott, a full-time engineer at electric airplane manufacturing company BETA Technologies, decided to approach the owners of his local general store with the idea to install old pay phones around town and make them free for public use. After he explained that there would be no cost to the host, North Tunbridge General Store owners Mike and Lois Gross let Schlott install his first phone outside the store. "Everyone's pretty surprised, and they're like, 'Is that a real pay phone? Does that really work?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, but it doesn't cost any money now'," said store owner Mike Gross. "We've had people use it that broke down. It's a great thing because service is so spotty in Vermont.' The first free public phone installation was Schlott's idea, but he says the two other locations, the Latham Library in Thetford and inside an informational booth in Randolph off Interstate 89, came from community members requesting the service. "All the other phones so far have been people reaching out, which is pretty cool,' he said. Schlott buys the old pay phones, which can range in cost from US$100 to US$500, at flea markets, from internet listings or at auction and fixes them up in his basement workshop. All that's needed to install one of his phones is an Internet connection – no coins necessary. "Basically, there's a small piece of equipment that converts an internet telephone line to an analogue line that these phones can operate off of,' he said. Along with covering the costs, which are about US$2 to US$3 a month for each phone line and less than US$5 a month for calls, Schlott acts as the operator for each phone and can field or transfer calls, helping users when needed. If a user dials zero, the phone will ring Schlott's personal cellphone, though he uses an app to keep his number private. So far, the phone at the Latham Library location has seen the most use. According to Schlott, 370 calls have been made since the phone was installed five months ago, filling a need for students without cellphones to call their parents for after-school pickups. Hannah McClain is a regular at the North Tunbridge General Store and says she finds comfort in knowing the phone is there whenever her 16-year-old daughters might need it. "It does make me feel safer if the kids are out and about, that if they had an emergency up this way that they could stop and use this. I think these are a great service,' she said. Schlott is seeing increased interest in the service, with another free phone install in the works at the Brownell Library in Essex. For now, he plans to continue covering the costs associated with each phone, but noted that may change as the project scales. "It's cool to see something retro that has that old-school appeal but also works. To actually hear it ring, to pick it up and have a dial tone, I think there's real power in that," he said. "And I don't think they should end up in a landfill. They should be recycled and put to good use.' – AP
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Vermont engineer revives pay phones for free calls in areas with poor cell service
TUNBRIDGE, Vt. (AP) — An electrical engineer by trade, Patrick Schlott has spent countless hours tinkering with new and old technology. But it wasn't until he found himself living in rural Vermont that he realized his penchant for repairing old pay phones could provide a public service. 'I realized, wow, there's no cell service for 10 miles (16 kilometers) in either direction,' he said. 'The community could really benefit from something like this.' Schlott, a full-time engineer at electric airplane manufacturing company BETA Technologies, decided to approach the owners of his local general store with the idea to install old pay phones around town and make them free for public use. After he explained that there would be no cost to the host, North Tunbridge General Store owners Mike and Lois Gross let Schlott install his first phone outside the store. 'Everyone's pretty surprised, and they're like, 'Is that a real payphone? Does that really work?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, but it doesn't cost any money now,'" said store owner Mike Gross. "We've had people use it that broke down. It's a great thing because service is so spotty in Vermont.' The first free public phone installation was Schlott's idea, but he says the two other locations, the Latham Library in Thetford and inside an informational booth in Randolph off Interstate 89, came from community members requesting the service. 'All the other phones so far have been people reaching out, which is pretty cool,' he said. Schlott buys the old pay phones, which can range in cost from $100-$500, at flea markets, from internet listings or at auction and fixes them up in his basement workshop. All that's needed to install one of his phones is an internet connection — no coins necessary. 