Blogging from 39,000 Feet
September 7th, 2010My apologies for the recent radio silence. I was traveling for the better part of the month of August – first on business, then enjoying a bit of vacation time with the family.
Still in the midst of that travel. Will return to a more regular posting schedule upon my return after Labor Day, …but I just couldn’t resist the temptation to post this short note from 39,000 feet in the air on a plane traveling between New York and San Francisco.
I am increasingly marveled by the ubiquity of connectivity. I’m hard pressed to think now of a place where the internet is unavailable. Airplanes were seemingly the last remaining preserve – protected from internet infiltration. No more!
What’s more, I’m writing this post with my relatively new-ish technological toy: the iPad. So far I love it, though the highly-publicized flash clash incompatibilities drive me a little crazy sometimes.
That aside, if you would have told me last year that I’d be writing a blog post on an airplane with a handheld tablet computer, I’d have called you crazy. Amazing!
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UPDATE IN THE INTEREST OF FULL DISCLOSURE: While I was able to draft this post on the airplane with the iPad, for whatever reason (either because of some issues with WordPress, the iPad’s compatibility with WordPress/flash, or the wireless service on the airplane) I was not able to actually post the message from the plane. It needed to wait until my return. Hence, the delay in posting. Technology. Go figure.
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September 8th, 2010 at 4:59 am
Show off.
September 28th, 2010 at 6:26 am
You’re right, the internet is a perfect example of how technology marches on, steadily aided by commercial forces (There’s still the middle of the Sahara desert and the Mariana trench, of course – holdouts from internet access !).
HOwever I’ve found that internet access from aircraft remains
somewhat unpredictable. While I’ve effortlessly sent and received mails from my laptop during transatlantic flights as early as 2006, more recently I’ve found that for whatever reason internet access is often intermittent or unavailable aboard aircraft.
Somewhat less edifyingly, I’m afraid the same commercial forces will soon make cellphone calls routine on flights.