Entertainment

Delta Airlines recently announced plans to offer digital video services on demand in the seatbacks of its Boeing 757’s. The service will be offered for both first-class and coach passengers will allow travelers not only to watch their preferred television shows and movies (so you don’t have to watch Big Momma’s House on the ride, again), but also to listen to music and play video games.

The Economist has a hilarious take on what a pre-flight safety announcement might sound like aboard the fictional Veritas Airways.

Warning: I wouldn’t recommend reading this if flying already makes you nervous. It’s bound to just fuel your fears.

Apple’s iTunes music store has officially launched its new database of movies available for digital download. The site is now offering a number of games for iPod as well including the perennial favorite Tetris.

Both of these new features should come in handy on long flights.

I’ve had to deal with about a dozen multi-hour layovers and delays this year, and I usually enjoy it until I get tired of playing FreeCell. Then comes the boredom.

However, if you know in advance which airport you will be spending a few hours in the near future, a little research on the airport may make your time considerably more enjoyable. Many large airports now offer entertainment services ranging from wireless internet to art exhibits to saunas, and list their services on their websites.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that so-called “killer” Africanized honey bees have been causing disturbances at airports across the Southwest. Apparently, the bees like the smell of jet fuel and the cleanser that technicians sometimes use on the engines. They’ve even been known to swarm through the engines and into the cockpit.

And speaking of icky creatures on a plane (so far, there have been mice and of course, snakes) we’ve found this hilarious tool that you can use to create a personalized “Snakes on a Plane” message for your friends and enemies from Samuel L. Jackson himself. We can’t guarantee that your boss will think it’s the best use of your airport downtime, but a road warrior’s gotta have a laugh sometimes, right?

It looks like the battle is heating up for your entertainment dollars, business travelers. Insiders have revealed that Steve Jobs can’t shut up about Apple’s allegedly forthcoming iPhone.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has announced that it’s new Zune audio player will enter the market this fall and retail for $299.

Maybe I’m just an Apple fangirl, but if Apple came out with a device that was simultaneously an iPod and a cell phone (and maybe even a camera) I would run right out and buy one.

Both stories are via TechMeme.

Sometimes you luck out and get assigned a business trip to a city that you would love to visit anyway. When that happens, you always try to sneak a few hours here or there for sightseeing. Of course, it’s easy to get a little confused about which pictures were taken where.

Sony’s got a cute little solution to the problem: a GPS stamp that goes right next to the timestamp on your photos, so you’ll know exactly where and when a photo was taken.

You can even create a little map to show your less lucky cohorts back home just where you went and what you did while you were supposed to be working.

The $200 add-on known as iSee, which is made by San Carlos, CA-based ATO will apparently play high definition video even if you’re using a non-video iPod!

What’s particularly cool is that the video doesn’t even need to be from the iTunes store, which means that you can enjoy clips from YouTube, or even a pirated copy of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Via JK on the Run.

You might want to pick up one of these babies if you’re looking to totally freak out and confuse the flight attendants on your next flight. Is it merely a watch/camera - or do you have to turn it off on the plane because it’s also a cell phone? They might be so confused that they skip you altogether while doing their pre-flight rounds. Or maybe they’ll just see the antenna and tell you to shut the darn thing off.

I think it looks a lot like the wrist dealie that Leela wears on the now-defunct show Futurama.

There is almost constant speculation about which company might soon make a device that can rival the popularity of the iPod. This week, the buzz is almost completely focused on Microsoft whose chairman Bill Gates announced yesterday that he would end his day-to-day involvement with the company in 2008 to focus on his charity work.

According to insiders, the new device would couple with Microsoft’s own version of the ever more popular iTunes store. But does it even stand a chance at chasing down Apples monumental market share in the integrated .mp3 player and store arena?

Via TechMeme.

Gizmodo is running a contest that promises to be a lot of fun. Just take a 1 minute video of yourself singing a song, upload it to YouTube and tag it “Gizmodo Idol.”

You could win three pairs of really really expensive nice earphones for your iPod.

PS: If you want to check out the competition here’s my entry.