'Basically, there's a small piece of equipment that converts an internet telephone line to an analog line that these phones can operate off of,' he said. Along with covering the costs, which are about $2-$3 a month for each phone line and less than $5 a month for calls, Schlott acts as the operator for each phone and can field or transfer calls, helping users when needed. If a user dials zero, the phone will ring Schlott's personal cellphone, though he uses an app to keep his number private. So far, the phone at the Latham Library location has seen the most use. According to Schlott, 370 calls have been made since the phone was installed five months ago, filling a need for students without cellphones to call their parents for after-school pickups. Hannah McClain is a regular at the North Tunbridge General Store and says she finds comfort in knowing the phone is there whenever her 16-year-old daughters might need it. 'It does make me feel safer if the kids are out and about, that if they had an emergency up this way that they could stop and use this. I think these are a great service,' she said. Schlott is seeing increased interest in the service, with another free phone install in the works at the Brownell Library in Essex. For now, he plans to continue covering the costs associated with each phone, but noted that may change as the project scales. 'It's cool to see something retro that has that old-school appeal but also works. To actually hear it ring, to pick it up and have a dial tone, I think there's real power in that," he said. "And I don't think they should end up in a landfill. They should be recycled and put to good use.' Amanda Swinhart, The Associated Press
The Independent
22-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Vermont engineer revives pay phones for free calls in areas with poor cell service
An electrical engineer by trade, Patrick Schlott has spent countless hours tinkering with new and old technology. But it wasn't until he found himself living in rural Vermont that he realized his penchant for repairing old pay phones could provide a public service. 'I realized, wow, there's no cell service for 10 miles (16 kilometers) in either direction,' he said. 'The community could really benefit from something like this.' Schlott, a full-time engineer at electric airplane manufacturing company BETA Technologies, decided to approach the owners of his local general store with the idea to install old pay phones around town and make them free for public use. After he explained that there would be no cost to the host, North Tunbridge General Store owners Mike and Lois Gross let Schlott install his first phone outside the store. 'Everyone's pretty surprised, and they're like, 'Is that a real payphone? Does that really work?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, but it doesn't cost any money now,'" said store owner Mike Gross. "We've had people use it that broke down. It's a great thing because service is so spotty in Vermont.' The first free public phone installation was Schlott's idea, but he says the two other locations, the Latham Library in Thetford and inside an informational booth in Randolph off Interstate 89, came from community members requesting the service. 'All the other phones so far have been people reaching out, which is pretty cool,' he said. Schlott buys the old pay phones, which can range in cost from $100-$500, at flea markets, from internet listings or at auction and fixes them up in his basement workshop. All that's needed to install one of his phones is an internet connection — no coins necessary. 'Basically, there's a small piece of equipment that converts an internet telephone line to an analog line that these phones can operate off of,' he said. Along with covering the costs, which are about $2-$3 a month for each phone line and less than $5 a month for calls, Schlott acts as the operator for each phone and can field or transfer calls, helping users when needed. If a user dials zero, the phone will ring Schlott's personal cellphone, though he uses an app to keep his number private. So far, the phone at the Latham Library location has seen the most use. According to Schlott, 370 calls have been made since the phone was installed five months ago, filling a need for students without cellphones to call their parents for after-school pickups. Hannah McClain is a regular at the North Tunbridge General Store and says she finds comfort in knowing the phone is there whenever her 16-year-old daughters might need it. 'It does make me feel safer if the kids are out and about, that if they had an emergency up this way that they could stop and use this. I think these are a great service,' she said. Schlott is seeing increased interest in the service, with another free phone install in the works at the Brownell Library in Essex. For now, he plans to continue covering the costs associated with each phone, but noted that may change as the project scales. 'It's cool to see something retro that has that old-school appeal but also works. To actually hear it ring, to pick it up and have a dial tone, I think there's real power in that," he said. "And I don't think they should end up in a landfill. They should be recycled and put to good use.'
