iPod Seat-Back Video Coming To Flights

cameronk writes, "Apple announced partnership agreements with Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM, and United that will let you display video from your iPod on the screen of the seat in front of you. Plus, the connectors charge iPods throughout the flight. This will be great for inter-continental flights where even my iPod Nano runs out of juice. I wonder how the airlines are going to keep inappropriate video (i.e. porn or even just movies like "Snakes on a Plane" or "Alive") from appearing on the seat-back displays."

Boeing...

[CokeBear (16811)]

Boeing: The world's largest iPod accessory manufacturer.

747: The world's largest iPod accessory.

Re:

[Golias (176380)]

For example, how long is it going to take to get everyone on and off one of the A380s?

According to what I've read, the 380 can board both decks simultaneously via separate bridges, as long as you set up the terminal to take advantage of both entrances.

So yeah, you've got 555 passengers in three seating classes, but half of them will go in through another gate, so it should, in theory, board faster than a 747.

As for baggage handling... I find it hard to conceive of how anybody could handle baggage loading an

Yes, please!

[BWJones (18351)]

I wonder how the airlines are going to keep inappropriate video (i.e. porn or even just movies like "Snakes on a Plane" or "Alive") from appearing on the seat-back displays."

That's funny as I was wondering the same thing when Apple's press announcement appeared in my inbox. Of course the issue of other movies like those you mentioned should not even be an issue as it is content that the user has loaded on their own iPods (and you should not be looking at your neighbors content anyhow). As to porn and oth

Re:Yes, please!

[brusk (135896)]

Pretty much the same way they keep your from looking at Penthouse centerfolds or playing porn on your mini DVD player. Social pressure plus, I'd assume, a polite (at least initially) request from the crew. In this case, it works. There's nothing new here in this respect.

Re:Yes, please!

[El Torico (732160)]

Video iPod - $250
Label Maker - $27
Scaring the crap out of unsuspecting passengers with the new "pilot's view display" and footage from the nose of a cruise missle - Priceless.

Don't tell the MPAA!

[norminator (784674)]

It's not the inappropriate videos we should worry about... it's the new undercover MPAA air marshals who will be watching out for anyone allowing other passengers to see any movie that they haven't paid to see. There will be a new MPAA box for you to deposit $5 into on your way off the plane if you watched the movie on the screen of the person next to you... The marshals are watching, you'd better pay up!

Re:

[stunt_penguin (906223)]

How to keep inappropriate content off seatback displays?

One word : Tasers.

Privacy Filters?

[dsginter (104154)]

Just a hunch. [3m.com]

What they aren't telling you..

[s31523 (926314)]

You have to use a "special" FAA approved cable to connect to the video input of the screen as well as the charging unit. The airline will provide this to you for $5 which includes the rental price of the monitor.

Re:

[dalmiroy2k (768278)]

If true, it's still a good deal

Re:

[Steve525 (236741)]

You have to use a "special" FAA approved cable to connect to the video input of the screen as well as the charging unit. The airline will provide this to you for $5 which includes the rental price of the monitor.

Is that a one time purchase, or am I actually just renting the cable? $5 per flight is a little steep, but not horrible depending on the length of the flight. If it's a one time purchase, then who cares, (except for the fact that now you have to carry around the extra cable)?

Or, are you just jokin

i'm waiting

[User 956 (568564)]

So how long until we get ipod connectors for samsung's machine gun sentry robots [youtube.com]? They could even use that song "let the bodies hit the floor" in the commercial.

same issue

[flynt (248848)]

Don't airlines already have the same issue with laptops? Those have approximately the same angle from screen to the eyes of person next to you, especially in coach. My guess is it won't be an issue. Perhaps if a polite request doesn't make you stop, they can disable your screen from the front?

Re:

[SiliconEntity (448450)]

Yeah, what's the etiquette for looking at porn on your laptop while flying? I've never done it but I'm not the kind of guy who would do that in public. I've never seen it done either.

