Once we were in the air and received our username and passwords to access the Wi-Fi network on the plane, I quickly tested all the applications I could. Skype: called another Skype user, and called using Skype out to a real phone number. It worked perfectly. AIM/iChat: had two full-screen video conference sessions for 10 minutes or so each. IRC: logged in to irc.freenode.net #joiito. Email, SSH, telnet, web browse SSL (banking), also brought a card that does passive mode and sniffed a bit with KisMac. Streamed video from my home via ORB Networks. Plugged in an Airport Express too :-]

Here’s the video I shot with Tim Vinopal, Director, Service Delivery Engineering from Connexion, Boeing’s Wi-fi service for aircraft. I was on their experimental test plane, an interesting glimpse of the future of communications in-flight. The video is really noisy (we were in the engineering section, sorry about that) but you can hear some/most of it. CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO (QuickTime .MOV). Also, photos here.

Amazing past and present mods: the latest are Battlefield 2 cases. 35 year-old German architect Oliver König aka Butterkneter enters the fray with a series of cases with a Battlefield 2 theme. But before we check them out, let’s look at Oliver’s modding portfolio to date… Link.

The Multifunctional Platform in Mali integrates basic infrastructure elements into a prefabricated, modular package that reduces cost and increases reliability and efficiency while remaining simple and relatively portable. The basic design criteria are that they be: (i) low cost to build and operate; (ii) mature, simple, reliable technology; (iii) all spare parts locally available; (iv) quickly replicated and expanded; and, (v) cost minimization through costs sharing of common components and systems; (vi) simple to operate, maintain and repair by local artisans. Link.

Google Moon is Google’s commemorative site for the anniversary of the first manned Moon landing — an interactive, zoomable map of the moon’s surface with waypoints set for the six Apollo landing sites. Nice Easter-egg if you zoom all the way, too. [via] [via] Link. Also, moon parties!

MacMod.com today announced “The Great MacMod Challenge 2005 Sponsored by dealmac.com,” officially designating August as Mac Mod Month. The Challenge pits Mac users against one another in a battle of creative wits to modify (“mod”) their Apple Macintosh computers by improving performance, appearance, and functionality — for example, painting the exterior, adding bright color LED lights, and overclocking or water-cooling the processor. Link. I’m going to enter a mod for the MAKE team!

I think there’s something interesting here…Tags, not Trees. Take my new tree-structure-free gizmo out for a test drive: What is it? Whatever you want it to be: Navigation-free website. Tags-only blog. Complicated-to-simple database. Active resource picker. Knowledge and learning base. File system. Whatever. An experiment for the heck of it. Basically a different approach to organise data, finding data, and transferring knowledge. An example of no-tree-structure-at-all. Anataxonomy in practice… Link.