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Confirmed: Airtime video chatting works in the air... on Gogo in-flight internet!
"Whoa! Whoa! Are you on a spaceship? Seriously, are you on a spaceship?!" Those words came flowing -- enthusiastically, I might add -- from an anonymous Airtimer just today, on the launch of Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning's Airtime project. "I'm actually on an airplane," I replied. "Where are you headed?," he responded. "LA!," as I tried to keep the conversation going. I failed to get to the part about continuing on to San Francisco, but it mattered not -- I just confirmed that Airtime does indeed work in airplanes. On a packed-to-capacity flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles, the onboard Gogo connection held up decently enough to have a relatively meaningful conversation (and eventually, for me to post this very article). The video feeds were a bit bumpy -- not completely unlike the ride itself -- but audio was fairly crisp. We shot the breeze for a minute or so before waving goodbye, two complete strangers brought together for the sake of discovering what's possible. I never engaged in any late-night Chatroulette sessions, so the first-time Airtime experience was quite the surreal one -- particularly given that I was somewhere high over the New Mexican mountains. If I had to guess, I'd say it's just a matter of time before Airtime is funneled into that same black hole as Skype, making it impossible to complete a call whilst onboard; but for now, the tunnels are wide open. The friendly skies never felt so friendly.
Oracle sues Lodsys to squash its patents, deals in ironic reversals of fortune
Lodsys has been facing an increasing backlash ever since it began suing left and right to scrape money from developers over patents, including countering lawsuits from some heavy hitters. Its stiffest opposition might have just lined up in the form of Oracle, however. The database behemoth is hoping to render four of Lodsys' patents invalid and prevent it from threatening further lawsuits against companies that use Oracle's technology, such as current target Walgreens. The lawsuits are focused more on web chats than on the in-app purchasing that has put more than a few mobile app developers in jeopardy, although it might help EA or Rovio at ease knowing Lodsys might be defanged. Oracle certainly isn't mincing any words in its accusations: it out-and-out accuses Lodsys of being a patent troll that profits from technology it didn't invent and will never use. Strong rhetoric against patent lawsuits won't guarantee Oracle a victory in court, but it certainly creates a minor degree of irony for a company that unsuccessfully sued Google over patents inherited through an acquisition.
Apple tech support chat live
Jan wrote about this the other day, but it looks like Apple has made tech support via chat live for the whole Mac community. Simply sign in with your Apple ID, and you are presented with a list of products Apple knows you have (you do register your Apple products, right?), a list of possible issues, and a box into which you have to provide the serial number of said product.After filling out the form you are whisked away to a chat with an Apple representative. Neat.Thanks, hongkongtechkid. Update: It looks like, at the moment, they are only supporting iMacs and iPods. Since I have an iMac and an iPod (both registered with Apple) I was under the mistaken impression that the website had magically populated the list for me. Nope, those are just the two products they are supporting via chat for the moment.
