It was just over two months ago that Kayak and Priceline sent ripples through the online travel industry with a blockbuster deal in which Priceline shelled out a whopping $1.8 billion to acquire the recently-public travel search engine. Kayak was able to claim such a hefty premium for a simple reason: By indexing a laundry list of travel sites and airlines to help everyday travelers find the best… → Read More
As I watch today’s jump by Felix Baumgartner – it’s been running non-stop on most major news channels, the same channels that gave a Space Shuttle launch about two minutes between video of a talking dog and what Kim Kardashian just ate – I’m struck by the notion that what we’re seeing, albeit in an Evel Knievel kind of way, is the future of scientific discovery. → Read More
Airplanes release greenhouse emissions into the atmosphere and require enormous amounts of fuel to fly. A Boeing 747 can consume up to five gallons of fuel per mile. But what if planes could be powered by electricity? Though they won’t replace passenger airliners anytime soon, small, zero-emission, electric planes are flying today.
Engineers have been pursing electric flight for decades. In… → Read More
Sailplanes are fun and all, but they are gliders at heart and for the most part, you have to tow a glider up into the sky before you can fly it. Obviously this is problematic since you have to hire a pilot with a plane to drag you up into the air, limiting the locations you can launch from. Well, if these creative sailplane pilots have their way, that problem will be a thing of the past. → Read More
As if flying weren’t scary enough now we could have giant airplanes full of nuclear power plants that could transport “millions” across the stratosphere. Actually, this does make a lot of sense. Air travel has been essentially unchanged since the 1950s and any improvement over the fossil fuels currently used is long due. As for safety, ships and submarines have been using nuclear… → Read More
Owners of super-light laptops can appreciate the miracle of carbon fiber, a strong but light material being used more and more in high-end notebooks. Airbus is now using the same carbon fiber material in the wings of its new A400M military aircraft. The reduced weight of the wings “cuts the fuel consumption by at least 20%," said Dave Phipps, head of the Airbus carbon fiber research… → Read More
There are only a few things more exciting than being a technology blogger, like jumping out of an airplane at 7,500 feet above the Swiss Alps strapped into rocket-powered jet wings. That’s what Yves Rossy of Switzerland just did. → Read More
Brooklyn defense contractor Atair Aerospace has two of its futuristic (and working) designs on display at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of a superhero exhibit that’ll be running until September 1st of this year. “The Met exhibit includes Atair’s EXO-Wing™, the world’s smallest human-piloted jet airplane. Exoskeletons for increasing human capabilities… → Read More
Here’s the Lynx, from XCOR Aerospace out of California. It’s a cute little two-seater that’s capable of taking off from a standard runway and flying you up almost 40 miles into space so you can truly appreciate how big the oceans are. You’d say to the pilot, “Hey have you heard that Irish drinking song called ‘Big Strong Man’? They claim that the guy is so… → Read More
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic airline will conduct a test flight at the end of the month wherein a Boeing 747 will fly from London to Amsterdam using an 80/20 blend of conventional fuel and biofuel, respectively. The plane will carry no passengers but will be “the first time a commercial aircraft has flown on biofuel,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. → Read More
For many people, myself included, airplane time is quiet time. Time for a nap, time to listen to some music, time to tell whoever’s on the other end of your phone that you have to let them go because you’re getting on the plane. So it comes as a great relief that the FAA has decided against lifting its ban on in-flight cell phone use "for the ‘foreseeable… → Read More
Holy crap this looks cool. WowWee, makers of the popular Robosapien, are preparing to take to the air with the Dragonfly. The Dragonfly is a radio controlled device doesn’t seem to have any AI, but what it lacks in brains, it makes up in flight. That’s right, the Dragonfly is capable of impressive duration flights. It’s able to fly for about 15 minutes on one charge. Sure it… → Read More
Citing financial problems with the program, Boeing announced today that it would be discontinuing its Connexion broadband service. Company chief Jim McNerney said, “Regrettably, the market for this service has not materialized as had been expected. We believe this decision best balances the long-term interests of all parties with a stake in Connexion by Boeing.” Regrettably indeed. → Read More
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