The ezVision Video iWear headset will make you look just like the laser-spouting X-Man Cyclops, while you view videos from your iPod. The company says “Its like watching your iPod Video on a 50 inch Screen.” Hook your iPod up to the mutant-inspired headset and view your content in privacy. It can also be used for gaming with your XBox, Playstation, or Gamecube.

When a real live snake almost took over an actual plane, it looks like Samuel L. was nowhere in sight. What a shame.

What I really want to know is how the bleep did a four-foot mothableepin’ snake wind up on some random airplane?

Via TailRank.

Rafe Needleman over at CNet News has an update for us on the WiFi-enabled music player that will allow users to snag any preselected album off of various online stores whenever they come in range of a WiFi connection.

Let’s say you just downloaded Not Ready to Make Nice (iTunes) by the Dixie Chicks but decide long after you’ve left your computer that you love it so much you want the whole darn record. With an iPod, that wouldn’t happen until you could get back to a computer with an Internet connection, but if you were using a WiFi-enabled player, you would just flag the album for later purchase. Then at any old time, you could step into a WiFi-enabled coffee shop, buy a latté and have the whole album downloaded by the time you step outside.

Update. Via TechMeme.

Gizmodo reports that some hardcore gaming options may soon be coming to your iPod Nano.

The news comes in the form of a human resources-related rumor. Apparently Apple has been heavily recruiting programmers with gaming backgrounds.

I wonder whether the iPod’s scroll wheel is really optimal for gaming. I’m by no means an expert in hardware-software interfaces, but I’m a little skeptical that serious gamers would be at all satisfied. Of course, simple interfaces are all the rage these days, just look at the salivating masses waiting for the release of Nintendo’s new Wii gaming system.

We’ve already seen what can happen when snakes get loose on a plane. Let’s hope this is the last time with parrots.

While perusing Maryam Scoble’s blog, I came across this hilarious list of things that flight attendants and pilots have said over the airplane loudspeakers to crack up their passengers.

My favorites:

• On a Southwest flight (SW has no assigned seating, you just sit where you want) passengers were apparently having a hard time choosing, when a flight attendant announced, “People, people we’re not picking out furniture here, find a seat and get in it!”
• As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Ronald Reagan, a lone voice came over the loudspeaker: “Whoa, big fella. WHOA!”
• Part of a flight attendant’s arrival announcement: “We’d like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you’ll think of US Airways.”

Happy Friday, everyone!

Ok, this is a shameless plug for our book, Publish and Prosper: Blogging for Your Business a Peachpit/New Riders Voices that Matter book due out in just a couple of weeks.

But I would like to point out both the entertainment and business benefits of downloading our sample chapter - which just happens to be chapter 1 - and reading it while heading to your destination. You’ll brush up on the benefits of business blogging all while enjoying Byron & Steve’s relaxed, informed writing style.

So yeah, check it out.

Via Digg.

Flight Global reports that Apple is holding talks with inflight entertainment providers to host iTunes on airplanes. The service would potentially allow users to spend frequent flier miles on videos and music from the store. The content would be available anytime during flight, even without an onboard Wireless network.

Connexion by Boeing (which sponsors this blog) recently hosted a group of gamers traveling from Copenhagen to the TransAtlantic Showdown video gaming championships in New York. On their Scandinavian Airlines flight, the gamers were treated to Connexion access so that they could compete with one another while flying over the North Atlantic. The gamers had a great time, and the story was picked up by news outlets the world over (though some curmudgeonly naysayers thought it was a “waste of time and technology”).

Apart from the gaming community, a recent study by Burke Research that includes responses from nearly 3,200 participants worldwide found that in-flight internet is changing traveller behavior. Fully 83% of those surveyed said that the availability of the Connexion by Boeing service will have an impact on future travel plans and their choice of airline carrier and 94% said they plan to use the service again on a future flight.

Now we know that Connexion sponsors this blog, so we’re supposed to say nice things about them. But even beyond that, I think it’s really cool how they’ve decided to promote this service to geeks and gamers. I really, really can’t wait until the service becomes domestic, as I never get to go on overseas flights. And popular as it is becoming among those who have used it - I think that Internet access at 30,000 feet will become the rule, rather than the exception.