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Continental Airlines expands paperless boarding in US
Handset addicts traveling domestically through Houston's Intercontinental Airport have likely utilized the paperless boarding option if hopping on a Continental flight, and apparently the initiative is going over so well that the aforesaid airline and the TSA are expanding it to three more venues. As of now, passengers traveling within the US can enjoy the same luxury at Boston's Logan International Airport and Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C; later this month, the program should slide into Newark International Airport in New Jersey. As expected, only folks traveling alone can take advantage, as the airline feels that pulling up passes for an entire group would actually slow the flow of boarding. There's been no word given on future expansion plans, but at this rate, we wouldn't be shocked to see it hit even more airports in the not-too-distant future. [Via WBZTV]
Apple says AirPort Disk use with Time Machine is unsupported
Okay, the Time Machine / AirPort Extreme situation is now officially ridiculous. TidBITS's Glenn Fleishmann says Apple's confirmed to him that the Extreme is unsupported for use with Time Machine, even though the latest batch of updates enable AirPort Disks to show up in the Time Machine disk-selection box. Fleishmann thinks a it's leftover developer testing glitch, but either way, Apple's will-they-won't-they routine means lots of people now have an unsupported backup solution that works "erratically." Seriously, if you thought AirPort Extreme owners were pissed off about Time Capsule, just wait until backups start failing. Not a lot of options left, Apple -- better get this feature up and running ASAP.
802.11n upgrade to Airport Express makes WDS a whole lot simpler
If I had to pick one feature of the Airport base station that makes me absolutely tear my hair out every time, that feature would be WDS. Getting a wireless network extended across multiple base stations with no wired interconnect is dark magic, and it seems like it never works the same way twice; it's always a mystery blend of MAC address input, switching between encryption modes, hard restarts, matching security settings and swearing. When I had to link up an Airport Extreme with two Airport Express units last week, I resigned myself to a long afternoon of trying to tame the user-hostile.This time, though, it was different -- thanks to the power of N. 802.11n, now supported on both the Extreme and Express models, provides a remarkably easier WDS setup than earlier protocols. Rather than having to set the MAC addresses of the remote base stations and restart in sequence, on an all-n setup you just check the "Allow this network to be extended" on the master, and choose "Extend a wireless network" on the remotes. Easy as can be, and compared to the old way it's a big relief.
AirPort Admin Utility for Graphite and Snow 4.2.5
Along with the Keynote update, today Apple posted an update for the Graphite and Snow AirPort Admin utility. You can read more information about this Admin Utility update on the Apple support website; in a nutshell, it adds Leopard compatibility -- a good thing.If you want to download the update, you can either open Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update) or download the installer package from the Apple support downloads site. Note that he newer AirPort Utility (v5.3.1 or later) should be used for Time Capsule, and for AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express Base Stations. The update here is for the older base stations' admin tool.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Biosensing nanodevice could hasten security checks, health screenings
We'll go ahead and warn you: if you're hoping to purge your mind of all things science this weekend, this post isn't the one to be reading. For the rest of you knowledge seekers, Arizona State University researcher Wayne Frasch has developed a biosensing nanodevice that could possibly revolutionize health screenings and speed up that grueling airport security process. Put simply (well, as simply as possible), he discovered that the enzyme F1– ATPase can be equipped with an optical probe and "manipulated to emit a signal when it detects a single molecule of target DNA." Currently, a prototype of the DNA detector is already being worked up, but there's no word on when (or if) the device will escape the lab and hit the commercial realm. Still not geeked out? Hit the read link and hold on for dear life.[Via Physorg]
TriBand antenna for Time Capsule
Quickertek has produced an antenna for the Time Capsule which, according to them, increases the device's range by 50%. It's compatible with 802.11 A, B, and G, and comes either as a self install kit or an installation service. Or, if you don't have a Time Capsule just yet, you can order one from Quickertek with the antenna pre-installed. It comes with a good amount of cable so you can spend your weekend obsessively placing and replacing it in your home until it's just right. So that will be fun.The 500GB self-install kit is $129.95US, and the service is $200US. Prices are the same for the 1TB version kit and service. If you want to do it all in one fell swoop, you can order a 500GB Time Capsule + pre-installed kit for $500US, or $700US for the 1TB version.[Via Engadget]
Time Machine now works with AirPort Extreme's AirDisk feature
Who knows why it took so long, but the latest AirPort Extreme firmware update (7.3.1, out today) finally brings Time Machine compatibility to AirDisk. In typical Apple fashion, there's no mention of it on the release notes, but the crew over at TUAW says it's working, and commenters are confirming. We're still holding out for Time Machine to work with any NAS we want, but for now, it looks like all you Airport Extreme owners who felt like you were getting played by the release of Time Capsule are finally in the game -- get those USB drives ready for some hot backup nights.