Re:same issue

[soft_guy (534437)]

Yeah, what's the etiquette for looking at porn on your laptop while flying?

You are supposed to ask the woman next to you if she wants to joint the mile high club. Do that while pointing at your laptop screen. It is sure to impress her.

Re:same issue

[Odin's Raven (145278)]

You are supposed to ask the woman next to you if she wants to joint the mile high club. Do that while pointing at your laptop screen. It is sure to impress her.

I suspect this depends on how impressive your pointer is...

Snakes on a plane?

[Roadmaster (96317)]

Why would this movie, or Alive, or even United 93 or Twin Towers be inappropriate? it's not like I'm going to show it to a hysteria-prone man on the brink of snapping and hijacking the plane. If I have it on my iPod I know what it's about and I maintain full control to turn off the movie at any time.

Gee, it's not like watching it is actually going to make snakes appear in the plane. Plus, I don't think it'd be nearly as bad as depicted in the movie.

why would it be inappropriate? It's not

[User 956 (568564)]

Why would this movie, or Alive, or even United 93 or Twin Towers be inappropriate? it's not like I'm going to show it to a hysteria-prone man on the brink of snapping and hijacking the plane.

Yeah, it's no more inappropriate than watching "The Towering Inferno" in a crowded theatre.

Zune Compatibility?

[gsslay (807818)]

I'm more interested in Zune compatability. Can I use Zune's great wifi capabilities to exchange MP3s with the onboard flight navigation system? They're DRMed to 3 days, but when your life expectancy is 1 hour max, who cares?!

And when we crash, we'll go down grooving.

Re:Zune Compatibility?

[CastrTroy (595695)]

Ok, you got modded funny, but why not put a regular USB port on the seat back, and allow people to hook up any USB mass storage device, and play the media from that. Make it a Linux MPlayer thing and it would be able to play just about anything. Why do companies keep on locking themselves into one device when it would be much easier to support a large number of devices. If they're worried about DRM on the files, then work out a deal with apple so that they can decrypt the files on the iPod.

Re:Zune Compatibility?

[Myself (57572)]

Or better yet, an NTSC or VGA input so any old device could drive it, including iPods. Imagine that. No codec problems, no DRM issues, etc. Provide 12vDC power the same way they've always done. If they want to rent iPod-specific cable sets for video and charging, that's fine.

Re:

[EvilNTUser (573674)]

"Why do companies keep on locking themselves into one device when it would be much easier to support a large number of devices."

Yeah, that was my first reaction too; this is a horrible development. The future could offer wonderful potential for ubiquitous connectivity, but policies like these will only ensure that actually interfacing with devices in practice will be harder than ever. We'd be better off with RS-232, frankly.

Re:

[johnpaul191 (240105)]

yeah, because wikipedia is never wrong.

I've got an idea

[meeotch (524339)]

I wonder how the airlines are going to keep inappropriate video (i.e. porn or even just movies like "Snakes on a Plane" or "Alive") from appearing on the seat-back displays."

How about by /asking/ people not to? Or a little sign that says, "Please be aware of your neighbors and/or their children, and do not watch video that may disturb them." Sheesh.

Offtopic, but - who's up for a "no kids" airline? I'd definitely pay an extra $10 per flight to ensure there aren't any crying babies onboard.

Re:I've got an idea

[Bazman (4849)]

A wit once said there were two classes of travel, 'First Class', and 'With Children'.

Re:I've got an idea

[Speare (84249)]

Kinda weird how you first seemed almost humanist, what with your suggestion to communicate and use common sense in social situations. Then you turn a quick 180 and suggest artificial class barriers to society like "with children" vs "you." Sure, some kids are annoying because they don't understand why their ears are hurting. Some people in seat 13B are annoying because they like watching the climax of "Airport 1977" on a bigscreen laptop and can't understand why it might be a bit anxiety-inducing for their neighbors. If you can live with one but not the other, what does that say about you?

