Boners by Boeing :-)

Principessa

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I know some of you men must have wished you could view LPSG while jetting from one high powered business meeting to the next.


Some Airlines to Offer In-Flight Internet Service
By SUSAN STELLIN

In-flight Internet access is finally taking off in the United States.
Starting next week and over the next few months, several airlines will begin taking the first steps toward offering Internet service on their planes.

On Tuesday, JetBlue Airways will begin offering a free e-mail and instant messaging service on one of its aircraft, while American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines plan to offer a broader Web experience in the coming months.

“I think 2008 is the year when we will finally start to see in-flight Internet access become available, but I suspect the rollout domestically will take place in a very measured way,” said Henry Harteveldt, an analyst with Forrester Research. “In a few years time, if you get on a flight that doesn’t have Internet access, it will be like walking into a hotel room that doesn’t have TV.”

The goal is to let passengers use their laptops or smartphones to download e-mail and use the Web as they would at any wireless hotspot on the ground. Virgin America even plans to link the technology to its seat-back entertainment system, enabling passengers who are not traveling with their own hardware to send and receive messages on a flight.

While the technology could allow travelers to make phone calls over the Internet, most carriers say they currently have no plans to allow voice communications. Many travelers find the prospect of phone calls much less palatable than having a seatmate quietly browsing the Web.
“That is one of those ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you should’ types of technologies,” Mr. Harteveldt said. “The last thing you want is to be in a crowded tube at 35,000 feet for two or three hours with some guy going on and on about his trip to Vegas.”

While companies have been promising airborne Internet service for years — the aircraft manufacturer Boeing did offer a system that was adopted by a few international carriers but is now defunct — JetBlue will be the first carrier in the United States to offer connectivity, albeit in a limited way.

During JetBlue’s initial trial, which will involve a single aircraft, passengers traveling with Wi-Fi equipped laptops will be able to access Yahoo e-mail accounts and Yahoo’s Messenger service, while those with Wi-Fi enabled BlackBerrys will be able to download their e-mail.

But if a test flight held this week is any indication of the challenges airlines and their technology partners face in trying to offer connectivity at 35,000 feet and 500 miles an hour, travelers can initially expect an experience reminiscent of the days of dial-up access — slower and more prone to glitches than a typical connection on the ground.

“Sometimes you just have to put things out there and see what happens when people try to use it,” said Nate Quigley, chief executive of LiveTV, a JetBlue subsidiary responsible for the airline’s Internet service as well as its in-flight entertainment system. “We’ll find the bugs and eventually get them worked out.”

JetBlue does not plan to charge for the service, while the other airlines and their technology partners are discussing fees of about $10 a flight.
 

ClaireTalon

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I'm wondering what's worse: Having a chatty seat neighbor, you being religiously and politically middle-of-the-road, or you being a right-wing, ultra-religious southern nut job and having a seat neighbor who spends the flight time browsing these sites where blonde, white Georgia peaches have their brains boinked out by black muscle studs. Everyone decides for himself, please.

An interesting smutty annotation on that. Nearly three years ago, Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher had to step down after his affair with another (female) member of the board had been discovered. If you had a look at the website and put two and two together, you could easily find out that is was either the board member in charge of the telecommunication division (Connexion) or satellite communication division. So much for the boners, they can get you in trouble!
 

Osiris

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An interesting smutty annotation on that. Nearly three years ago, Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher had to step down after his affair with another (female) member of the board had been discovered. If you had a look at the website and put two and two together, you could easily find out that is was either the board member in charge of the telecommunication division (Connexion) or satellite communication division. So much for the boners, they can get you in trouble![/quote]

Dang Claire, you beat me to it. I wondered about that myself. Intersting tit for tat there. Pun intentional. :wink: