NEW YORK -- In a brave new world, you can send an e-mail with photos attached or make an international call, and all for 25 cents a minute.

That day has arrived, as TCC Teleplex, one of the city's largest independent pay phone operators, debuted the first outdoor Internet-access terminal on a midtown street Sunday.

The yellow, black and silver box looks like a normal pay phone except for the 12-inch screen behind inch-thick plexiglass, military-grade keyboard and built-in Web cam.

"We feel this is the natural evolution of public pay phones," said Dennis Novick, president of TCC Teleplex, as he stood in front of the phone amid a crush of reporters so thick it begged the question _ uttered at least once _ "How many reporters can you fit in a phone booth?"

Although that may never be known, what is known is that the new technology allows for high-speed Internet access and e-mail capability and also doubles as a traditional pay phone.

Internet access will cost $1 for four minutes, and the phone will cost 25 cents a minute for all calls, local, national or international. The terminals have been programmed to block pornography sites, and e-mails cannot be sent without entering a return address, so the phones can't be used to send anonymous threats or spam messages.

The terminal, located at the corner of 46th Street and Fifth Avenue, will serve as a trial balloon for the technology, Novick said. If after 30 days the terminal proves successful, TCC Teleplex intends to install one hundred more around Manhattan by the end of the year.

Whether the new system will catch on with the public remains to be seen, but it did win over its first user _ New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.

Describing herself as "technologically incapable," Gotbaum managed _ after a quick lesson _ to whip off several e-mails to Gino Menchini, the city's commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, and a few reporters.

"This will take a while to catch on," she said. "I'm not so confident about using these things and I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way."

It's also unclear how well a fully capable computer will stand up to the rigors of city living, or whether it will end up in some thief's home.

"You're going to have some vandalism, that's the nature of this business," Novick said. To combat that, the screen has been placed behind heavy, shatter-resistant plexiglass, and the keyboard is of military quality, making it weather and spill resistant. Plus the unit is housed in reinforced steel.

Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press