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AirPort: The Only Way To Fly (10/4/00)
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It may sound crazy, but there just isn't much going on in the Mac world right now. The whole community is apparently recuperating in a numb coma following last week's financial hysterics, and the result appears to be a post-Expo-like lull in the action. So, logically, this is the ideal time to whine about air travel. Makes perfect sense, right?
We needn't recount the details of Katie's recent flight from Boston to Seattle, because we can probably sum up the entire frustrating experience in two words: United Airlines. Not that we have anything in particular against that beleaguered company, but most people are aware that it just so happens to lead the industry in such dubious areas as delays and cancelled flights. Now, if you were running an airline and your customers are increasingly disgruntled at having to sit around in the fluorescent lights of airports, scavenging meager and questionable nutrition from snack bar comestibles, and bathing with a series of individually-wrapped moist towelettes, what would you do?
If you said "find out why so many flights and delayed and/or cancelled and fix the problem, thus restoring a happy and well-rested clientele," you are clearly not fit to run an airline. The correct answer, according to United (and CNET, who reported the story), is to provide wireless Internet access for all those borderline-postal airport refugees. After all, if you're unwashed, living on vending machine pretzels, and the last time you slept was the ten minutes you managed to snatch on the connecting flight before the flight attendant clocked you on the elbow with the drink cart, you're probably going to be in the perfect mood to do a little online day-trading. Or at least you can post your manifesto to your home page before you grab a swizzle stick from the bar and try to kill as many people as you can before you're overpowered.
So, while the bad news is that you'll still be stuck on the ground, the good news is that you'll be able to surf while you wait via the magic of AirPort. (The wireless networking technology, we mean, not the big ugly place that sucks souls dry. See, Apple named it that for a reason!) United's partnering with Aerzone, who reportedly uses that good ol' industry standard known as 802.11, so AirPort-equipped PowerBooks and iBooks will be able to use the service just fine. Unfortunately, it seems that United is planning on charging its customers for the privilege of emailing its complaints wirelessly, but hey, nothing's perfect. But if you've ever been stranded at an airport, surely you knew that already.
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SceneLink (2590)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 10/4/00 episode: October 4, 2000: Uncle Steve rallies the troops-- but there's more to the "no layoffs" promises than meets the eye. Meanwhile, United Airlines hopes to reduce the frequency of customer killing sprees by providing AirPort-compatible wireless 'net access at selected airports, and Apple's Pro Keyboard reportedly works better on Windows PCs than on most Macs...
Other scenes from that episode: 2589: All In The Name Of Progress (10/4/00) Everybody knows that Apple has secret underground labs in which legions of scientists are busily trying to reverse-engineer Steve's Reality Distortion Field, right? Well, several highly-placed AtAT sources have risked life, limb, and stock options (not that they're worth all that much right now) to tell us that the project entered a new research phase last week-- and that Apple's earnings warning and the resulting "Black Friday" stock tailspin are merely factors in that experiment... 2591: Keying With The Enemy (10/4/00) Adding insult to injury is never a nice thing to do, even if the injury in question is really small. Did we say "small"? Make that "tiny." Personally, we never understood all the hubbub about how the four new keys on Apple's Pro Keyboard-- Volume Up, Volume Down, Mute, and Media Eject-- don't work on older Macs...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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