This is Not a Tree...  

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yikes! In my opinion those are hideous and are all an eyesore, far worse than an ordinary tower.
They're like a fibreglass revolving restaurant in the shape of a lobster, if we weren't embarrased by the technology and phobic about climate change and radiation this wouldn't happen, if we faced up to the reality of present technolgy we could have somthing beautiful, the French got the Eifel Tower, tHe English The Crystal Palace.
*shudders* its just so much like the television hidden inside the plastic faux antique cabinet.

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Yes.
I should add that i think the whole concept is bizarre.
Not hideous really, but just laughable. And why? oh dear why
did this become common. I tend to stare at them...
(where is there a revolving lobster? I'd like to see that. ; )

I first saw a tower "disguise...
I first saw a tower "disguised" as a tree driving up toward Lake Tahoe in California. Had someone not been in the car who was able to tell me what it was, I would have been left dumbstruck that such an ugly mutant tree could even exist in a forest of otherwise healthy ones. I am sure I would not even have noticed the tower had they just painted it dark brown.

Would
it kill them to hire a designer to make "sculpture" out of the elements of the tower, instead of making the world's worst fake X-mas tree. . .?
As one of the last people in the known world to do without a swell phone, I can be excused for having little sympathy for both the problem and the solution. But one is still amazed at the trouble the companies take to try to minimize blow-back from their abuse of the public scenery.
(No, amazingly, I do not need to talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere. If I were a working member of certain business or professional communities, I suppose I would have a different attitude. How much does the average American now spend on a monthly phone bill ?)

Making Trees into Chips...
These are all over the place in New York State. They are really creepy. I agree wholeheartedly with one of the other posters: there certainly are a lot of people who cannot live second to second without referring to their cell phone. But, that's human nature and a personal choice.
I think these pseudotowers are ugly as hell and don't like seeing them.
However, I've got to wonder if this isn't one of those "forest for the trees" situations.
At a certain point, as new driver's licenses are issued or renewed in New York State, they will come complete with a little "tracking chip" embedded in them.
Hmmm.

Visual pollution is...
Visual pollution is definitely a growing problem. Reasonably decent idea, atrociously executed. The idea is camouflaging something that's an eyesore, not creating an all new form of an eyesore. There are some impressive almost sculptural towers, like some Pylons carrying electricity....there's whole clubs devoted to sightseeing and cataloging them. Zoos around the world have created exceptional renderings of trees, so the technology is available. If Edward Abbey were still around, I'd love to hear what he would say about these.
Exceptions are the first picture (via link), #3 cactus, #15 Pine, decently done.
This reminds me of light pollution, which many people still don't "get"...best for another time/thread.
You're not alone SDR. I have resisted the temptations of those seductive "smartphones". My will power isn't unfailing, nor will I be immune to necessary technological upgrades from cell phone free to cell phone restrained. Someday sooner than later, I'll cave in...especially when prices drop. Penny pincher, not at all, just wisely allocating what I consider a responsibility. If anything, I'm country at heart.

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I'm just finishing a project that was paperless. Using PIX and other forms
of communication. It was necessary being all over the city. But the iphone
is trouble in NYC. (AT&T)... We worked around it somewhat.
Someone brought a 'newspaper' into work last week. We all looked at it in
amazement. It was one of the rags. I think the NY Post. The kids on the job
thought it was really cool...times have changed. Paper is a thing of the past.
Ten years ago...
Imagine what the next ten years will be.

I saw my first one of these on a drive through Connecticut recently
(I leave the island of Manhattan very infrequently). I thought it an extravagant Christmas display until we got closer.
SDR-- I distinctly recall your promise (-see Mahogany Association thread-) to get a swell phone this year.
Get one, already(!). It costs forty to fifty bucks a month, service providers throw in the phones for free (or, for a one-time charge of around $20, depending on which phone you choose). Then, you can request your old land-line number for your cell number, and drop your land-line. Log onto Verizon Wireless (or whichever provider Californians like best), choose a plan, choose a phone, and you'll have it in your hot little hands within a few days.
They're fun! (And, I HATE talking on the phone.) You can shoot photos and videos and send them to your pals. You can text mysterious messages. Built-in clock, alarm clock, notepad, calculator, telephone book. What's not to like?
I appreciate stubborn hold-outs as much as the next person (seeing as how I was the last person in Manhattan under the age of sixty-five to get a cell phone). Your status as craggy individualist is secure! Emerge from the jungle and get one, already! 🙂

whew, I thought there was goi...
whew, I thought there was going to be a bit of hostility on this one, any dissenting opinions?
I have a cell phone, I'm probably as out of touch as SDR though, I use it about once every 2 months. One small pleasure is getting home and giving it a mean little stare and turning it off, it must be what it feels like for a sadist to strangle a kitten, very pleasurable.

I used to be a newspaper editor
Yeah, I remember paper.
It seems kind of fitting that trees, which humans used to cut down to make paper, are being replaced with antennas, which transmit signals that replace paper.
I think the antennas are interesting, though some are better than others. I think I saw some Na'vi in a few of them.

50/50
I think there are some that clearly work and seem to "blend in" with their surroundings. There are others that look so out of place and fake that a regular cell tower would have been 10x less distracting. I've never seen one of these in real life so maybe they work better/less up close...

Well, let's see:
(Am I the only one who's sick of having the title slot "remember" my previous titles and try to guess what I want in this one ??)
Here's my "promise" from the Mahogany Number thread: " Next year I might break down and get my first swell phone. . .!"
Well, I must have been in an expansive mood. I seldom post while drinking (tonight is an exception). . . Rock, what's with the iPhone/ATT in Manhattan ? Dish, girl ! I currently give ATT almost $80 for: land line (I never make long distance calls, use the phone sparingly if at all from month to month); and DSL service (which is slowing down -- could be my computer). I dig that there are lots of ways to use a cell phone, and I could get used to it. But I don't NEED it, and I'm on a really short leash now (survive on SS, more than half of which is rent; car is dying; computer is screwing up; health issues encroaching; blah blah wah wah yada yada.
Glad to hear I could keep my present number. I don't like or trust ATT -- and they keep plying me with options that would cost more than I pay now. I recently learned that Yahoo (I use their mail, which has the files on dozens of my correspondents, and I actually like the web host I buy from them) and ATT aren't married -- so presumably I could change carriers and keep Yahoo. .
Really -- there are power pylon fans ? That's cool. I like the damn things myself, often. Prefer them to fake trees, of course -- but then I'm a designer, not a human being.
Newspaper editor -- really Shawn Marie ? They're obviously going away, based on the quality of writing and usage. Even the New Yorker isn't immune to errors, now. . . Maybe you can edit for bloggers, etc. Or ?
Where were we ?

The title that the slot won't let me forget
(when I place the cursor within the box), is "Hopsack, of course!" (Oh yes... I once forgot the name of the stuff, thanks for remembering.) It could be worse-- it could read "Wholly mackerel!".

I'd like to see one of the giant trees in Manhattan
OK, maybe not.
SDR, the iPhone is great -- no doubt about it. My husband has one, thankfully work pays for it, and he loves it. It does everything it claims to do. The problem is, ATT didn't anticipate the amount of data that iPhone users would suck up, which results in spotty service in NYC and a couple of other cities. Here in the sticks, it works fine.
Yes, I was a news copy editor for years until I went on extended maternity leave. Now, just three years later, there's no career to go back to. I loved the work -- I edited, wrote headlines and designed news pages -- but the hours were awful. Someday, I'll do something else, but I'm not yet sure what ...