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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Jetstar Airways, a Qantas owned Australian low-cost airline, has announced plans to trial Apple iPads as an in-flight entertainment option. This trial would make Jetstar one of the first airlines in the world to offer the iPad.

Starting later this month, Jetstar plans to begin a two-week trial, during which passengers will have the option to rent iPads for $10AU on domestic flights longer than an hour. Thirty iPads would be available on each test plane. These devices would be preloaded with games, e-books, music and video content. Internet access however will be disabled as per Jetstar’s policy on internet connected devices, said spokeswoman Andrea Wait.

The iPads offered by Jetstar, will be specially customized by Bluebox Avionics. Bluebox Avionics, at present, is the only company to offer iPads as part of an in-flight entertainment system. Jetstar will be the first to offer the Bluebox Avionics iPad based systems, though, Bluebox Avionics has said the system will be available to other airlines soon.

Shortly following the initial release of the iPad, Jetstar chief information officer Stephen Tame speculated that the iPad “may lead in the future the end of airline in-flight entertainment systems”. Depending on the results of the trial, iPads may replace existing Jetstar in-flight entertainment systems.

Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan said he expected the iPads to be very popular during the trial. If the trial is successful, the airline would “be looking to roll out the devices across our entire domestic and international network later in the year”, said Buchanan.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Wikinews held an exclusive interview with American author and filmmaker Peter John Ross. The head of Sonnyboo Productions, an independent film studio based in Columbus, Ohio, he has made numerous short films as well as co-directed a feature, the World War II B-movie Horrors of War.

He has also written a book on filmmaking, Tales from the Front Line of Indie Filmmaking. He says that it “combines helpful articles for beginning filmmakers with narrative tales based on my experiences raising money for features and the crazy personalities that invade the world of microbudget filmmaking.”

When asked why he makes movies, Ross replied, “There is no greater thrill than sitting in a room full of strangers watching the stories unfold with flickering pictures and sound. I live for the moments when I can sit there and watch the movies with people I don’t know and really feel how they react to what I wrote or directed or edited.”

Friday, March 30, 2007

At Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, students are finding that popular MP3 players, such as Apple’s iPod, are very convenient devices for listening to music at the gym, while traveling on foot, and in the car.

In a recent ad-hoc survey conducted by Wikinews contributor Darren Mar, 150 students were randomly pulled aside in the hallways of the university, and asked if they own an MP3 player. 94 of the 150 students (62.66%) did in fact own MP3 devices, most of who were found to be carrying it on them when questioned. There was one simple follow up question for those who had a player: “If it were possible to have complete and safe control of the device on the steering wheel of a car, would you rather listen to your device, or the radio?” There were three answers possible, yes, no or both. Of the 94, 78 (82.98%) said yes, eleven (11.70%) said no, and five (5.32%) said both. The reporting took place primarily on March 16, 2007. The reasons for those who would listen to their device were commercial free music, personalized choice of music, and complete control of what you are listening to.

This study was motivated by the new design of 2006+ model cars. Many are being built with auxiliary jacks for the stock radio, allowing the driver to easily connect any audio playing device to the car’s sound system with a simple 3.5mm plug. What’s more, cars in the upper price echelon are being built with (1) a custom made area in the dash for MP3 players (iPod’s being the most popular), and (2) implementing audio device control right onto the steering wheel. A good example of this is the Ford Fusion or the 2007 Lexus IS250: “The centre console input port allows an iPod, MP3 or Windows Media Audio player to be plugged into the IS audio system.”

Friday, March 27, 2009

Michael Misick, the Premier of the United Kingdom overseas territory the Turks and Caicos Islands, resigned Monday from his post in the West Indies territory. He is accused of corruption. Oliver Galmo Williams, a member of Misick’s Progressive National Party, has been sworn in to replace him as Premier.

Misick had previously announced plans to resign on March 31 but says he wants to allow his successor more time to form a government, even though the UK intends to suspend most of the constitution. A retired British judge is leading a Commission of Inquiry, with an interim report pointing to a “high probability of systemic corruption.” Misick also called the suspension of the constitution “tantamount to being re-colonised”.

“I still think I have the majority of support in the public and in the country but suddenly the majority of elected members, who represent voters at this time, wanted me to step aside, therefore I think I have done the honourable thing. At this time the country needs a unified government. I did not want to hold on to leadership at all costs,” he told the Caicos Free Press.

