ephones, and six interconnected AT&T PicturePhones that visitors could examine and play with. Whereas some of the presented concepts never took hold, or only became available much later than forecast and in greatly changed forms, the exhibits did much to enlighten a public that was still accustomed to using black rotary- dial telephones. Conspicuously absent from the exhibit hall, however, was an array of communications technologies that would become commonplace by the early 21st century, including such innovations as mobile phones, PDAs, wireless hotspots, global positioning system (GPS) technology, and fiber-optic cables. That's a lot to miss. But then, it's easy to nitpick from a 21st century vantage point. BACK TO ME My role in AT&T's great telecom public relations campaign took place in the summer of 1964. While strolling along the pavilion's exhibit hall with my parents and little brother, we stopped to see a PicturePhone demonstration. After spending several minutes viewing an earnest presentation on the tech- nology and its potential, the hostess-a young woman-looked at me and smiled. (I must have looked particularly cute that day.) She asked me whether I wanted to participate in a test. As a youngster the word "test" carried certain, strongly negative connotations. But before I had a chance to answer, I found myself being hustled toward a small stage that held a desk, a chair, and a PicturePhone prototype. On the PicturePhone's screen I could see the smudgy black-and-white image an old lady wearing a hat that looked something like an upside down flower pot. On closer examination, the old lady appeared confused. A stream of sounds fluttered from her mouth: "Umph. Anxth. Hello? Hello? Hello?" She paused for a second or two, looked anxiously around, and resumed talking. "Hello? Hello? Hello?" The Bell hostess plopped me into the chair. As I sat down, the confusion quickly fell off the lady's face and was replaced with a smile. "I now see someone," she said, looking directly at me from the screen. "It's a li