The means of communication would include pneumatic mail tubes, telephones, telegraphs, radios, and mechanically composed newspapers. -- Howard P. Segal, The Technological Utopians, in Joseph J. Corn (Ed.), Imagining Tomorrow: History, Technology and The American Future (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1986).
The magnetic interference can also cause problems with NFC performance on the new iPhones, and Apple has now started warning manufacturers in its MFi program with accessories supporting the devices to avoid magnets or metal.
A magnet is a very special metal. When a magnet goes near a special kind of metal or other magnets, and the poles (sides) touching are opposite, it will pull, or attract the other metal or magnet closer. Also, if the two poles are the same, the two magnets will push away, or repel, from each other.