Is your Airport Extreme suddenly Time Machine-happy?
Update 9 pm ET: Our comrade David Chartier from Ars Technica points out that the 7.1.3 firmware itself may not be necessary for the new functionality to work; he says he tested a 7.1 AEBS with a machine running Time Capsule & Airport 1.0, and Time Machine was able to see the remote disk. Other readers have reminded us that the disk must be formatted as HFS+ with journaling, and you may have to mount it in the Finder before Time Machine sees it. The freeware TimeMachineScheduler is disabled by this update, comments note.Update 6:45 am Thursday: More comments point out that if you take a locally-connected Time Machine drive and attach it to an AEBS, you will be starting over with new backups (because the remote backups are stored on sparseimages, not as folders). Something to keep in mind if you already have a long backup history -- you might want to use a different drive.Sometimes the fixes are subtle and quiet. Once TUAW reader Peder downloaded today's Airport updates and ran the utility, he noticed a new version of the Airport Extreme firmware queued up and ready (v7.3.1). When he installed and rebooted his AEBS -- which happened to have a USB hard drive hanging off of it... well, let him tell you: After downloading the latest Airport-update I checked for updates for my AirPort Extreme. After upgrading to version 7.3.1, Time Machine recognised the attached USB-drive.If this is a reproducible result -- this means you, everyone, go ahead and start testing this firmware! -- that means that the now-you-see-it, now-you-don't Time Machine to AirDisk feature of Leopard has finally arrived. Sure, the Time Capsule is a one-piece solution and quite economical, but for all the AEBS owners out there who have been waiting patiently, this would be a very nice bit of March madness indeed. [Response to "just-a-guy" below: Remember, this is the Airport EXTREME only; the Express doesn't support AirDisk at all.]Seeing the same results as Peder? By all means let us know. He was kind enough to send us a few screenshots, see below.%Gallery-18775%
AirPort Flow 1.2
AirPort Flow is a way to see all of your traffic flowing to and from your AirPort base station in graph form. The bit rates are retrieved by using SNMP (which means you must have an AirPort router that supports this and have it enabled). The user interface for AirPort Flow nicely fits in with Mac OS X Leopard; as it was designed for Leopard. The display stays above all other windows so you can keep a check on the bit rate as you are working. AirPort Flow was recently updated to 1.2 which added the ability to check for the number of wireless clients connected. You can download AirPort Flow from the Memention website for the lovely price of free.
