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]

Boeing: The world's largest iPod accessory manufacturer.

747: The world's largest iPod accessory.

MPAA Air martials

[jigjigga]

Oh noes! Now we will have MPAA Air martials watching for dvd-screeners and cams.

Zune Compatibility?

[gsslay]

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:Charge iPods?

[Secrity]

"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?

Just a thought

[jsebrech]

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...

Re:Yes, please!

[El Torico]

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.

Next news headline...

[dimer0]

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

Re:I've got an idea

[Bazman]

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

Re:same issue

[soft_guy]

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:I've got an idea

[Sax Maniac]

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:Zune Compatibility?

[EvilNTUser]

"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:I've got an idea

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:I've got an idea

[Wellington Grey]

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]

however will they do it?

[entropy42]

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

Yeah, we've only had portable DVD players for about eight years, so the issue has never come up before. I assume they'll put several viewing enforcement marshalls on every flight - that's the most straightforward answer, anyway.

Re:ie vs eg

[jdcook]

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" Barboni: "E.g., i.e., fuck you! The point is this: When I say "jump", you say "OK", okay?"

Re:same issue

[Odin's Raven]

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...

Don't tell the MPAA!

[norminator]

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:Inappropriate video not a new problem

[Aceticon]

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:I've got an idea

[cmdr_beeftaco]

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:Yes, please!

[stunt_penguin]

How to keep inappropriate content off seatback displays?

One word : Tasers.

Re:If you're going to be a Nazi

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, sir, I hate to get involved like this, but "gratuitous example" is an idiotic way to translate exempli gratia. Let's consider what gratuitous really means: "1 a : given unearned or without recompense b : not involving a return benefit, compensation, or consideration c : costing nothing : FREE 2 : not called for by the circumstances : UNWARRANTED" (from m-w.com)

"Gratuitous example" is, then, not the same as saying "for the sake of an example." Is the example given free of charge? Is it unwarranted? Maybe, but that's different from saying that you're giving something "for the sake of an example." It doesn't even mean what you think it means! "Gratuitous example" doesn't even mean "and [sic??!] example given to make something more clear"!

You can't "translate" exempli gratia just by throwing similar sounding English words together!

To explain the phrase: gratia normally means such varied things as grace, charm, favor, service, and can be difficult to translate. In this particular case, it is being used in an idiomatic phrase - gratia as an ablative coupled with a genitive means "for the sake of."

But hey! You didn't know that! But hey! Gratia and gratuitous look similar! They must mean the same thing! wtf!

Here's an idea: How about we just talk about stuff we know about.

(I know, I know; this is slashdot; I must be new here, how about a Beowulf cluster of those, etc., etc.)

Re:Inappropriate video not a new problem

[greppling]

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...

Re:Zune Compatibility?

[Moofie]

"USB carries data not video."

I want you to think about this really, really hard, and try again.