Hasta La Gadget!

Back when old man winter was first starting to bear down here in the States for the 2010 – 2011 Winter Season, we dropped by to check out a few toasty newcomers from the folks at Columbia. Pleased as we were after trying a few things out at the demo booth, we reckoned the outfit’s line of Omni-Heat electric gear would be best evaluated in the wild. You know — places like Whitefish, Montana and the northern interior of Alaska, all during the winter.

We were fortunate enough to snag one of Columbia’s Omni-Heat Circuit Breaker Softshell electric / heated ski jackets prior to departing for our bone-chilling escapades, and after a couple of months of use, we’re happy to report that this thing really is all it’s cracked up to be. Those situated in places like Yellowknife and International Falls have been dreaming of a non-bulky, quasi-stylish heated coat for years now, and those dreams may very well be converted into reality when this particular one starts shipping this fall. Read on to see if an outdoors outfitter really nailed the technological integration, and how your life in the winter months may be forever changed because of it.

Continue reading Columbia Omni-Heat Circuit Breaker Softshell electric / heated jacket review

Columbia Omni-Heat Circuit Breaker Softshell electric / heated jacket review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are plenty of tools for finding flights, but when you’re doing it on your phone, a streamlined experience is of the essence. Hipmunk doesn’t clutter up search with stuff you don’t need and makes the most painless flight of the lot easy to find. More »

PC Air, a new airline based out of Thailand is looking to fill its crew with transgender flight attendants. According to Reuters, the decision came after the airline received more than 100 applications for transgender employees. The airline ultimately hired four transgender flight attendants, along with 19 female and seven male.

Transgender people, popularly known as “katoeys” or “ladyboys” in Thailand, are higher profile in that country than most. “They are especially common in cosmetics shops or health stores, which almost always have a ladyboy shop assistant,” says Reuters.

The airline insists that transgendered employs have “feminine characters,” adhering to the same standards as their female counterparts. Says the airline’s president, Peter Chan,

For male flight attendants, if I don’t want to hire them, it’s because of their attitude or their characters, like the way they walk and smile. For female flight attendants, if they have no patience and their character does not qualify, we won’t hire them. For transsexuals, we can’t just spend 5 or 10 minutes with them, we have to spend the whole day with them to make sure they have feminine characters.

Seven airlines now offering free in-flight Facebook originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good news, air travelers: it’s now easier to hide your shame. The Transportational Security Administration this week showed of a new, more modest version of its controversial full-body scanners in that bastion of good taste, Las Vegas.

The TSA finally answered the massive negative backlash over intrusive body scanners by updating the devices to feature more generic images of the person being scanned. Once in the scanner, the device’s display offers what ABC describes as a “generic, chalk-like outline of a body.” Any perceived “threat” will appear as a red box located on the outline in the position it appears on the traveler’s body.

The new scanner software is currently being tested at Vegas’s McCarren Airport. Further tests will occur at Atlanta’s Hartford Jackson and Washington’s Reagan airports. If the tests prove successful, it will be tolled out to all millimeter wave machine scanners–that’s 239 of the 500 machines currently deployed in the US.