British Governor Gordon Wetherell is expected to be given power by the UK. Misick, a judge who trained in Britain, is accused of selling state lands to property developers for his own profit.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

At least fifteen people have been killed as the result of a landslide which occurred in Indonesia on Tuesday. According to BBC News Online, at least sixteen were killed. It is thought that up to seventy people were killed as a result of the landslide, which occurred in a village near to the city of Bandung.

At one point, villagers attempted to dig out surviving victims from the rocks and mud by using their bare hands, as rescue efforts were suspended temporarily due to heavy rain, before recommencing after lifting equipment arrived. At least sixteen dead bodies have been recovered by Wednesday. Roughly five hundred people are contributing to the search and rescue.

Priyadi Kardono, spokesperson for the Disaster Management Agency, stated: “We’ve found fifteen bodies so far and estimate that there are up to 70 people still missing.” He also commented that fifteen other people had been injured, of which two have been hospitalised.

Friday, March 9, 2007File:Angela Merkel SJ8.jpg

European Union leaders on the second day of their summit have agreed on measures to decrease emission of greenhouse gases and to start using more biological fuels. The governments of the 27 countries in Brussels endorsed 3 main binding targets:

• to reduce greenhouse gas emission levels by the year 2020 by 20% compared to the level of 1990
• renewable energy should make up 20% of energy consumption by 2020
• a 10% share for biofuels in the total consumption of fuels in E.U. transport.

This way, the E.U. wants to contribute in reaching the strategic goal of limiting the global average temperature increase to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels. The individual targets for countries will need to be established based on national starting points and potentials, according to the plan. The plans don’t mention an enforcement mechanism yet.

In the summit’s conclusions, the E.U. underlines its ambitions as a leading force in international climate protection. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the targets “ambitious and credible”.

Europe is prepared to even increase the objectives if other developed countries follow suit, and it invites other countries to come forward with their plans for the environment beyond 2012, when the Kyoto protocol ends. In June, Merkel plans to discuss the measures with the other members on the Group of Eight summit.

The proposal takes into account the sovereignty of individual countries to determine exactly which energy sources they use. More specifically, each member state should decide if they wish to use nuclear power or not. Some countries oppose the use of nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels, and Germany is even in the process of dismantling its nuclear energy production. France on the other hand produces 70% of its electricity in nuclear power plants. [13% of France’s total energy consumption is nuclear.] The report also stresses the importance of nuclear safety in the discussion over nuclear energy.

The summit also asked the European Commission to come up with proposals to reduce energy consumption in lighting and offices by 2008 and 2009. The idea is to replace conventional light bulbs with more energy-efficient alternatives such as the energy saving light bulb.

Another energy-related topic in the conclusions is an agreement on increased security of energy supply. Through member state solidarity and a more interconnected and integrated market, eastern European countries hope to secure their energy supplies in case Russia would cut the supply.

During their two-days summit, the E.U. also discussed economic growth, employment, better regulations and international relations issues.

Monday, December 28, 2009File:4wiki nykaenen matti.JPG

Police in Finland have arrested Matti Nykänen, a four-time Olympic gold medallist ski jumper, on suspicion of attempted murder. He spent the weekend in custody following an incident on Christmas Day in which his wife was injured.

Nykänen, 46, is alleged to have left his wife with wounds to her hands and forehead in a knife attack, causing her to flee to a neighbour’s house where she called the police. The Agence France-Presse reported that the Helsingin Sanomat expects Nykänen, from Jyväskylä, to be charged tomorrow.

Nykänen, who won three of his gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary and has nineteen medals from various competitions, is best known for sport although recently he has taken up singing, performing in bars and nightclubs, and written an autobiography. A regular sight in the tabloid press, he has sought treatment as an alcoholic and is known to the police, previously serving time in prison for violent offences.

His convictions include assaulting his fourth wife in 2006, and he served four months despite requesting community service; a stab attack from behind with a five-inch blade on a friend landed him a two-year suspended sentence and put the man in hospital. He also served thirteen months for stabbing a friend while drinking and has been prosecuted for attacking a man with a knife in a restaurant, a case dropped through lack of evidence.

He was regularly drunk in training sessions and in public. A weekly Finnish gossip magazine paid for a series of laughing gas treatments in exchange for story rights in a bid to combat his alcoholism. He has worked as PR representative for Jyväskylä and gave relationship advice answering phones for a sex line. He has also been employed by a club known to hire out prostitutes which asked him to be a stripper; media reported he did private shows, an allegation he denies. Swedish and US porn producers offered him roles in their films.