Time Machine and Airport Updates 1.0
Apple has released updates for Time Machine and Airport, giving us three update reboots in three days. The update improves Time Machine compatibility with Time Capsule and offers some fixes for AirPort drivers. I don't, at this point, see any indications of the rumored Airport-Extreme-as-Time-Capsule abilities, but I'm assuming that will require an Airport Extreme firmware update.The update is available through Software Update.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
802.11n AirPort Express hands-on
Well, what can we say? The new 802.11n AirPort Express looks exactly like the 802.11g AirPort Express we've been using to stream iTunes and wirelessly print to an el-cheapo USB laser printer since 2004. In fact, if not for the different model numbers (A1264 now, instead of A1084) and the fact that our old unit has some random battle scars, we would have found it almost impossible to tell them apart. Check the gallery for the hot side-by-side action. %Gallery-18601%
802.11n Airport Express is now on sale
Some people may not believe that a leak on the Swiss Apple Store is an indication of actual product coming down the mountain. "The Swiss don't make mistakes like that," they say. Well, fair enough, but we now have the real deal: the Airport Express with 802.11n is on sale in the US Apple Store.Our retail channel sources told us that the AE would be available by 3/23 or sooner, so looks like "sooner" wins. $99, supports up to 10 connected machines, AirTunes and printer sharing: works for me.Thanks Mr. X & everyone who sent this in
Apple posts AirPort Base Station Update 2008-001
Fire up Software Update, kids, Apple has made available Airport Base Station Update 2008-001. This update includes 'general fixes and compatibility updates' for a host of Airport related apps, including: Airport Utility AirPort Disk Utility AirPort Base Station Agent At the moment this update is only available through Software Update, but we'll post a direct link as soon as it is available.Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Potential fix for an annoying MacBook Air wireless issue
As much as I love my MacBook Air, it's had one issue in particular recently that has been pretty annoying: it drops wireless network connections seemingly at random intervals and for no particular reason. Not all wireless connections, though, just some and again, with no discernible pattern of access point or type of connection. For example, it works on my home Airport network flawlessly, but with some public Wi-Fi networks, it has a problem. Case in point: I was at a local coffee shop near my house recently that provides free WiFi. Given that the WiFi was free and only had a WEP password, it should have been a simple matter to connect and enjoy the benefits of free Internet access. After being told the WEP password, I was able to enter it, click "Save this password to the Keychain," sign on to the wireless network and was off and surfing. Unfortunately, my wireless connection was short-lived as after only a few minutes, the connection dropped, leaving me with nothing.Not knowing the exact nature of the problem, I connected again by selecting the network SSID in my list of available networks which show up in the Airport menu on the top right of the screen. When I selected the network, I was again prompted for the password I had just entered a few minutes ago and had, as I remembered distinctly, clicked that I wanted the Keychain to remember.
Reader question: Can you store other files on the Time Capsule?
The new Time Capsule peripheral is an interesting beast: an Airport Extreme with a Frankenstein complex, with an onboard drive for backup storage. What else can you do with that space? According to Apple reps at the booth, the drive appears just as a wireless disk would appear with the original AE base, so you can in fact put other data on there besides the Time Machine backups. Since TM backups tend to grow to consume all available space, partitioning the Time Capsule drive might be a good idea if you can do it in advance. We'll try to get hands-on with the Time Capsule utility later today to verify that you can split it up.As the Time Capsule is otherwise identical to an Airport base, you can hang printers or USB drives off the unit and share those as you would with the older gear.Update: A further conversation at the Apple booth leads me to believe that you will not be able to partition the drive on the Time Capsule. If your purchase decisions are contingent on this capability, please wait until I can get a solid answer from the product manager at Apple on this. You could conceivably 'reserve' space on the TC by creating a disk image to hold your files, but I wouldn't recommend that unless you absolutely have to do it. A couple of contrary reports are saying that you cannot store other files on the TC drive, but everyone I've talked to says that it does mount as a regular wireless disk and you can write to it if needed.Some other concerns: "Can I connect the Time Capsule as an external USB drive, directly to my Mac?" No, that functionality isn't in the Airport Extreme and I wouldn't expect it to be in the TC -- however, with gigabit Ethernet you can transfer data faster than USB anyway. Note that I said AS a USB drive, not TO a USB drive -- the Airport feature of external drives connected to the TC is still there, but the external drives aren't valid backup targets."Can I stream directly from a Time Capsule to my Apple TV?" Probably not; while you can store an iTunes library on a wireless disk, you still need iTunes to mediate between the storage and the Apple TV."If the Time Capsule is the same as an Airport, when will Apple enable Time Machine backups to external USB disks via the Airport?" Could be never. It's been suggested by some (including some of our own) that the combination of the wireless bridge and the USB storage bridge is simply too latency-prone and laggy to provide the needed performance for Time Machine, and that the SATA internal on the Time Capsule is integrated and speedier to allow TM to behave as expected. With no SATA bridge on the Airport Extreme, and no forecast on a fix for the write caching issues, don't count on official support for wireless backups via that hardware."Can I use USB wireless networking devices (Sprint or Verizon EVDO) as broadband connections for Time Capsule?" Nope, not directly connected to the TC -- not a feature of the Airport.
