An Eyewitness Account!
DTI, the inflight gaming & entertainment software house in Montreal has landed a big fish. We wondered when someone in our line of work would do so. Accordingly, interactive IFE will now get some of the best travel content ever. First, if you dont know DTI, check out their website. They cut their teeth on IFE gaming software and are now branching out into interactive entertainment, travel and information on airborne platforms. They have established a deal with Dorling Kinsersly, the DK people who have developed an incredible printed books called "Eyewitness" which encompass general knowledge, interesting places and and ...
Current Market Outlook?
If you have not seen the latest airliner sales projections from Boeing you might want to first check out their web offering of the Current Market Outlook (vs Airbus). As one might expect, both Boeing and Airbus see growth in the short term time frame, the current market conditions might temper their estimates later this year. Airbus calls an average growth of 4.9% per year while Boeing sees a 5% growth annually. While most Inflight Entertainment Marketing troops abide by this data, aircraft vendor backlog is just as important. Both Boeing and Airbus ooze optimism with Airbus seeing some 24,300 new ...
Inflight Broadband & Stuff
While streaming is still a hot topic, we wanted to return to our Hot Topic subject of a few weeks back. This whole subject began with an article we wrote about the possibility of streaming entertainment media to the aircraft. Obviously, even to the uninformed, bandwidth to the aircraft has to increase and the cost per bit has to SIGNIFICANTLY drop. One company who has remained on the periphery of aircraft broadband (physically and technically) is Voyant (www.voyant.aero). Their approach revolves around individual broadband beams of data, formed and steered to each aircraft, operating in the double-digit GHz range and ...
The New Connectivity Kids On The Block… Wi-Sky Inflight
Dear Readers... Just when we thought we had heard just about everything about connectivity and were sure the "Big Dogs" has everything sewed up, along comes a new and refreshing solution to getting bandwidth to the plane. Yes, it is ground-based and it is simplicity itself, but the idea is one that resonated with us because it is so cool and clever. On the ground (100 stations needed), Wi-Sky has developed an electrically steered beam forming antenna that delivers approximately 45 Mbps to each and every plane in its tracked sector - it has a beamwidth of some 4° horizontal ...
2009 WAEA Single Focus Workshop: Connectivity
With today's tragic news about Air France 447, the subject of aircraft connectivity takes on a new and urgent meaning for the aviation industry. Given that the last contact with the Airbus A330 was via automatic condition monitors, connectivity now has dual interest - aircraft and passenger. The upcoming WAEA Single Focus Workshop, Tuesday, July 14 - Wednesday, July 15 2009 in Everett, Washington, USA has the passenger focus, and the WAEA noted in their communication; "This special two-day educational event will feature keynote and breakout sessions covering the very basics of connectivity to the advanced levels of this dynamic and ...
Hot Topics
An Eyewitness Account!
DTI, the inflight gaming & entertainment software house in Montreal has landed a big fish. We wondered when someone in our line of work would do so. Accordingly, interactive IFE will now get some of the best travel content ever. First, if you dont know DTI, check out their website. They cut their teeth on IFE gaming software and are now... [Read more]
Current Market Outlook?
If you have not seen the latest airliner sales projections from Boeing you might want to first check out their web offering of the Current Market Outlook (vs Airbus). As one might expect, both Boeing and Airbus see growth in the short term time frame, the current market conditions might temper their estimates later this year. Airbus calls... [Read more]
Inflight Broadband & Stuff
While streaming is still a hot topic, we wanted to return to our Hot Topic subject of a few weeks back. This whole subject began with an article we wrote about the possibility of streaming entertainment media to the aircraft. Obviously, even to the uninformed, bandwidth to the aircraft has to increase and the cost per bit has to SIGNIFICANTLY... [Read more]
The New Connectivity Kids On The Block… Wi-Sky Inflight
Dear Readers… Just when we thought we had heard just about everything about connectivity and were sure the “Big Dogs” has everything sewed up, along comes a new and refreshing solution to getting bandwidth to the plane. Yes, it is ground-based and it is simplicity itself, but the idea is one that resonated with us because... [Read more]
2009 WAEA Single Focus Workshop: Connectivity
With today’s tragic news about Air France 447, the subject of aircraft connectivity takes on a new and urgent meaning for the aviation industry. Given that the last contact with the Airbus A330 was via automatic condition monitors, connectivity now has dual interest - aircraft and passenger. The upcoming WAEA Single Focus Workshop, Tuesday,... [Read more]
Streaming Video - Not Really Part Two!
Last week we introduced many of you to the Roku streaming TV device with an eye toward a short article about streaming video to the aircraft from satcom-based and terrestrial delivery sources. We told you that we would cover that subject this week - not! That’s next week because we wanted to get a bit more information about the existing... [Read more]
Ground-based Streaming Video On Your Next Flight?
This story grew out of proportions as we developed it and so we will run it in a couple parts to follow in succeeding issues of IFExpress. Our streaming video tale began innocently enough with our disgust with conventional TV and the “Paid Programming” channels on our home DirecTV service. We, and many others in the US, have also... [Read more]
Row44 Experience – Field Report
We asked an IFExpress field reporter to check out the newly installed Row44 Broadband installation and performance on Alaska Airlines during a recent trip. He sent along this report: “I boarded Alaska Flight 664 from SEA to DFW, a 3-3.5 hour flight. The tail number of our aircraft was #644. Let me also note that the flight outlasted... [Read more]
IFE For Your Pet!
No, this is not an April Fools Story… but it is out there! There is a subliminal reason why we did a pet story this week — see below — however, the event did start us thinking out of the box and this is what the Hot Topic is all about this week. We don’t know how pets are regarded in other countries, but in the US, dogs... [Read more]
Carry Small - Live Large!
Today’s Hot Topic should really be titled “Bluetooth v3.0″ but, to put the ongoing hardware convergence into perspective, we need to look at one concept driving PEDS, or in other terminology, Mobile Phones and Mobile Internet Devices (MID’s). And don’t worry, we have Inflight Entertainment impact…but we... [Read more]
The new IFExpress website looks great!! What an improvement over the old site... it is like a whole new world. Cheers and kudos from New York City.”
