Like most people who travel a lot, I
read USA Today on return flights. The November 30th edition had an article by
Kevin Maney about Air Skyping. That’s where you connect to the internet from
30,000 feet and then talk to people on the ground via Skype or some other VoIP
soft phone. He says El Al, SAS and Lufthansa will sell you a broadband
connection for about $30 a flight, but they probably didn’t foresee how they
were enabling free phone calls to the ground when they set it up. I agree with
Kevin that there is great potential for air rage as passengers beat the guy who
will not shut up the entire flight across the
Atlantic.
read USA Today on return flights. The November 30th edition had an article by
Kevin Maney about Air Skyping. That’s where you connect to the internet from
30,000 feet and then talk to people on the ground via Skype or some other VoIP
soft phone. He says El Al, SAS and Lufthansa will sell you a broadband
connection for about $30 a flight, but they probably didn’t foresee how they
were enabling free phone calls to the ground when they set it up. I agree with
Kevin that there is great potential for air rage as passengers beat the guy who
will not shut up the entire flight across the
Atlantic.
In the Newark
Airport today I heard a guy in the bathroom complaining loudly on a cell phone
about his boss and how he is NEVER rewarded for doing anything right. He’s
under constant pressure and is not appreciated AT ALL. He sounded like he was
about to blow a gasket and I wondered if he realized that everyone in the
restroom couldn’t help but hear his complaints. Surely the person on the other
end could hear the toilets flushing all around but he didn’t seem to care. I
assumed that the guy was probably a sales person in a slump, or an IT guy who
didn’t get noticed unless something wasn’t working. Sad to say, he was wearing
a TSA uniform. I’d hate to be trapped next to him on a flight as he
vented.
Airport today I heard a guy in the bathroom complaining loudly on a cell phone
about his boss and how he is NEVER rewarded for doing anything right. He’s
under constant pressure and is not appreciated AT ALL. He sounded like he was
about to blow a gasket and I wondered if he realized that everyone in the
restroom couldn’t help but hear his complaints. Surely the person on the other
end could hear the toilets flushing all around but he didn’t seem to care. I
assumed that the guy was probably a sales person in a slump, or an IT guy who
didn’t get noticed unless something wasn’t working. Sad to say, he was wearing
a TSA uniform. I’d hate to be trapped next to him on a flight as he
vented.
Kevin believes the
cell phone ban on airliners has saved lives, not because of the potential to
interfere with navigation equipment, but for the anger that it could provoke
amongst the fellow passengers. Kevin’s blog is here. He’s a funny guy who
really gets technology, despite the mean things he once said about speech
recognition. He’s also the brother of Dave Maney, a successful Colorado
entrepreneur, song writer and a good friend of mine who, as far as I know, has
never said anything mean about speech recognition.
cell phone ban on airliners has saved lives, not because of the potential to
interfere with navigation equipment, but for the anger that it could provoke
amongst the fellow passengers. Kevin’s blog is here. He’s a funny guy who
really gets technology, despite the mean things he once said about speech
recognition. He’s also the brother of Dave Maney, a successful Colorado
entrepreneur, song writer and a good friend of mine who, as far as I know, has
never said anything mean about speech recognition.