Qantas' in-flight texting on three-month trial

In-flight mobile phone use may soon be a reality if the three-month trial on a Qantas Boeing 767 proves to be successful.

Editors' note: 19 April 2007--CNET.com's Kent German wrote that Air France will join Qantas to implement a trial allowing passengers to use their mobile phones in the air. The French program will run for six months with the first three trial months for passengers to send text messages and emails only. For the last three months, they will be able to make voice calls as well. That makes Air France the first airline to allow in-flight calling from cell phones.

According to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald, Qantas is one of the first airlines to launch a program like this, with Emirates and Ryanair planning to follow suit later this year. The three-month trial will help the airline decide if the use of mobile phones onboard flights is possible in the near future.

Previous concerns were with handhelds emitting high power outputs to reach a distant base station, thus interfering with the aircraft's navigation and communication systems. British company, AeroMobile, has come up with a solution by installing a wire in the plane above the passengers' heads which acts as a base station cell so phone-to-base communication requires minimal power.

Passengers will be allowed to send only text messages and emails, and they won't know if they can use their mobiles until they board the flight. The company has no current plans to ban text alert tones, which can be very disruptive to other passengers.

A spokesman for Singapore Airlines said that the airline is not conducting any trials on the use of mobile phones onboard flights at the moment nor does it have any immediate plans to do so.

Blood Puddle Pillow

It's past April Fool's, but this wacky blog site has a CSI-meets-South Park take on crime scenes--a blood puddle pillow. Looks realistic enough to fool a pooch into the whole joke thing. Two words: Bloody awful fun. Well, three words.
(photo credit: FromKeetra.com)

Via FromKeetra

Price: N.A.
Availability: N.A.
Device: Pillow
Specs: N.A.

WiMax-enabled Nokias in 2008

The Finnish mobile phone maker recently announced in a press statement that it will be launching WiMax-enabled handsets early next year. According to news reports, Motorola is also expected to start selling phones with WiMax technology in 2008.

Nokia will join Intel, Motorola and Samsung in supporting the open network standard that allows wireless broadband access from mobile devices over long distances. WiMax, which also stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is expected to make wireless broadband much cheaper to implement than the current 3G networks.

Intel hates boring beige boxes

Intel doesn't see Viiv as merely a platform, it should be a lifestyle choice. Hence, the US$1 million prize for the company which can create a Viiv system worthy of the living room. And the winner is...

Not just inthe arena of gaming, Korea can now proudly hold its head high in the design world. Korean Trigem Computer has a winner with its Home Theater Lluon Black Crystal PC design. Resembling a speaker system, the Lluon is actually a full-fledged entertainment PC worthy of standing beside your expensive HDTV.

Should the winner fall from grace, the first runner up from Norway--the Asono Merium PC by Mesiro--is ready to take its place. Though it seems rather unimpressive, the clean sleek design coupled with a choice of warm colors may have won judges' hearts. Sneak a peek at the winners below.

Home Theater Lluon Black Crystal PC
Image 1 | Image 2

Asono Merium PC
Image 1 | Image 2

Toshiba announces 16GB flash memory chip

Toshiba announced today that they have created a 16GB flash memory chip intended for consumer products such as cell phones and MP3 players.

This is the highest capacity NAND flash memory chip to date, doubling the existing ceiling of 8GB. The 16GB chip is set to ship in the Fall of this year (just in time to make Apple's flash memory-based 8GB iPhone seem cramped).

The chip is designed around eight 2GB chips and boasts a copy speed of 6 MB/sec, with a 15 MB/sec read speed. Expect a wave of tiny 16GB flash MP3 players for the holidays.

This article was orginally published on CNET Crave.

Filed under:  Mobile Phones
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