The Airbus A380 Chronicles on Singapore Airlines
Part 2: The P.C. Suite
Sept 25th, 2008 - Benefits and Usability Challenges
The good news is, with the P.C. suite introduction to air travel, the days of worrying about battery life depletion on your laptop may soon be over. In fact, if you’re on business class you even get a one-up, but I am hoping to cover business class features (from a third-person point of view) in two weeks, as a friend who flies business class as often as two-to-four times a month has promised me some pictures. While we wait for content from the business class traveler, let me just tell you about my ECONOMY class experience. 
Back to the P.C. Suite. I did not have the luxury of a USB keyboard (they don’t sell them on board either), so I have had to use the keypad exclusively to use the word processor and other office tools. Using the keypad feels a lot like using a handheld or mobile phone. I do not think it is practical if your intention is to write a 10-page report, and using the controls on the keypad for mouse-navigating is quite challenging. The controls are stiff and not particularly agile, so I got a bit confused and slightly annoyed with it. Moreover (since I was merely trying the system out and had no media on my USB drive), I am not sure how the importing of images and other media into StarOffice works. I only had enough patience to key in alphabets on the word processor on this trip, but I imagine if I did it a few more times I’d eventually figure out how to use StarOffice properly.
Anyhow, that also means that in order to use it (if you aren’t already a StarOffice user) and half a Playstation geek, you’re going to have a bit of a learning curve ahead of you. I speak as a technically-savvy user, so if you’re not a geek it might prove to be challenging.
LOADING TIME
Loading time for the P.C. suite was boringly slow. I think it took anywhere from 5-8 minutes for the suite to load, not that it makes much of a difference when you have 13 excrutiating hours to kill. However, it is still significant if it causes boredom when the whole point of InFlight entertainment is to counter boredom! Minus points for their RAM.
BENEFITS
PDF READER
Even in view of these drawbacks, the P.C. suite’s other applications like PDF reader, picture viewer, and video player can still be handy for the traveler. If you have a 300-page report to read, you can do so without printing on paper that could add weight to your hand luggage and also be very bad for the environment. If everyone read more files digitally, we can chop down less trees.
PICTURE VIEWER & VIDEO PLAYER
This feature is great if you want to look at pictures from your vacation, cute little chuckling shots of your baby (aww how your mini-me looks like you) and other pictorial and video files, be it personal or business-related.
SCENARIOS
With that in mind, I am betting that before long you’ll have people scrolling through content that are unsafe for children, and when a controversy gets the attention of watchdogs a most interesting case on censorship laws in the airspace will likely crop up in time. Singapore laws against pornography are tight but will they regulate what people are viewing on their airplanes while flying above Sudan?
Sept 6th, 2008 - Somewhere above the Middle East en route to Singapore
If you are not already aware that there is such a monstrosity of a passenger aircraft that can carry 800 passengers (471 on Singapore Airlines’ configuration) say hello to the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft sensation that boasts a smoother, quieter, greener and more comfortable way to travel. In March of 2008 Singapore Airlines (SIA) became the first to offer commercial flights to passengers on its Singapore - London - Singapore route. This aircraft’s engineering marvel and my desire to fly on business class are not within the scope of today’s effort, but I will endeavor to give you a proper experiential account over several posts over the course of the week.
Part 1: The P.C. Suite
Very few things excite me in a good way about long haul flights. Besides watching movies, listening to radio music, playing some space shuttle shooting game, DVT-combative calisthenics, and being woken up for food in between napping and drooling, just what are you going to do in mid-air for 13 hours?
Ladies and Gentleman, you would be delighted to know that I am beginning this entry entirely on the aircraft’s entertainment and activity console. My laptop is safely and quietly stowed on the overhead compartment as I play with and review the wonders and short comings of this feature of personal computing on the new Airbus A380 aircraft.
Using the word processor feature to begin a draft of this post
WHAT THE PC SUITE OFFERS
The new PC suite is powered by Sun, and it offers all passengers the ability to do word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, read PDF documents, view your photos, videos, and manage your files. It runs the StarOffice 8 system, which is part of the OpenOffice project. (Yes, MS Office can access these documents with no problems.)
SO JUST HOW DO YOU USE THIS?
