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Telstra pulls the plug on Australia's 'talking clock' which has given 'millisecond precise' time for the past 66 years. The Daily Mail reports that the phone service talking clock is to be shut down after 66 years.
The speaking clock function that gives people the precise time down to the second will be a thing of the past come October.
For the last 66 years, Australians have been able to dial 1194 to hear the old-fashioned voice of a man telling them the exact time. 'At the third stroke it will be 1.10 and 40 seconds,' before a beeping sound plays and the the new time is repeated.
The service still receives about two million calls a year - a lot considering today's technology.
Telstra, which provides the service's network and billing, is pulling the plug on October 1 - saying it's not compatible with their new network technology. It was always the best way of setting clocks, especially since many mobiles don't have visible seconds on their clock. I will miss it.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dwilson on Thursday July 25 2019, @03:56AM
Maybe not that clock specifically, but -a- talking clock, yes. Most countries have one. Sometimes more than one.
I used to work a fifteen days on, six days off shift, and spend seven of the fifeteen days on-call for after hours problems. After some of the field operations folks got in the habit of calling me direct at all hours of the night whether I was on-call or not, I got in to the habit of call-forwarding my company cellphone to one of the Canadian talking clocks when I went to bed. Got the idea from an old BOFH episode. Good times.
- D