Items tagged with flying
Drones aren't what they used to be. Once reserved for tactical purposes, drones of all shapes, sizes, and prices are flying around now, with Parrot enabling normal consumers to pick one up to goof off with, and Amazon even going so far as proposing to use drones for package delivery. Of course, Prime from the sky can't happen without a little practice, and practicing with drones in airspace that's shared with commercial airliners requires permission. Now, Amazon is requesting permission from U.S. regulators so that it can test out these delivery drones near its Seattle campus. The request alone should quell pundits who were suggesting that its drone delivery ideas were nothing more than hot air....
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The so-called friendly skies are about to get a little bit friendlier for United fliers... that is, until everyone in your cramped economy row pulls out an iPad and goes arm-to-arm in a battle for space. The airline has this week announced that its app will soon see an update in order to transition in-flight entertainment from the plane to your own personal device. It's a shift that has been a long time coming, and one we're thrilled to see. Many older airplanes have yet to be updated with seat-back LCDs, and at this point, our guess is that most other airlines will follow United's lead here and place the entertainment burden on the passenger. If you want customized entertainment, BYOD. Starting...
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Rumors have been flying (har!) for nearly a year that the Federal Aviation Administration would at long last enable carriers to relax the archaic rules that barred passengers from using electronic devices during take-off and landing. The spiel has always been that those devices and their mysterious frequencies could potentially screw with the navigation system on the aircraft, and in a worst-case scenario, could cause a crash. Of course, that really never proved to be true. Still, change in the airline industry happens at a comically slow pace, so it's no real surprise to see that it has taken until now for the FAA to give the green light to the proposal. The entity will require airline carriers...
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Scared of flying? Would you rather drive 20 hours than hop in the sky for 3? You're obviously not alone, and now it looks like Virgin Atlantic is hoping to help those of you out who can't quite come to grips with soaring in the friendly skies. But we're not talking about fear training or something like that, we're talking about a new iPhone app. Yeah, an app!The company's own "Flying Without Fear" course is now being made available via Apple's App Store, and it reportedly has a success rate of 98%. iPhone and iPod touch users can download it now, and according to company president Richard Branson, this app could help millions deal with their fears and hop onboard for the first time."This is Virgin...
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If you've been stashing extra lithium batteries in your luggage when flying, the Transportation Department would like a word with you. Wary of short circuits that could cause a fire, they're limiting the amount you can transport, and specifying the type of packaging required for the little lithium friends you carry to keep your electronic devices ready for action.The ban affects shipments of non-rechargeable lithium batteries, such as those made by Energizer Holdings Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co.'s Duracell brand."Doing something as simple as keeping a spare battery in its original retail packaging or a plastic zip-lock bag will prevent unintentional short-circuiting and fires," Krista...
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Former professor of engineering at the University of California, Davis Paul S. Moller has always dreamed of developing a flying car. In the 1970s, he established Supertrapp Industries, a company that specializes in a device that muffles engine noise. He sold the company in the 1980s so that he could pursue his dreams, and since then has established Moller International. Moller's latest project: the M200G “UFO-looking saucer-shaped” flying car that looks like something out of a science fiction movie. The M200G, aka Moller Volantor, is designed to be a “vertical take-off and landing vehicle.” It is already under production and is estimated at a price of $90,000 USD. “The M200G uses eight low-emission...
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Is Sony's portable text display gadget called the "Reader" poised to become the iPod for books? Sooner or later, text displayed on some sort of handy portable screen is bound to make ink-on-paper books obsolete. The question always is, just like a long car ride: "Are we there yet?" Blake Wilson at Slate.com doesn't think so: The iPod has succeeded because people are willing to spend money and put up with diminished sound quality in order to carry their music collections with them. Sony is clearly hoping that the same key feature - portability - will sell readers on e-books. But the Reader's advantage over the competitive...
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