Associated Press
22-07-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Vermont engineer revives pay phones for free calls in areas with poor cell service
TUNBRIDGE, Vt. (AP) — An electrical engineer by trade, Patrick Schlott has spent countless hours tinkering with new and old technology. But it wasn't until he found himself living in rural Vermont that he realized his penchant for repairing old pay phones could provide a public service. 'I realized, wow, there's no cell service for 10 miles (16 kilometers) in either direction,' he said. 'The community could really benefit from something like this.' Schlott, a full-time engineer at electric airplane manufacturing company BETA Technologies, decided to approach the owners of his local general store with the idea to install old pay phones around town and make them free for public use. After he explained that there would be no cost to the host, North Tunbridge General Store owners Mike and Lois Gross let Schlott install his first phone outside the store. 'Everyone's pretty surprised, and they're like, 'Is that a real payphone? Does that really work?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, but it doesn't cost any money now,'' said store owner Mike Gross. 'We've had people use it that broke down. It's a great thing because service is so spotty in Vermont.' The first free public phone installation was Schlott's idea, but he says the two other locations, the Latham Library in Thetford and inside an informational booth in Randolph off Interstate 89, came from community members requesting the service. 'All the other phones so far have been people reaching out, which is pretty cool,' he said. Schlott buys the old pay phones, which can range in cost from $100-$500, at flea markets, from internet listings or at auction and fixes them up in his basement workshop. All that's needed to install one of his phones is an internet connection — no coins necessary. 'Basically, there's a small piece of equipment that converts an internet telephone line to an analog line that these phones can operate off of,' he said. Along with covering the costs, which are about $2-$3 a month for each phone line and less than $5 a month for calls, Schlott acts as the operator for each phone and can field or transfer calls, helping users when needed. If a user dials zero, the phone will ring Schlott's personal cellphone, though he uses an app to keep his number private. So far, the phone at the Latham Library location has seen the most use. According to Schlott, 370 calls have been made since the phone was installed five months ago, filling a need for students without cellphones to call their parents for after-school pickups. Hannah McClain is a regular at the North Tunbridge General Store and says she finds comfort in knowing the phone is there whenever her 16-year-old daughters might need it. 'It does make me feel safer if the kids are out and about, that if they had an emergency up this way that they could stop and use this. I think these are a great service,' she said. Schlott is seeing increased interest in the service, with another free phone install in the works at the Brownell Library in Essex. For now, he plans to continue covering the costs associated with each phone, but noted that may change as the project scales. 'It's cool to see something retro that has that old-school appeal but also works. To actually hear it ring, to pick it up and have a dial tone, I think there's real power in that,' he said. 'And I don't think they should end up in a landfill. They should be recycled and put to good use.'
New York Post
04-06-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Whisper-quiet electric helicopter-plane could turn NYC into ‘The Jetsons'
On Tuesday morning, the first-ever passenger flight of an electric-powered plane in North America glided down onto the tarmac at JFK with little more than a whisper. The quiet milestone has big implications for the future of aviation. 'We've drastically lowered the cost of flying, increased the safety and reduced the noise of the airplane — all concurrently,' Kyle Clark, the pilot of the flight and CEO of electric aerospace company BETA Technologies, told NYNext. 6 ALIA, an electric-powered plane, took off on the first ever North American passenger flight Tuesday morning. In 49 minutes, the plane traveled from East Hampton to JFK. Courtesy of BETA Technologies The 49-minute, 72-nautical mile jaunt from East Hampton to Queens was fueled by just $8 worth of electricity, but it was the culmination of years of development. Clark, a 45-year-old entrepreneur who studied engineering at Harvard, launched BETA Technologies in 2017 with the aim of developing electric-powered aircraft and the infrastructure to support them. He's since raised more than $1 billion in funding from investors such as the Qatar Investment Authority, Fidelity, and Amazon. 