airplane

Photos: On the ground and in the air at Farnborough Air Show

The Farnborough international air show in England this week brought together aircraft makers eager to show off their established planes and tout their works in progress. It also attracted aerospace buffs eager to get an up-close look at aircraft on the ground and gaze at flyovers above.

The trade show is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. It was established as a place for the British public to learn about the best of British aviation engineering, and has since emerged as a global showcase for all things aerospace. Click on the image above to see scenes from this year's … Read more

Making air traffic control more efficient

ORLANDO, Fla.--If you've ever flown on a commercial airline, you've probably wondered how air traffic controllers do their jobs.

There's certainly lots to it, but increasingly, software from a company called Adacel is behind it all.

The company was originally Australian, but relocated here. It employs several dozen people to create software used by civilian aviation agencies like the FAA in the United States and its counterparts in other countries to do a better job managing the ever-growing amount of airplanes flying today.

I visited Adacel here Thursday as part of Road Trip 2008, my voyage … Read more

Personal, 'green' airplanes propel forward

The idea of personal planes may conjure up dark visions of Blade Runner, but the first batch of two-seater aircraft to fly on electricity rather than fossil fuels could reach more than a dozen buyers by year's end.

And if some fans of experimental air travel have their way, that's a step closer to a gridlock-free future when relatively ordinary folks will hop to work in small, carbon-neutral planes.

A cozy crowd of several dozen engineers, venture capitalists, and members of clean-tech companies plotted the potential at the Electric Aircraft Symposium held Saturday in San Francisco, sponsored by … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 709: We're gonna need a bigger cloud

We explain Live Mesh, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tries to explain why customs can search your laptop without any reason at all, and eBay (yawn) sues Craigslist over some (yawn) stock stuff. Also, Apple buys a chipmaker and that story leads to wild speculation about chips and such. No, really. It's a tech show. Haven't you heard this show before? Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 709

Live Mesh: The version you can understand http://mashable.com/2008/04/23/live-mesh-simplified/ http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9925747-2.html http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9926229-56.html… Read more

Air France gets mixed reaction to in-flight calling

The results of Air France's in-flight cell phone study are coming in, and The New York Times is reporting that the feedback isn't good. Poor sound quality, long waits for a connection, and shaky signals appear to be the norm. But even worse, only six passengers at a time can get a signal in order to avoid interfering with the aircraft's equipment.

According to the newspaper, one passenger had to wait a few minutes for the signal to pass between the antenna in the plane, a satellite, and the receiver on the ground. And even when he … Read more

Politicos: Let's ban in-flight cell phone chatter for good

The thought of cell phone chatter on cramped commercial airplanes is so unappetizing to some politicians that they're pushing for a more lasting ban.

At the moment, of course, federal rules prohibit in-flight use of cell phones for safety reasons, and federal regulators have appeared loathe to reconsider that stance, at least in recent months.

The chief sponsors of the new Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace--or Hang Up--Act, say their measure is necessary to keep things that way, particularly with the European Union's recent move to allow cell phone use on planes and more U.… Read more

Cell phone as boarding pass

In the future, air travelers across the country will be able to get their boarding passes sent to their cell phones.

Continental is testing a new system that allows people checking in via their cell phone to get their boarding pass sent directly to their phones. The electronic boarding pass, which has an encrypted two-dimensional bar code, can be used instead of a paper boarding pass to get through airport security and to board planes, according to a story published Tuesday in The New York Times.

Several U.S. airlines, including American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest, and Alaska, have already … Read more

Where you'll want to chase today's show with a dose of penicillin

EPISODE 50

We're giving away a copy of Super Smash Brothers Brawl, one of the most hotly anticipated titles for the Wii. Listen up so you can win! Click here for more pictures and instructions and how you can win an autographed copy of Super Smash Brothers Brawl!

In the meanwhile, the hosts of the 404 talk about: Tina Fey being cute, but not so funny; Sarah Silverman and Amy Winehouse looking exactly alike; Ben Stiller's new movie featuring Robert Downey Jr. in blackface (?Qu??); terrible airplane movies; and the return of 30 Rock with Will Arnett and … Read more

Animation of 24 hours of US flights

I just got off a plane to arrive in Vegas for CES (where I'll be blogging here for y'all's reading pleasure). I saw this animation right before departing and it didn't make me feel real good about how many other people would be in the air at the same time...

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