porn

So the strangely pungent, limp-haired person sitting next to you on that astonishingly clean American Airlines plane might soon avail himself (oh, come on, you know it's more likely to be a "him") of the airline's Wi-Fi service and watch Good Will Humping.

I will leave it to those far wiser in the ways of matters legal to debate the potential lawsuits that might arise if airline passengers are allowed to watch pornography while clenching their behinds in seat 13B. However, a slightly different matter whips me about the crevices in this regard: what sort of … Read more

The debate over viewing porn on your laptop while connected to an airline's Wi-Fi service in the air has been raging over the past few days.

Although I briefly discussed this on one of my latest Digital Home Video shows, the general lack of logic from most who have opined about this move has caused me to address it again.

And as I read over more documents about the possible porn ban, I'm starting to get an even clearer view of what's really going on here: the flight attendants on each plane are unsure of how to address porn streaming to a traveler's computer. And in an attempt to mitigate some of the obvious sexual harassment lawsuits that airlines would undoubtedly face, the airlines may make the decision that it would be easier to stop people from accessing porn than allowing it.

The argument makes sense and it captures the reality of the situation. It's not that the airlines are upset that people will be looking at porn while they access the service or even that they are worried about others being offended (although that is probably a concern). More than anything, the airlines are worried that if they allow porn to be accessed on their services, they will be subject to sexual harassment lawsuits and other issues that arise thanks to their customers.

But then again, maybe that argument doesn't hold as much water as we want to believe. Right now, you can buy a Playboy magazine at any newsstand at practically any airport in the U.S., bring it on the plane, and flip through it to your heart's content. You can even bring other adult materials with you, too. And considering that you can play DVDs on your laptops and that porn movies are readily available on DVD, what will stop you from watching those on the plane as well?… Read more

If both of them get you free Wi-Fi, which one would you rather have? Also in the news today, Google's Street View team doesn't care for a little turnabout, the patent process gets smarter thanks to the Web, and IMDB is now delivering movies and TV. Yeah, really. Maybe we're the only ones who thought it was weird. With special guest, Leo Laporte!

IMDb now serves full-length videos http://news.cnet.com/8301-13515_3-10042280-26.html

Everyone but Apple joins new 'buy once, play anywhere' group http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080915-everyone-but-apple-joins-new-buy-once-play-anywhere-group.html… Read more

Flight attendants say you shouldn't be allowed to watch porn while you're on a plane. But I think there's a double standard here that hasn't been addressed.

And as always, drop me a line or follow me on Twitter!

Don Reisinger joins the cast today for a rousing discussion that goes something like this: "Best Buy bought Napster." "Really?" "Yeah, I know, right? Weird." "Huh. Yeah. Wonder why they did that." "Dunno." It's a great show. You'll love it. (No, seriously! Don rants more than I do!)

Best Buy nabs Napster for $121 million http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10041431-93.html http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080915-best-buy-eyes-apple-microsoft-with-napster-purchase.html

In-flight Internet: Web sites, but not phone calls http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=353… Read more

This week, your Intrepid Editor returns from vacation, just in time to catch a Hewlett-Packard laptop-news trifecta. First, the company announced that it had achieved a mobile-computing milestone by getting the HP EliteBook 6930p to operate continuously for 24 hours on a single battery charge. Then came word that the Voodoo Envy 133 laptop, introduced in June, started shipping to customers. And finally, the company brought a bit of geekiness to New York's Fashion Week when a Vivienne Tam-designed HP mininote hit the runways.

Sony also initiated a multipronged attack on the headlines this week, first with its 18.… Read more

I recently wrote a column about using American Airlines' new in-flight Wi-Fi service to blog at 37,000 feet. I did a couple of speed tests and ran some Hulu video, but the one thing I never thought of doing is pulling up a porn site.

Now, Bloomberg is reporting that American's flight attendants are concerned about just that--that too many passengers will try to get their mile-high Web porn fixes.

It's unclear whether those worries stem from a specific incident or incidents, but it appears both passengers and flight attendants raised some red flags and the leaders … Read more

When we got an early preview of Vudu last year, company reps told us off the record that its Internet video-on-demand box would someday offer adult-entertainment content. Well, that day has finally arrived with word that Vudu has consumated a deal with AVN Media Network to create the AVN Channel on Vudu, "robust with AVN reviews and ratings, etc..."

According to a press release from AVN, "The AVN Channel will include hundreds of the latest standard and high-definition titles from the leading adult studios including Wicked, Vivid, Hustler, and many others. This is the first stand-alone content … Read more

Our guest today is Stone Newman from Go!Animate, enter The 404 animation contest, Spore porn, pay per sick note, GTA copycat killings, geeks as better lovers, and TV shows on the big screen.

Stone Newman drops by the studio today to tell us about an awesome Web site that allows you to create your own custom Flash animation without all the tech nonsense! Go!Animate is all about simplicity. You can choose from a variety of locations and a ton of different characters, or even upload a picture of your own! Very cool, I can't imagine how many … Read more