Re:I've got an idea

[Sax Maniac (88550)]

Personally, I'm up for a no fat people airline. And no smelly people. And no people with brown skin. And no Mormons! Or old people, they're too slow.

Re:

[cmdr_beeftaco (562067)]

With the recent airline cutbacks, the lack of pillows has me appreicating fat people more and more. If only they didn't sweat so much.

Re:

[Wellington Grey (942717)]

Offtopic, but - who's up for a "no kids" airline? I'd definitely pay an extra $10 per flight to ensure there aren't any crying babies onboard.

I've always assumed that virgin airlines would be the natural ones to take up that cause.

-Grey [wellingtongrey.net]

Re:I've got an idea

[by Anonymous Coward]

On the flipside, that cute lady would probably pay $100 to NOT sit next to you.

Re:

[glesga_kiss (596639)]

Depends on the kids. Some young ones, especially infants cannot cope with the ear-popping and cry the whole flight. Being near one of them can be a nightmare on a long flight. However, the last flight I was on there were two really young kids in the seats in front on me and the only noise I heard was them having fun. That I can happily live with.

Inappropriate video not a new problem

[nganju (821034)]

You can get on a plane, open up your laptop and play inappropriate video right now. I don't think this has been a huge problem so far, and I don't see how ipod-seat-back-video makes this problem any worse.

Re:

[Aceticon (140883)]

Yeah, you can also pull out a Hustler magazine and read it

Even beter, you can: loudly comment on the boobs of the models; tell everybody around you how last month's centerfold was much beter and proceed to explain why; comment on how you can just see that "that one ain't a real blonde"; digress into a loud monologue about the difficulties of masturbating on an airplane bathroom while holding a Hustler.

The possibilities are limitless!!!

Re:

[greppling (601175)]

Interestingly, he actually seemed to be reading the articles. Because he spent quite a lot of time even on pages without any pictures of naked bits.

Sounds like you were waiting impatiently for him to turn the page...

Just a thought

[jsebrech (525647)]

I wonder how the airlines are going to keep inappropriate video (i.e. porn or even just movies like "Snakes on a Plane" or "Alive") from appearing on the seat-back displays.

The same way they keep you from running up and down the plane mid-flight shouting "we're all gonna die!".

Besides, it's not even necessarily the passengers who rile up things. A few years ago I was on a plane waiting for take-off where the stewardess figured that the best solution to calm pre-take-off nerves would be to put on the radio through the cabin speakers. Much to her surprise, the song playing at that very moment was "killing me softly", and you can all have a guess which words came out of the speakers first...

Inappropriate video

[Leebert (1694)]

I wonder how the airlines are going to keep inappropriate video (i.e. porn or even just movies like "Snakes on a Plane" or "Alive") from appearing on the seat-back displays."

I'll wager they'll do it just the same way that they would handle a person that is playing inappropriate video on their 15" laptop sitting on the tray table in front of them. My guess is that would be to ignore it unless a passenger complains, then politely ask the viewer to turn it off.

Personally, were I a flight attendant, I would di

Distract you from how much flying sucks

[bigbigbison (104532)]

I would just be happy if they made the seats big enough and with enough leg room so that I wouldn't feel like I'm packed in like a sardine. Anything else is just a way to distract us from thinking about how much flying sucks.

Next news headline...

[dimer0 (461593)]

... Microsoft to buy Quantas Airlines - Quantas will be first to have z00n wireless

This is the airlines kicking MPAA to the curb

[mirio (225059)]

This is a clever way for the airlines to bypass the MPAA's atrocious licensing fees for movies stored on the aircraft's entertainment system. If the airline doesn't 'own' the copy, they aren't responsible. I predict the MPAA will soon be having shit fits over this system.

ie vs eg

[Myopic (18616)]

The poster uses "ie" to list inappropriate content for airplanes, but he is mistaken: instead, he wants "eg". "Ie" introduces an exhaustive list, or restates the category completely, whereas "eg" provides examples within the category. So, he gives the category as inappropriate content, and lists three possible types of inappropriate content, so he should use "eg".

