United Flight 936: iPodding at 35,000 Feet

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached a cruising altitude of 10,000 feet, and the captain has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign. You are free to use personal electronic devices at this time, and feel free to plug in your iPod or iPhone into our new docking and charging systems."

That was probably the inflight announcement on United's flight 936 that departed from Washington, D.C. in route to Zurich on Monday afternoon. What's so special about this flight?

Slinging iPhones

When is a feature release not a feature release? Sling Media just showcased their new feature for iPhones, not at the WWDC in San Francisco, but at the Starbucks across the street. Why would streaming TV to iPhones be kept so lowkey?

iPod in the Sky with Singapore Air

Flying first class has never been this classy. Singapore Airlines, known for their luxurious seating, gourmet in-flight dining, and gorgeous flight attendants is making news again. On their all-business class planes flying from New York and LA to Singapore, your entertainment options are becoming even better. The airplanes have been equipped with iPod/iPhone docks right in the seats. To watch the videos from the iPods or any other inflight option, they've installed 15.4-inch LCD widescreen displays. Panasonic Avionics installed personal portable players in addition to the docks. Singapore also supplies active noise-canceling headphones. What's an important safety feature of this arrangement?

No more sick touchpanels!

Don’t you hate it when people come over to your house and they get their grubby hands all over your perfectly clean touchscreens? Or if they grab your brand new iTouch and start. . . touching!!! I mean, you don’t know where their hands have been! At some point, they have gone to the bathroom, and do you want to face the bacterial Russian roulette of whether they did or didn’t wash? And let’s face it, no one want to catch Mad Cow from browsing their music collection.

Before you lock yourself away and start collecting jars of urine like Howard Hughes, invest in a bottle of Monster's newly formulated ScreenClean!

Won an iPhone

Hey Kids,
Remember back last winter when we held that Win-an-iPhone Contest? Well it wasn't just some scam to increase our site traffic (though it did that quite nicely — thanks for coming by). Yes, we actually have a winner!

Her name is Janie Cooley, and she's from Midland, Texas (yes, of course iPhones work in Midland, Texas, you 10-gallon-hats-for-brains).

Anyway, Janie and her iPhone are doing just fine, thank you. And don't ask us for her iPhone number, 'cause we wouldn't give it to you even if we knew it. Nor will we tell you how old she is, though we actually do know that (unless she lied on her entry form).

Really, don't ask anything. Just wish Janie a polite congrats and vow that you'll beat her when we hold the next S&V contest. Whatever that will be.—Rob Medich

Apple Announcement #3: Steve Jobs Says, iSorry!

"I have received hundreds of emails from iPhone customers who are upset about Apple dropping the price of the iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale," writes Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs in an open letter "To all iPhone customers," posted yesterday on apple.com. (If you've been on Mars the past few days and need some background, see my "Apple Announcement #2" below.)

Jobs concludes: "We have decided to offer every iPhone customer who purchased an iPhone from either Apple or AT&T, and who is not receiving a rebate or any other consideration, a $100 store credit towards the purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store."

What a brouhaha. Or should I say: boo-hoo-hoo . . . ha, ha!

Apple Announcement #2: iMakeover!

Steve Jobs has done it again. Stealing some thunder from another consumer-electronics confab (that would be CEDIA Expo 2007, where nearly all of S&V's editors are ensconced right now), the Apple Inc. CEO actually made not one but six big announcements today — none of which involves the Beatles coming to iTunes. (See my post immediately below.)

The biggest announcement of the Steve Six: Apple is introducing the iPod touch (below), an iPhone-like redo of its most popular product. Prices: $299 (8GB) and $399 (16GB). Available: later this month!

The other five announcements:

Gadget Mania

For those who are camping out all night waiting for an iPhone (they go on sale tomorrow at 6 pm), I say save your money. Check out suckbusters.com and read more.

And if you do go ahead and get one, drop me a note and let me know what you think.

Jamie Sorcher