Boeing will introduce in flight wifi internet access on Monday on a non stop flight from Munich to L.A.. Cost will be $30 for the entire flight, or $10 for 30 minutes. Boeing hopes to have this service, called Connexion, on 300 planes by 2006. Singapore Airlines has plans to also deploy the system, but other major U.S. carriers are still dragging their feet.
- jim 5-12-2004 6:20 pm

gosh, I am sure this is exciting news (why are they dragging their feet – is it really so expensive? is it technologically difficult to achieve this? I was on a plane the other day where they showed live tv, would it really be an added expense? I wonder if there are security risks?)
...but I have to say reading your post made my heart sink a bit. I love planes (while I hate flying) because I consider flying ‘in between time.’ I like that no one can call me, that I don’t have to be responsible to any thing or anyone, and that I can even watch cheesy movies and maybe shed a tear (has anyone ever noticed the crying on planes phenomenon?). I have stubbornly ignored the laptop idea for this reason as well (while recognizing it would make my life easier). It will be a sad day when someone says to me, what do you mean I couldn’t reach you because you were traveling? Why didn’t you email from the plane? Another anonymous space in jeopardy?
- selma 5-12-2004 7:45 pm


Interesting. And of course you are right. All of these connecting technologies I am so thrilled about will be used in negative ways. And the most obvious negative way is that the distinction between "work" and "play" (public and private) is disappearing. And generally to the disadvantage of "play"!

I try to keep this dark side in mind. And I do believe it is real. But I still think the possibilities for these digital connections that reach across both time and space as never before will outweigh the negatives. To put it (perhaps too) simply: providing unmediated communication links between humans is, on the whole, a good thing.
- jim 5-12-2004 8:03 pm


Oh, and I've never cried on a flight, but I've noticed this phenomenon in several babies seated in close proximity.
- jim 5-12-2004 8:12 pm


I don’t think you put it too simply. I am only expressing a singular concern about my space - and I only am concerned about this some of the time (here we are after all). Thanks jim.
I know the crying thing sounds strange, but I have taken note over some years and several friends/colleagues admit to unprecedented tears on planes. One rather 'tough' friend I have admitted sheepishly to crying to a jim carey movie during a flight. He was perplexed. I think it is this issue of feeling anonymous... that or too much recycled air.

- selma 5-12-2004 8:33 pm


endangered private spaces. hmmm


- bill 5-12-2004 8:38 pm


exactly, thank you bill.
- selma 5-12-2004 8:39 pm


I'm too dense to understand Bill's comment. Is this a reference to something I should know?
- jim 5-12-2004 8:45 pm


well, just that I was lamely trying to express my apprehension about losing private space, and bill with economy of words hit what I was trying to say perfectly. But in terms of architecture technology and private spaces, maybe this is interesting and relevant:
"[Terry] Riley's provocative title, 'The Un-Private House', is based on the premise that after four hundred years of sheltering occupants from the public realm and reinforcing the rituals of (nuclear) family life, new social patterns, and innovative technologies that encourage the generation and construction of hitherto inconceivable forms, have radically transformed domestic architecture. The leitmotif is the impact of electronic media and digitization (including CAD) on dissolving boundaries, effortlessly engaging dwellers with the world outside in cyberspace, and permitting complex and dynamic spatial configurations that eschew rigid separation of functions within the house.".

- selma 5-12-2004 9:28 pm


In private spaces I can choose I guess.
It is the anonymous spaces, the public spaces that are concerning me - like a plane (which is certainly not 'private' in that you eat, nap and sit very close proximity for hours next to total strangers). Taxis, lobbies, elevators (I was given a hard time the other day by the person I was speaking to because my mobile phone disconnected when I got in an elevator) - we are reachable all the time. And all these spaces are beginning to be inundated with active – and interactive - information. I guess this is what marketers look for - and why such a high price is put on - the 'captive audience.' So I guess it is endangered anonymous spaces that I am thinking about.

- selma 5-12-2004 10:29 pm


I love the "ignore incoming call" function on my cell phone. I've used it twice today. The fact that someone can reach my device doesn't mean they can reach me.
- mark 5-13-2004 3:14 am


I get what Selma is saying about being in transit, though for me airtravel feels like telportation. I don't relax, exactly, but just go into a weird sort of holding pattern in which distractions are good. On the other hand, riding my bike from here to there is calming, introspective down time. The other day I took my first cellphone call while riding. FUN! I totally loved it. I am like Mark, however, in that I feel 100% justified in not answering my phone. Any of my phones. And I don't respond to email unless I feel like it. That's the beauty of over-stimulation.
- sally mckay 5-13-2004 5:55 am


I hope you wear a helmet! be careful sally mackay.
- selma 5-14-2004 1:57 am





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