The latin phrase for "eg" is "exempli gratia", or, in English, "gratuitous example", which is to say, an example which helps explain the intent of the sentence.

The latin phrase for "ie" is "id est", or, in English, literally "that is", which means you are restating the thing to make the intent clear.

I don't really blame the poster, who might not care about this distinction, a common mistake amongst Americans, but the Slashdot editors sure as hell should care, being that they are paid to provide that service. That's an old complaint, though, and it's fairly clear the editors don't care either.

If you're going to be a Nazi

[slashdotwriter (972437)]

at least do it right: 1. Learn Latin so you understand the grammatical structure and meaning of the expression "exempli grata". 2. Learn how to spell: "i.e.", "e.g.". Without the abbreviating periods, the sequences of letters "ie", "eg" don't mean anything in English. "Latin" should be capitalized in English.

Re:

[Myopic (18616)]

touche with the periods and punctuation, which are bad-english liberties i often take in my own writing, and even though it is a valid complaint, i often see i.e. and e.g. given without periods, especially when set off with parentheses and commans (eg, in this sentence). in my grandparent post, i set them off with quotes.

but i disagree with your complaint about my translation of e.g., which my dictionary gives as literally 'for the sake of example', and i think is fairly translated 'gratuitous example', and

Re:

[jdcook (96434)]

Ray "Bones" Barboni: "Let me explain something to you. Momo is dead. Which means everything he had now belongs to Jimmy Cap, including you. Which also means, when I speak, I speak for Jimmy. E.g., from now on, you start showing me the proper fuckin' respect."

Chili Palmer: ""E.g." means "for example". What I think you want to use is "i.e."."

Ray "Bones" Barboni: "Bullshit! That's short for "ergo"."

Chili Palmer: "Ask your man."

Bodyguard: "To the best of my knowledge, "e.g." means "for example"."

Ray "Bones" Bar

KLM? Air France?

[SillyNickName4me (760022)]

According to this Dutch news site [www.nu.nl] Air France and KLM said they were not aware of such a deal with them.

will they interrupt playback ...

[rwx (41027)]

every ten minutes when they announce that the beverage cart will be starting soon? That's one reason I prefer my own entertainment device: I decide when to hit pause.

Re:

[SetarconeX (160251)]

Are you kidding? The last movie I saw on an airplane was the Shaggy Dog remake...

If I'm going to plunge to earth from a mile above, I want to make damn sure that I'm watching a movie I picked. Or at least, not Shaggy Dog.

Re:Charge iPods?

[Secrity (742221)]

"Personally, I prefer to not divert power from the plane's engines.

MY GOD, I had NO idea that iPods use enough power to tax a jetliner's engines. Do they require 3 phase power, or will they work from US standard 120/240 volt split phase power? How much do they cost to run for one month, assuming 6 hours of use a day and 10 cents per KWh?

Re:

[Lally Singh (3427)]

I suspect that when the engines need the power, they'll take precedence. Sheesh, modern electronics do have a level of sophistication to them...

Re:

[frosty_tsm (933163)]

The engines generate electricity much like the alternator in your car does. Yes, having a bigger alternator takes away some power from the engine. But if the engine is designed to handle the load of the alternator and still have plenty of power to do it's job, then there is no problem.

Power outlets and more TVs just require more juice than what was used in the past. People are plugging their laptops in and watching DVDs for entire flights. Charging a plane full of iPods seems rather trivial in compariso

Re:

[grungebox (578982)]

Snakes on a Plane is an "airline disaster" movie of sorts. It might push people already apprehensive about flying over the edge, or it might end up scaring kids who happen to glance at the video, or the person watching might panic. It's not terribly unreasonable to keep such movies off the plane.