Wifi in planes horrible business

How about charging from the headphone port via USB?

http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/15/inflight-usb-power-unit-uses-audio-jack-to-give-you-juice/

This is an interesting development, because Connexion is not only used on planes: Boeing has been pushing it to ocean freighter companies as a way to provide communications access that is rather cheaper than the asynchronous methods used by ships at sea now. (Although Inmarsat positioning is now required, so they couldn’t shut that down.)

My company, Navarik (http://www.navarik.com) makes web-based software for those companies, mostly used onshore, but right now we have some ship-side components that send XML over asynchronous AMOS email that would be much improved by real-tim Connexion services. It would suck if that roll-out didn’t happen.

Then again, Boeing has apparently been having major reliability problems with the ship-side transceiver hardware, which doesn’t seem to have been designed for the rigours of salt water and rough weather. It’s surprisingly much gentler up there in the troposphere.

Jake: the problem is I’ve only taken two 10-hour flights. That’s not enough to justify carrying things and spending more money before the flight. The seat upgrade came with other things that made justifying that easier (bigger seat, better food).

I’m surprised that no one has posted about this yet, but United’s p.s. (Premium Service) flights have power for every seat and do not require any adapters. p.s. operates LAX – JFK and SFO – JFK. These days p.s. flights are in very high demand. When p.s. first came out about a year and a half ago, you could get these flights for about the same as any of the transcontinental flights UA flew (e.g., EWR – SFO). Now, they’re definitely more expensive.

Here’s some detail from United.com
http://www.united.com/press/detail/0,6862,53297-1,00.html

What’s wrong with just reading a book or some printed materials while on the plane? Shirley there’s enough out there to keep one occupied for that long.

I’m puzzled by this need to be working on the laptop all the time. It is like people like to be a slave to them.

I’m aware that this could be turned against me for using a computer at work — but your office (home or otherwise) is where you use your computer. You don’t use a computer when you’re squished in with 150 other people in seats that are too small and people trying to pass you to go to a restroom.

Blog: I have 950 unanswered emails. I like reading RSS feeds more than I like reading books or magazines.

Verizon just announced it was ending its old Airphone service – not that was a product which failed due to bad pricing. After all the capital investment, you think they would have charged somewhat more than variable cost and made it up in volume…but that was a telco …if they were running Fedex they would charge $ 200 for each package…there is a similar opportunity/risk with WI FI on planes…I would gladly pay $ 3-4 an hour…on the battery – I have bribed flight attendants to plug mine into a business class outlet while I slept in coach…times when I have been upgraded on Delta, fewer than 10% of outlets are in use…

@30. Thus your cluelessness about the real world.

(And quit calling him ‘Shirley”)

Anyway, I’m with Chris and BlogReader on this. I’ve seem fewer and fewer people opening up their laptops, even on international business class, over the past few years. Seems many are welcoming being disconnected. I personally don’t want to take the risk of someone looking over my shoulder at my work.

For dweebs like Scoble who apparently get goose-pimple bone when they’ve gone less than an hour without reading a feed this has some appeal. But, it seems even for you, Scoble, the price point is too high. Like others have said, this is a basic Econ 101 problem that Boeing apparently failed to analyze.

Michiel, flight attendants vesigates of the past? No offense but I don’t think I want to depend on you to help evacuate the plane in an emergency. You can’t be serious about your perception, can you?

The problem is, Connexion isn’t cheap to maintain and upgrade, but there’s just no way you could ever charge enough to pay for it. The volume’s not there either, because if it’s a short haul, well, even Robert can be offline for a couple-three hours, and the longer flights aren’t going to make enough money on it, because most business travel is short range. That’s not to say that there’s no long range business travel, but it’s not the majority. So who pays for it?

It’s a nice idea, and for things like ships, it makes a lot of sense. But it would be a money loser if you expected passengers to pay for it, and no business can just burn money to be “nice guys”

scoble Blog: I have 950 unanswered emails. I like reading RSS feeds more than I like reading books or magazines.

No offense, but that’s part of the problem. People like sound bite answers that can be summed up on a single webpage and don’t want to delve into anything. I find myself slipping into that on the web as well — if it is more than a couple of pages my think bone starts to hurt.

You can say that it points you in a new direction for something interesting. Yeah, well until another shiny thing pops up on the internets. RSS feeds are to ADHD as liquor is to an alcoholic. Bah humbug!

BlogReader: I am definitely an addict. But, I disagree with you. The best posts, and the ones definitely worth thinking about, are the longer ones that make a point and just aren’t links off to another Web site.

Dmad: if you are ever in a non-fatal plane crash I surely hope you won’t wait on some air bimbo to tell you how to proceed; claw your way to the nearest emergency exit and get out.

And as for pilots: did you know the most common cause of a plane crash is pilot error? http://www.planecrashinfo.com/cause.htm
Not to say a fully automated system would be better, I get chills when I think of taking a robot flight powered by Microsoft Air(tm) (or would the be Aero?)

Flight attendants, oxygen masks, seat belts: all more for a sense of safety than acual safety.

@36. Not sure if I will wait or not. But, neither am I going to take my chances that there is some random passenger on board that can assist me if I, oh I dunno, have a heart attack or some other life threatening illness.

Sure most common cause is pilot error, that doesn’t suggest getting rid of pilots. What system decides if the plane suddenly needs to land?

For example, what automated system is going to get a plane out of this?

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player05.html?092105/oreilly_jetblue2_092105&OReilly_Factor&Safe%20Landing&acc&U.S.%20%26%20World&-1&exp

I’m guessing you don’t fly much.

Power in coach is the single most important factor in my tenacious loyalty to American Airlines. And the rest of the service doesn’t suck more than any other airline I’ve tried.