In order to use the PC suite, you must have a USB stick jacked in to the socket like what is shown below or the P.C. suite will not work. P.S.: You can buy a thumbdrive on board!
USB drive jacked in to the socket
Right now, a full-size qwerty keyboard is not built into the system. A small qwerty keypad is the main word processing input interface.
The keypad
However, if you think this is a painfully slow way to do any kind of serious work there is an option to plug in a USB keyboard through the sockets shown below. Currently you can’t rent or buy it on board so you’ll have to bring your own.
USB Sockets
Stay tuned for Part 2, when I shall discuss in detail about the usability, benefits, and shortcomings about this new office in the sky!
Personalized Publishing: Tastebook
Now here is an example of what smart publishing looks like. Tastebook was born out of a simple idea; anybody should be able personalize and create their own cookbook containing their favorite recipes.
Currently, with over 50,000 recipes to choose from partnered websites that include Epicurious.com (Gourmet and Bon Appétit databases), The Food Network, AllRecipes.com, My Recipes, Cooking Right, Southern Living, Coastal Living to name some, it is the perfect mashup cookbook that allows you to pick only your favorite dishes. You can now add Emeril Lagasse’s famous pork chops, a Nobu recipe from Bon Appétit, and also your own recipes if you use AllRecipes.com.
The guys at Tastebook really did their homework as is reflected on the quality of planning on their website. Their creation tool allows you to create your cookbook and view your creation virtually like the one featured on the left. So simple the use of Flash Actionscripting on their page-turning effect and so sophisticated a finish. When you’re done with the assembly and decide it is time to publish, you get a hard cover cookbook with beautiful color recipes that go into a binder which gives you the flexibility of adding recipes, just in case you missed one or want to add a few more in there!
I am so impressed with them that I could go on and on about how awesome I think Tastebook is, but you must watch their demo and experience it for yourself. I really think these guys are heading in the right direction as long as they maintain their momentum, watch their bank and add more services. This opens up so many possibilities for the millions of housewives, chef wannabes, and people who love and want to share personalized cookbooks as gifts. If you’re a foodie who cooks and love your food too you’re totally going to love this. Enjoy!
Triathlete Magazine Goes Digital
About a week ago, I was listening in to on a conversation in Singapore about the high cost of print published content that will ultimately be out of date sooner than you are able to refer back to it. Question is, why are we still printing on paper?!
Reaffirming my position on the last posting, here’s more indication that news, articles and literature that are susceptible to expiration simply do not make sense to be on print. It is insanity to proliferate the more chopping of trees for information that expires as soon as your eyes leave the trail of words behind.
Although light years away from how I see magazines should be, I’d like to commend Triathlete Magazine for going digital earlier this year. They deserve a medal for promoting “green” business practices if anything. Gone are the days of sourcing for the popular U.S. sports magazine in Asia at exorbitant prices and questionable availability. Gone are the days of settling for Triathlon 220 as a substitute in the U.K. Now you can get your issue anywhere, anytime, anyplace as long as you have a net connection. People who want to get in on the triathlon scene in places like the Caribbean can now do so without information being withheld from them due to analog challenges.
Smart move guys. Virtually microscopic distribution cost, bigger revenue margins and you’ve now extended your market globally. I can only hope Runner’s World, Conde Nast Traveller, and Yachting magazines will head this direction.
Critics may want to quickly discredit the digitization of a print magazine because it is still working with a print format. Delivering news in this manner do not offer the kind of interactivity that a news portal provide, but this is the first step toward changing the way we receive our monthly magazine. Discussing the overall future of publication and a profitable and working business model is outside the scope of this post, although it is something I wish to revisit when time permits.
Moreover, media giants will not revamp their business models overnight because they are still collecting revenue from their usual channels (however futile), so changes will likely be introduced gradually and the phasing out of print will happen over time. It is the change in attitude about the digital medium as a viable delivery channel in traditional publication companies that I am happy to highlight, because this shift in consciousness will make it that bit better for the millions of people who want access to that information for the pursuit of their happiness.
I believe other publications will soon follow suit, so keep your ears and eyes open!
Who?
JACKIE MIAO
Digital Consultant/ Project Manager
Location: Everywhere-