MacBook Air wafts around the rumorscape
Of our predictions about Macworld this year, the subnotebook likely topped the list for most mentioned, and though the name MacBook Air sounded strange to me when I first heard it (come to think of it, it still sounds weird, unless this is actually a product made out of hardened atmosphere), it looks like the evidence is mounting. Over the weekend, the name appeared in an Adium X usage log, and now we've got news that search engine ads and domain name lookups all point to Apple as the owner of macbookair.com (even if the site itself doesn't).So is this the name of Apple's new subnotebook? Of course, we won't know for sure until Steve says it on stage, but while it's not, on the surface, Apple's best naming choice, it could work, in an "Airport" and "Air Tunes" kind of way. It could be worse-- the thing could be called the MacPod. Or the PodBook. Or the PodMac. Or the Lisa.Update: macbookair.com isn't owned by Apple, but by some merry prankster. Let the speculation continue!
Japanese airport clears up the Wi-Fi ban
Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft found a row of these posters in Osaka's Itami Airport. No, they aren't more travel-related ads for the system, but rather explanations of the new rules governing handheld consoles on planes. Wisely realizing that the public would riot and turn the plane over if forced to go a full flight without petting an e-puppy or doing some multiplication, the airport makes clear with this sign that the console has not been banned. The extent of the law is that you should keep the DS turned off during take-off, and refrain from using any wireless connectivity. That's ... not a big deal at all. It is pretty funny that the poster doesn't mention, or seem to apply to, any other handheld game consoles or laptop computers. Maybe those problems just don't come up.
On-demand personal transport system could shuttle folks around Heathrow
Britain's Heathrow airport has already made plans to step its game up once this year with a swank new parking garage, but the latest development most certainly outshines the prior. Reportedly, a network of 18 four-seater pods will be unveiled within two years after Terminal 5 opens next March in order to shuttle passengers "to and from a business car park to the new terminal building." Hailed as the UK's "first personal rapid transport system (PRT)," this energy-efficient, battery powered system will enable the driverless pods to be summoned on demand by individual families and taken to a variety of nearby locations. Creators claim that users will be thrilled by having their own taxi of sorts without having to ride alongside strangers, but not surprisingly, each pod will indeed support CCTV surveillance. Hey, it's Big Brother or John Doe -- pick your poison.
Continental Airlines testing cellphone boarding passes
Paperless boarding schemes aren't exactly revolutionary, but they're still far from common at US airports. Now, however, Continental Airlines has announced that it will be trialing a cellphone-based boarding setup at Houston's Intercontinental Airport, which will enable single passengers to show personnel a jumbled mixture of blocks alongside their ID in order to hop on board. The three-month program will allow guinea pigs to receive a paper pass should their mobile / PDA run out of juice before boarding time approaches, and while hard plans for future use aren't laid out, it was noted that the process could spread to other airlines and airports if things go smoothly.
MagShoe, the "portable footwear weapons detection system"
Thanks to that freaky would-be shoe bomber dude, we're all now forced to endure the embarrassment of exposing foot odor and sock holes to our fellow passengers every time we take a flight -- but thanks to a company named IDO Security and its MagShoe metal detector, this long national nightmare at airport security lines may soon be at an end. The high-speed portable device allows folks to simply stand in its dual foot bays -- shoes on -- for just a few seconds before the all clear is given, and has already been tested successfully overseas. Military Tech goes on to report that a US deployment is almost a done deal, according to the company, with the TSA currently evaluating the MagShoe for domestic use. Now, will someone please come up with a way for us to bring a bottle of water on the plane?
