Ars Technica has one of the most objective looks at the in-flight wi-fi censoring debate.
Nevertheless, some airlines are planning on blocking users from receiving calls in-flight, while others want to block VoIP entirely. Strangely, these fears didn’t stop the airlines from trying to make money off of their proprietary phone services.
Apple has shut them down, though that is not the end of Apple Rumors. See the article here for the reason why.
One thing that I disagree with in the article is the fact that this was a poor move by Apple. I think this was very smart, one reason being it will only reinvigorate new rumor site and draw an already cultish following to an even tighter cult. This will not dissuade Apple fans, it will encourage them, Apple is not changing.
Ok so I was AFK most of the weekend, then I come back and my Google Reader has a few stories about T-Mobile and Twitter. It appears that this weekend there was a problem with the T-Mobile network and Twitter. Text message posting it appears was not working for a while. And while the Twitter Official Blog is now reporting that the problem is fixed, there was a lot of conspiracy theory around this.
The reason I wanted to talk about this was to once again point out how vulnerable we are, as well as these Web 2.0 services are. The carriers and shut down any Web 2.0 company that relies on its users being able to access them from their mobile phones / laptop cards when they want to. You see there may not be a net neutrality plan in effect yet for broadband, but we are even farther from one on mobile internet such as T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and so on.
When are we going to get vocal and start this push? Are we really going to wait for them to block Google? Or Twitter? Or Facebook? Or whatever else we use? And force us to use their home grown crap for $4.99 / mo with a 2 year contract?
Really?
Over the weekend Microsoft sent me a kind email reminding me that in January they would be renewing my annual Xbox Live subscription. When I saw this I thought, hmm ok I will cancel that. After all I rarely play Xbox any more, and I only have the Original Xbox.
So I went to log into the website, I used the email address that they sent the notification to. After 20 tries I determined that it did not work. 30 minutes later I had the right email and logged in. So far the pain and suffering is all my fault, nothing to blame on MS for me forgetting my log in info.
That was about to change.
So there is some noise being made about In-Flight yet again, looks like this time it may materialize. JetBlue has said that next week they will begin testing their Internet system, though the use will be limited. There is a full chat about it on the New York Times site, here.
This is all a step in the right direction, but it is taking far to long. I do not want to use Skype, but I would like to use IM, Email, and surf the Web. This would make a flight, well, flyby. It would also make it productive for me, and the other people out there who like to rely on and utilize web based services.
My fear though is that what will happen is something very similar to what we see in hotels.
I just read an article over on the Wall Street Journal’s website about remote internet connections, IE connecting in the boonies. This got me to thinking about my own internet connections, and it saddened me.
At home I have a snappy Comcast Cable Internet connection. On the road I have a sometimes quick, often slow AT&T 3G expresscard connection. When I travel I have the AT&T or Wi-Fi somewhere. But at the office? At the office I have a shared T1 connection, and it is a dog.
Which I realized early today is the reason that I am doing so many shifts with what I do. When I first got out of college, I had no system of applications that I used. Then I started doing things on my own, and went with all web based. It was cheap, and I had two computers so it was like instant syncing between the two.
Now though I am switching back to applications that run on your computer, regardless of syncing. My Mac Pro at home has become nothing more than a multimedia work horse, and photo processing studio. While my Macbook Pro is all work, will for 60% of the time atleast.
The Bagelturf blog has 32 ways to speed up Aperture. There are a lot of hardware based options and a good amount that I did not know.
