The conversation Consumerist's Laura Northrup had with an AT&T customer service representative after confirming that iPhones could not be purchased online when using any New York zip code almost plays out like an SNL skit:

Daphne: Welcome to AT&T online Sales support. How may I assist you with placing your order today?

Laura: Hi, I was looking at the iPhone 3Gs and the system tells me that I cannot order one in my ZIP code. My zip code is 11231. (Brooklyn, NY) Is this true? Are iPhones no longer available in New York City?

Daphne: I am happy to be helping you today . Yes, this is correct the phone is not offered to you because New York is not ready for the iPhone.

Daphne: You don't have enough towers to handle the phone.

Laura: Thank you for your help. So the phone is not available to people anywhere in the city?

Daphne: Yes this is correct Laura.

Yikes. Turns out Laura then went to try and buy an iPhone online and was shut down using any NY zip code she tried.

Then we tried it and were similarly shot down but not with the same message Laura got from a customer service rep.

We know that AT&T's aware that it sucks in NY, but is the solution to a localized network strain from heavy data usage to stop online sales of a particular phone? Doesn't exactly seem like the most sensible of ideas, especially since there are plenty of iPhones in AT&T's brick-and-mortar New York stores.

Something else that's peculiar about this "sales ban" is that folks in San Francisco, another spot where data puts a huge strain on AT&T's network, are still able to purchase the iPhone online:

A possible explanation to things comes in the form of whispers regarding some kind of New York-based online sales fraud, but somehow the answer to the old ""Is it the network?" still seems to be a loud, angry "Yes!" After all, how can a bit of online sales fraud prompt refusing to sell one particular phone model to an entire market? Then again, if it really is the network, why are they still selling iPhones in stores?

Whatever the real story here, I'm definitely curious to hear if AT&T makes an official statement on this odd issue. Hell, I'd be happy with just another Luke Wilson pep talk. Instead, we're waiting for a AT&T media rep to write us back and further clarify the situation. [Consumerist]

Update: According to the folks at TechTrackr, AT&T told them that the reason for the mysterious lack of iPhones for New Yorkers is because AT&T "periodically modif[ies] [their] promotions and distribution channels." AT&T refused to go beyond that statement, so this is still a bit of a head scratcher.

This is a strange universe. I'd swear to anyone that it's me in many ways. I'm in NYC now and even did a couple of dance steps when prodded in a place or two. I did ride the subway trains a bit too. But it's not me as far as I know. And I have a logical proof. I'm on a morning to night schedule every day here, only getting a few hours of sleep each of the last few nights. Except that I was here one day with nothing to do and I did ride subways that afternoon. But it couldn't be me. This guy is too handsome and he dances much better.

No, Señor El Woz del Steve, you are much more handsomerest that this guy. And having watched you on Dancing With the Stars, a much better dancer too. He's cool, though. [Obsolete]

Click to see the full resolution image

Created by Studio Lindfors, these images show scenes of New York and Tokyo after massive floods caused by climate change. Never did the end of the world as we know it look so dreamy and romantic. I can only hope that Al Gore keeps flying around the world in his private jet, because I can't wait to go down Broadway in a gondola, singing in the rain. [Studio Lindfors and Flickr via Bldgblog]

Fred's technique is similar to Liu's, but instead of painting himself, he uses large photographs. He goes to various spots in NYC, take a photo, then returns a few days later with a poster-sized print of the photo. When he holds it up in front of him, he nearly vanishes into his surroundings, save for some giveaway feet and shadows.

[DesignBoom via Neatorama]

There are four separate 3'x4' panels that represent Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. When they're combined, you've got one gorgeous piece of wall art.

