The first time I called into an elevator, I picked up my iPhone and dialed the number—labeled on my list as the Crown Plaza Hotel in Chicago ... the "help" or "call" button.

We’ve all stared at that button in the elevator with ... they are a plain old telephone service (POTS) frontend. [Will] spends his spare time between floors pressing the call button and asking ...

the hotel’s historian. Although the elevator has been updated several times over the years — the controls are push-button now — it still has doors that have to be worked by hand. Most days ...