Hasta La Gadget!

Today American Airlines announced and unveiled their first new look since 1968. And to catch up with modern times, CEO Tom Horton says that the new livery is meant to be light, vibrant, and modern. The airline is also making some strides in implementing more technology into their workflow, like outfitting pilots and flight attendants with tablets and smartphones.

The new logo and livery will be introduced on the airline’s new and upcoming Boeing 777-300 airplanes at the end of the month, and have ordered hundreds of other new planes that will be delivered throughout the coming years. Many of the new planes will be made of composite materials to make them lighter. However, they must be painted over, making the iconic unpainted silver look of current AA planes no longer an option. Instead, though, the airline plans to paint them using silver mica paint that will at least maintain AA’s long-lasting heritage.

The new planes will features redesigned first- and business-class seats, and every seat on the new planes will feature all-new in-flight entertainment systems, as well as power outlets and WiFi access. The entertainment systems will feature a huge selection of movies, TV shows, music, and games.

Flight attendants will be equipped with Samsung Galaxy Note Tabs to better assist passengers, and pilots will be given iPads to “fly more efficiently” and to cut down on paper products to save on fuel costs. Gate agents at the airport will also be given mobile devices to help passengers check-in quicker by speeding up the boarding pass process and checking-in luggage.

[via Gizmodo]

American Airlines unveils new look, more tech is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Picture this. You’re an airliner pilot. Buzz Aldrin—the man who flew to the Moon and back, among many other space and combat missions—comes to you and asks you to please “fly us safely home.” More »

The term “unmanned aerial drone” might strike a bit of fear into your heart when you see the live tracking map of the USA that’s been made available this week by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, but not to worry – not all of them are flying overhead right this minute. Instead this is a map that’s the result of the EEF’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit that covers the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)’s full knowledge of unmanned flights across the United States and what you’re looking at is a tracking of project licenses rather than actually flying objects. That said, this map is exciting in its coverage for our greater understanding of unmanned drone flight projects as initiated by state and local law agencies, universities, and US Military operations.

The newest information here comes from – for the first time, mind you – the Air Force, Marine Corps, and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). These three Military branches have for the first time had their records shown to the public in all cases save for one. That one case is if these flights are only taking place inside their own “restricted airspace” – over their own military bases. Click the map below to see the live map via the EEF and Google Maps.

Across this map you’re going to be able to see drones of many types, with the Air Force testing cute little hand-launched Raven, Puma, and Wasp drones from Aerovironment on the short end. On the larger end you’ll find the scary types of drones, those being the Predator and Reaper drones you may have heard of flying missions overseas in live warzones.

Some of the lighter uses of drones you’ll be finding across the USA are straight from places like the University of Michigan where a “Flying Fish” drone can be found. This drone is made to float over open water for human tracking and is able to reposition itself through flight when it’s moved too far away from its original and intended spot. The U of Michigan also has a drone made to study “persistent solar-powered flight” and goes by the name YellowTale.

Have a peek up north in Minnesota and you’ll find two basic extremes, one of them being a flight that’s been cancelled due to “unacceptable risk” to the National Airspace System. The other you’ll find right near the border with North Dakota and is set for Customs & Border Protection – that one lists a Predator drone and an unknown drone, with the FAA not being especially clear on where the drones are being flown.

Keep your eye on the map and let us know if you find anything interesting as more information is added in the future!

[via The Verge]

Live USA Map of Unmanned Drones released by EEF is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This is unforgivable. With all the hoopla about yesterday’s crazy supersonic space jump, we didn’t celebrate yesterday’s 65th anniversary of the first man to go faster than the speed of sound, a true American hero: the now retired Brigadier General Chuck Yeager. More »

It feels like it was only yesterday that we were praising Google for giving us access to a plethora of handy, everyday tools — oh wait, it was yesterday. At any rate, today the folks from Mountain View are back with more travel-friendly software for you to enjoy, announcing that its useful Flight Search service is now fully-optimized for use with, as Google points out, tablets such as its own Nexus 7 and, naturally, Cupertino’s iPad. Jet-setters can see the changes now by simply hitting the Flights link below, and with the dearest holidays just around the corner, now is probably a good time to make use of that “lowest fare” tool.

Filed under: Tablets, Transportation, Software, Google

Google optimizes Flight Search for tablets, makes booking trips easier originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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