I wouldn't try and take it on a road trip though. [Dude Craft via Neatorama]

It's part of a test program on the L line, where they installed boards telling people when the next train would arrive last year. This is just the next step. If it goes well, presumably, they'll expand it to other lines as well. Like the Q! Bring it to the Q, MTA! Please! [Gothamist; pic via Kate Heffernan]

Ok, so we don't know for sure that they stole those traffic cones, but it's not like there's a Traffic Cone Supply Shop at every corner. Either way, the folks at EFGH came up with this pavilion which can be constructed from the ground up in less than six hours using only a very small team, a bunch of traffic cones, and a metal frame. We don't really know how great the acoustics are, but it who cares about that when they can hold a concert under a giant, neon orange hedgehog? [YouTube via Core77]

You'll see broken and unrealized dreams, that is. With Museum of the Phantom City, an public art project of an app sponsored by the Van Alen Institute, you can explore the various "images and descriptions of speculative projects" for New York City. BLDGBLOG even romanticizes the entire adventure (and justly so):

You walk past a certain corner on the Upper West Side and your iPhone starts to ring: you're being called by a missing building... Absent structures detected in a wireless blur, leaving messages for you (complete with call-back number).

Missing buildings calling to you, potential designs chirping to make themselves known. It's almost enough to make me book a flight and go for a stroll through Manhattan.

Actually, I may just have to book that flight anyway, because the app's dowsing rod-like nature demands proximity to the buildings to view any information or images. Otherwise there's a cold "Out of Range" popup. Time to pack a bag. [Phantom City via BLDGBLOG]

In fact, this festival sounds downright awesome. Originally designed as a study on the "geographic environment of behavior" in 2003, the event has morphed over the years into an "art and technology fest," said David Darts, the curatorial director for this year's event, in an interview with the New York Times.

Case in point, the aforementioned golf game, played with iPhones, GPS and plenty of pre-round stretching, is called Gigaputt. NYC avenues are the "fairways," the sidewalks are greens, and a series of 18 local bars serve as the holes. Much like a Wiimote with MotionPlus and Tiger Woods 10, players "swing" their iPhones and the on board accelerometer, coupled with custom software, drives the ball forward.

The fish tech, called Fish 'n microChips (get it?), is the work of NYU professor Natalie Jeremijenko. An array of LED-equipped bouys line the East River, where they monitor water quality and also flash whenever a fish (or body) wash by.

The chess game, also played with cellphones, is an eight by eight block grid mapped out by photojournalist Sharilyn Neidhardt. Human pieces are controlled by two chess master overlords from afar, much like the staff at Gizmodo.

The festival runs from this Friday and run through Sunday. While you're in town, why don't you stop by Elizabeth Street down in Nolita for the Gizmodo Gallery? Tech overload? Yes, please. [New York Times]

According to AT&T, this upgrade is part of their plans to enhance their 3G network but, quite frankly, I'm not seeing much improvement here. At least, not in the farmer's market of Union Square on a Sunday morning, when everyone and their dogs are trying to get their email and Yelp fix in their iPhones with designer covers. I keep having exactly the same connectivity problems as before, both in Manhattan and in Brooklyn.

The reason for not seeing any obvious performance upgrades is simple. They have not turned on 1,600 new 3G cells at once. The deployment has been gradual, and they just finished it. So if you haven't noticed any improvement in reception or data rates in your area, chances are anything improvements you see are going to be slightly more gradual through the usual ongoing deployments and upgrades. That said, you might notice it's slightly better indoors, since 850MHz penetrates buildings a bit better.

AT&T told us that they're still tweaking the upgrades, however, so we may still see some minor improvements here and there.

If you live in the New York City, Long Island, and New Jersey areas, share your experience in the comments. [AT&T]

Our young supportsman (not a word) hasn't yet been convicted of a crime, and deserves the benefit of the doubt, but the alleged victim's account of the scenario is pretty spectacular (that's him above, with the shiner):

"The guy essentially snapped. He cold-cocked me, hit me two or three solid shots to the head while my hands were down," said Isakson, a limo driver.

