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If you’re planning a trip to Australia or Asia in the near future you may want to consider flying Qantas Air, as the company has announced a new program in which it will offer iPads as an in-flight amenity. The devices will be available on both the company’s domestic and international Jetstar flights.
 “We’re in the final stages of putting in place what would be a broader roll out across the network,” a Jetstar spokesman said. “We’re in ongoing discussion with the manufacturer around a more integrated network proposition.”
No pricing details were announced, but you can rest assured that such a luxury likely won’t come free. It’s also unclear if the devices will be tailored toward business or pleasure, and we can’t help but wonder if the devices will be loaded with business software, games, books, movies or some combination.
Regardless of what comes on the in-flight iPad it’s almost assuredly better than listening to the limited radio stations in your chair armrest, watching terrible movies on tiny screens or reading the SkyMall catalog over and over and wondering who on earth needs a water purification system for their dog. We’ll gladly take an iPad over all those things, especially if the rental cost includes WiFi so we can surf the Web while cruising at 30,000 feet.
All in all this seems like a pretty nice deal for Qantas, and a definite perk for travelers to keep in mind as they book their travel arrangements. The company had better enjoy it while it lasts though, because this seems like too brilliant an idea to remain exclusive for long – expect competitors to follow suit very shortly.
[via MarketWatch]
 If you ask me, tossing your iPhone around like it’s a Hot Potato just sounds like a bad idea. That is of course, unless you’re sporting a heavy duty case. For those of you who don’t have Iron Man equivalent armor for your Apple product, Famingo has provided the solution.
Through WiFi, up to 9 devices can toss a virtual potato around without putting any real risk to the device itself. With the flick of a finger, the potato is sent to another persons device, and the person left with the potato is out of the game. Points accrue that can be used to challenge members within your “network” of friends.
The whole concept behind Hot Potato is simple, quick, fun multi-player games. Matches don’t require much work to start up, especially if everyone has already set up their individual accounts, and the matches are quick and high intensity. Bonus points are gained by quick flicks and sending it to different targets each time.
Score tracking and game history are both available through famingogames.com, making this a fun, safe, competitive match of Hot Potato. The major set back comes from having to get a group of friends who all have an iPod, iPhone, or iPad. I don’t have that luxury with my group of friends, but for those of you who do, Hot Potato stands to offer quick high intensity fun.
As iPhone owners may know, it’s far from a perfect device, and its US carrier is far from perfect either. Heading out to one of the biggest celebrations of geek culture, the infamous San Diego Comic-Con, for the first time, I realized how much these issues will come to light when you’re out and about with thousands of your closest fellow geeks, nerds, otaku, et cetera. I came back with 4 important things to remember the next time I or any other iPhone owner heads out to a big trip with their iPhone in tow.
1. Phones will die. Prepare accordingly.
 The iPhone is not a paragon of extensive battery life. Thankfully, the various extended life battery packs that are available can be a lifesaver for the iPhone owner. If you’re heading out to Comic-Con, picking up a couple is a very good idea, as otherwise your phone will die. Some columnists would make it a point to say “you’re hanging out with real people, enjoy their presence,” but we all know sometimes you need to check your tweets, or text someone to figure out what’s going on. Having an actual working phone is better than not having one, and a backup battery will go a long way towards preventing that from happening.
Now, you’ll want to make sure that your backup battery actually works. I had 2 batteries to help charge my iPhone, a 1900 mAh battery, and an 800 mAh battery that was small enough to carry around as a key fob. I hadn’t charged my larger capacity backup battery in months, and a few days before I left, I decided to charge it up, only to discover that I hadn’t used it in so long that it wouldn’t hold a charge. Well, no matter, I still had my 800 mAh backup battery, which charges via mini USB, and I had a mini USB wall charger that I brought along with my camera. But the fool in me failed to make sure said wall charger would work with my backup battery. I sure regretted this when I discovered it wouldn’t charge, and I had no mini USB cable with me as well, somehow. I was at the mercy of my 2 year old iPhone 3G’s stock battery. It suffered at times, to say the least.
Of course, even if you can keep your phone alive, other people’s phones won’t be so lucky. Set up times and places to meet so that if you do lose contact with them, you won’t be lost and wandering a strange city looking for people out amongst thousands and thousands of geeks.
Continue reading An iPhone Owner’s Travel Lessons Learned From Comic-Con »
EA have released updates for three of their largest games that give them local multiplayer capabilities.
Madden 10, Tiger Woods, and Command and Conquer have gotten updates in the recent days that give them local multiplayer capabilities and EA have done it right.
For example, when playing Tiger Woods, you will actually be watching your opponent live as they play. You see them swing and the travel of their ball live you your screen just as they do on their screen. Tiger Woods supports both Bluetooth and Wifi local multiplayer and all courses are available to play.
For Madden, you each choose your teams and battle it out over a game, each picking their plays and playing in real time. Madden only supports Bluetooth multiplayer.
And for Command and Conquer, each command factions on the game map at the same time. Clashing as each team seeks to expand their territory. C&C works with both Wifi and Bluetooth for local multiplayer.
While we’d love to see large scale global multiplayer in these games, this is a first step and a great step for big fans of these games.
FREE!  + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2009-09-09 :: Category: Games :: Sports FREE! + Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2009-04-30 :: Category: $0.99 iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-11-02 :: Category: Games
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“We’re in the final stages of putting in place what would be a broader roll out across the network,” a Jetstar spokesman said. “We’re in ongoing discussion with the manufacturer around a more integrated network proposition.” 
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