Gadling readers with an iPhone or iPod Touch?

by Scott Carmichael on

Our friends over at Engadget just let the world know that the mobile version of their site is now “iPhone friendler”.

In addition to the existing m.enagdget.com link, iPhone and iPod Touch users can view the site in an optimized version for their device by pointing Safari to i.engadget.com. The good news is, that this works for any site in our family, including Gadling!

If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch, and you’d like to keep up to date with the news posted on your favorite travel site when you are on the road (or in the bathroom), you can browse to i.gadling.go-vip.net.

While this may seem a little unfair to all the other mobile users out there, Engadget posted the statistics of visitors to the current mobile site, and it turns out that a whopping 95.9% of all mobile browsers came to the site using an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Now you have no excuse for not keeping up to date with the latest articles posted here!

Aircell Gogo inflight Internet service goes live on American Airlines

by Scott Carmichael on

Several weeks ago, I reported that Delta Airlines was gearing up to offer the Aircell Gogo inflight Internet service, but it is American Airlines who beat them to the first operational service.

Aircell Gogo is now offered on select American Airlines Boeing 767-200 flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles and New York and Miami. This puts the total number of flights with the Gogo Internet service at 174 per week.

For just $12.95, passengers get unlimited access to the Internet, but Aircell points out that VOIP (Internet calling) and cell phone calls are not possible.

To use the service, you’ll need a Wi-Fi capable laptop, PDA or smartphone, you can find a comprehensive list of supported devices on the Gogo site. If you plan to travel light, you’ll be able to use your Wi-Fi enabled Blackberry, iPhone or iPod touch to get online, which should help keep you entertained for the duration of the flight.

Aircell is working on a very swift roll out of their service, in addition to American Airlines and the previously mentioned Delta rollout, they are also working to bring inflight Internet to Virgin America.

This service has all the key features of a successful product; it is affordable, it comes at a time where airlines are scrambling to generate some more revenue, and the market penetration of Wi-Fi enabled devices is larger than ever. My feeling is that it will be a huge success, and certainly more successful than previous attempts at airborne broadband.

Source (and image) from Gogo Inflight Internet

Program that provides safe driving tips for parents and their teens

by Jamie Rhein on

My daughter is approaching driving age. Gaad! Let’s just say, I’m not thrilled. Dings and dents abound in Columbus. This is a city. It’s not that people drive like maniacs, but there are many cars and many possibilities for an amiss to happen while navigating the roads. Dents and dings are the mildest forms of mishaps.

One day though, it’s inevitable; my daughter will be driving. To get her ready for the day when she hits the road on her own, I’ve come across a guide that could come in handy. In July’s Car&Travel: New York, a AAA publication, is a blurb on AAAStartSmart, a newsletter that is geared for teen driver education.

Developed in partnership with the National Institute of Health, the on-line newsletter, published every two weeks, covers topics such as driving at night, teen passengers’ seat belt use and drivers’ distractions. It gives tips to parents on how to set limits and what limits to set.

I can see how this newsletter might help illuminate the issues that occur with teen drivers to help parents know what to expect and how to prevent a problem before the problem ever has a chance to happen. For example, setting limits such as not letting a teen drive with other teens in the car since teens are a major distraction for teens.

To get the newsletter go to AAA.com/StartSmart and register.

Behind the Olympics: How to hack NBC and watch the Games on your schedule

by Jerry Guo on

If you’re an rabid Olympic hawk like me–and there seems to be plenty of other people with almost as much free time on their hands–then you were probably incensed NBC didn’t show the historic opening ceremony live last Friday.

To help you get around the 12-hour time gap, here’s a quick run-down of how you can watch all your favorite events live.

First are the up and up options.

  • NBC has the exclusive rights to broadcast in the US, which means you can’t switch channels to ABC or CBS. Some of the events are broadcast live, notably swimming, but their online counterpart has some 3,000 hours of on-demand video and 4 live streams. Personally, I wasn’t very impressed–had lots of difficulty in tracking down the stream for the epic USA-China basketball showdown.

On the fuzzy side:

  • There’s plenty of free grub out there for anyone lucky enough not to be American (i.e. under NBC’s dominion). The Canadians have CBC, the Brits have BBC, and the Chinese have CCTV, which all offer streaming online coverage.
  • To get around the “geo-limits”, you’ll have to use a proxy–a virtual router that tricks whatever site into thinking you’re from a particular country. My favorite is freeproxy, while proxy.org is a clearinghouse for different sites.

The not exactly legal:

  • The most popular option for getting high-quality videos is to go Peer-to-Peer, in which you connect directly to other users for the content. The best program here, with by far the most videos, is BitTorrent, especially good for vids of the spectacular opening ceremony.
  • Other options include Sopcast, with its Olympic-geared channels, and TVU Networks, which is good to have around for sports after the Olympics are over.

Delta airlines announces domestic fleetwide Internet by 2009

by Scott Carmichael on

Delta Airlines is joining the ranks of American Airlines and Virgin America with in-flight Wi-Fi Internet access.

The service will be provided using the Aircell Gogo technology (reviewed here by Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal). For $9.95 on flights of 3 hours or less, or $12.95 on flights over three hours, passengers will be able to enjoy “mobile broadband” speeds on their laptop or Wi-Fi enabled PDA or smartphone.

The service will first be introduced on the Delta Airlines MD88/90 fleet, then on their Boeing 737, 757 and 757 aircraft. In total, 300 planes will be outfitted with the necessary equipment, making this the largest committed rollout of in-flight Internet equipment in the world.

It is needless to say that inflight Internet access is here to stay. Previous services that offered basic Internet connectivity all failed because of the price (Verizon Airfone) or the investment for the airline (Connexxion by Boeing).
The Aircell Gogo system is a great combination of the right price, and perfect timing. Airlines are scrambling to find affordable ways to generate some additional revenue, and there are only so many services they can take away or start charging for. One of the big differences in the marketplace over previous years, is that more people are now carrying Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Of course, the Aircell Gogo system won’t be of any use to anyone leaving the domestic airspace, as the ground stations only cover the United States. You can read more about the technology powering this service on the Gogo Inflight Internet site.