But surely Mr, Isakson was being a dick, or something, right? Right? Well, if you count asking an angry-seeming man for his ID before you let him into your house in Queens as being a dick, then yes. Back to the violence:

But things got uglier, Isakson said, when Benjamin squeezed him around the neck and pressed him up against the wall.

"He's prepared to kill me," Isakson said. "That's all I could think of."

Isakson said he broke free and ran down the stairs — fracturing his ankle along the way — to get help in his building's lobby.

For what it's worth, Verizon did eventually fix the problem, though they apparently didn't need to send anyone into Isakson's home in the first place. Service!

Also, it looks like all those "Verizon face punch" keyword ad buys have finally paid off for Sprint:

[New York Post]

Due to certain materials used in consumer electronics (especially in batteries and displays), gadgets are some of the most toxic consumer items out there, capable of leaking dangerous chemicals into the ground if they're not properly disposed of. New York, and 13 other states, have thus passed laws to create specific, stronger rules for these products. Unfortunately, in NYC, that means the members of CEA would have to go door to door to pick up products like televisions and monitors, at their own expense.

CEA is claiming that this pick-up service would clog the city's streets with smoke-belching trucks, which is bad for traffic and bad for the environment, and that the laws are unfair to electronics manufacturers. A spokesman claimed that it's "an unreasonable and unsustainable burden on manufacturers."

The CEA's argument isn't totally unfounded—it certainly would be a financial concern, even if we're not sure their environmental point about trucking is all that accurate. But the fact remains that somebody's got to take care of this stuff: It's either the state of New York, that needs to spend far more money extracting these gadgets from the trash, or the manufacturers that create the harmful products in the first place. And the fact remains that many other states and countries (Japan, South Korea) have enacted similar laws. So we're siding with New York on this one: We think it's worth a little trouble to get these products conscientiously recycled. [Wall Street Journal]

It's easy to see what happened here: faced with a failing fleet of typewriters—used for property and evidence vouchers, and little else—the NYPD could either upgrade and computerize their entire system, possibly saving time, money and morale in the long run, or just fix and replace their existing equipment. For a variety of plausible and sympathetic reasons—upfront cost, time, lack of cooperation from the government, etc—they chose the latter route.

But don't let that tarnish the glorious absurdity of the situation for you. This a 21st-century big city police force, nearly all of whom own personal computers, that spends—and will continue to spend—its days slaving away in front of machines that the rest of the modern world only waxes nostalgic about. [NYP via Yahoo via Reddit]

The NYC Metro Cuff is an " über urban matte metal cuff" capable of guiding you a la treasure map through NYC's intricate train system. No one will take you for a tourist as you compulsively check your "watch," studying the embossed map fervently while inching away from yet another passenger who dually loves garlic and despises deodorant. Order yours for $25 shipped. [design hype via Gearfuse]

So it's not exactly "real time," but it's fairly close, according to BusinessGreen. The amount of greenhouse gases, now thrown in our faces by this giant glowing billboard, is rising by about 800 tonnes per second, which doesn't mean much to me but certainly sounds like a large number. You can also download a widget in case you don't walk by the billboard itself too often but still want to see a big number slowly increasing. [Treehugger]

Sitting on the southern part of Roosevelt Island—on the East River, appropriately right in front of the United Nations' HQ building—the farm skyscraper is based on the shape of a dragonfly's wings. It extends 132 floors and 600 meters up in the air, totalling an area of 360,000 square meters.

Designed by Vincent Callebaut Architectures, the Dragonfly Vertical Farm is designed to produce fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, and dairy. It will also include public spaces, like gardens, a marina, markets, and a public "kitchen" area, so people can enjoy the natural environments—and watch the animals as they get ready to first take over Manhattan, and then take over Berlin.

This may result in the most expensive milk and bacon in the planet, which is probably why it is never going to be built. Although I secretly hope it does, so New York starts looking like Caprica City already. [Design Boom]