| February, 2008 |  |
< Prev Page 3 Next > |
BWI is Wi-Fi Accessible
The high-speed Wi-Fi network at BWI is now operational in all secure areas, concourses A/B, C, D, and E of the airport as well as the Observation Gallery. Areas outside of the security zones, including the ticketing and baggage areas will be online in the near future. Travelers can purchase either a day pass or a monthly plan for their internet access services.
Hitachi selling 500 GB laptop drives
Notebook computers can be as powerful as desktops these days, especially as hard-disk makers like Hitachi Ltd. grab industry bragging rights by unveiling a 500-gigabyte drive for laptops.
The 500 GB drive is the beefiest one yet for laptops — enough to hold up to 500 hours of digital video, 178 standard-definition, feature-length movies, 250 games or 125,000 four-minute songs, Hitachi said. Currently, the largest laptop drive on the market is a 320 GB model by Western Digital Corp.
Hitachi said Thursday that its 500 GB drive would be available to computer manufacturers in February. Asustek Computer, based in Taiwan, said it would use two of the drives to create the world’s first laptops with a monster capacity of 1 terabyte.
It was just last year when desktop PCs or external storage devices began to feature 1 TB drives.
The Asus M50 and M70 laptops will be available in February and March, respectively. Prices were not immediately available.
Loose lithium batteries banned from checked luggage
To help reduce the risk of fires, air travelers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage beginning Jan. 1, the Transportation Department said Friday.
Passengers can still check baggage with lithium batteries if they are installed in electronic devices, such as cameras, cellphones and laptop computers. If packed in plastic bags, batteries may be in carryon baggage. The limit is two batteries per passenger.
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 Edwards, deputy administrator of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said in a release.
The Federal Aviation Administration has found that fire-protection systems in the cargo hold of passenger planes can’t put out fires sparked in lithium batteries.
The National Transportation Safety Board earlier this month said it could not rule out lithium batteries as the source of a cargo plane fire at Philadelphia International Airport last year.
United touts iPod option
From Flightglobal.com: “Star Alliance member United Airlines has become the first airline to publicly tout its ability to let premium passengers play music and video content from their own Apple iPod personal electronic devices (PEDs) over the carrier’s Panasonic Avionics-made in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems. The U.S. major is in the process of equipping the premium cabins of its entire international widebody fleet with fully lie-flat beds, as part of a $165 million, multi-tiered program to revamp its business travel offering, which includes new Panasonic IFE systems.”
Air France latest to test in-flight Wi-Fi
From USA TODAY: “Air France is conducting a limited test in which passengers will be allowed to send e-mail and talk on cellphones during flights. Using just a single Airbus A318 that flies between European cities for a six-month test, Air France plans to provide in-flight connectivity to passengers by a satellite-based system that transmits data and voice to the ground networks. The service is free for passengers in the test, which Air France announced Thursday but started Monday. Air France is one of several airlines, including JetBlue and American, that are moving toward in-flight broadband Internet access.”
| February, 2008 | |
< Prev Page 3 Next > |