6 Kyle Clark, pilot of the flight and CEO of electric aerospace company BETA Technologies, spoke at a press conference after ALIA landed at JFK. In interviews with NYNext, he said, 'Creating a new form of air transportation will be transformative for society.' Courtesy of BETA Technologies In 2018, design began on the ALIA, a sleek, electric-powered aircraft that can seat five — four passengers and one pilot — and take off both horizontally, like a traditional plane, and vertically, like a helicopter or military jump jet. The latter is accomplished with the addition of four modular propellers mounted atop the aircraft that give it the look of a giant drone. 'I would never compare ourselves to the Wright brothers,' Clark said, 'but creating a new form of air transportation will be transformative for society.' ALIA are manufactured in Burlington, VT. And while there are others working to build similar vessels, Clark said that Beta is the only company in North America producing at scale. 6 ALIA has the capacity to ascend and descend vertically, like a helicopter, when rotors are added to the top of the plane. The configuration was not used during Tuesday's flight. Courtesy of BETA Technologies Thus far, the plane has completed 8,000-nautical miles worth of flights — many of them out of a small airport in Plattsburgh, NY. But Clark selected JFK as the landing site for Tuesday's flight to demonstrate the plane's true potential. 'It would have been too easy to fly between two minor class airports,' said Clark, who started taking pilot lessons in his early 20s, after dropping out of Harvard, to play professional ice hockey for three years. 'And to do so wouldn't really show the world that the FAA, the Port Authority and the controllers at JFK are ready for this new form of air travel.' 6 Executive Director of the Port Authority Rick Cotton spoke at the post-flight press conference at JFK. Clark said that landing at JFK, Class B airspace, required matching commercial jet approach speeds and altitudes while responding to air traffic control without deviation or delay. Courtesy of BETA Technologies At JFK, ALIA had to integrate seamlessly into Class B airspace — the most tightly controlled in the U.S., matching commercial jet approach speeds and altitudes while responding to air traffic control without deviation or delay. More remarkable than the plane's compliance with commercial protocols is its quiet nature. Until 1977, New Yorkers could fly from Midtown to the city's major airports, including JFK and Newark. Today, heliports are largely confined to the city's periphery because of noise concerns. Quiet aircraft, though, could mean that ports could be built in denser, more convenient locations. Blade, who works with BETA and other leading aircraft manufacturers, is planning on it. 'Quiet and emission-free aircraft will not only mitigate noise issues that concern New York and East End residents, but it will also make flying more affordable and accessible to the public,' Blade CEO Rob Wiesenthal said. While Tuesday's flight took off and landed horizontally, other test flights have ascended and descended vertically; vertical passenger flights are expected within the next year, and commercial service with the ALIA is expected within the next two years. 6 Aboard the flight Tuesday was Blade CEO Rob Wiesenthal. He told NYNext that, 'Quiet and emission-free aircraft will not only mitigate noise issues that concern New York and East End residents, but it will also make flying more affordable and accessible to the public.' Courtesy of BETA Technologies 'There are many, many safety thresholds that we have to cross on our way to get there,' said Clark. 'But we're rendering the recurring cost of operation to be pretty small — and that's after you increase the safety and reduce the noise.' BETA has already signed agreements or entered into partnerships with various companies, including UPS and Air New Zealand. The research and development that went into getting ALIA to this point, Clark estimated, cost BETA somewhere in the ballpark of $300 to 500 million. A similar amount, he told NYNext, went toward building a charging network. In addition to the 46 operational sites stretching from Monterey County, CA., to Gainesville, FL., to Portland, Maine. — each able to fully charge ALIA in under an hour and support electric vehicles like Teslas — another 50 are in permitting or construction phases. 6 Clark is congratulated at the conclusion of Tuesday's flight, which featured horizontal take off and landing. Vertical passenger flights are expected within the next year. Courtesy of BETA Technologies While BETA's long-term goal is to enable short-haul electric flights across the U.S. and beyond, Clark's current focus is squarely on New York. The ALIA could quietly land on vertiports on rooftops, ferrying passengers from Midtown to JFK with ease. Clark envisions a city connected by air — ala 'The Jetsons' — not someday but soon. This story is part of NYNext, an indispensable insider insight into the innovations, moonshots and political chess moves that matter most to NYC's power players (and those who aspire to be). Electrification, he believes, is aviation's next great leap, a long overdue new chapter after the jet age made flight global in the mid 20th century. 'This really has all the legs,' he said, 'to be a meaningful mode of transport for New Yorkers.' Send NYNext a tip: nynextlydia@
