In-flight WiFi approaches

In-flight WiFi will eventually take off for passengers aboard some US airlines, but it won't happen before months of testing and slow roll-outs of the wireless service, says Computerworld.

American Airlines will have one of the largest deployments, with a formal test expected to start "in the coming weeks," a spokeswoman said. The test will be performed on 15 jets and will run for as long as six months. Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Virgin America and Jet Blue also have limited tests or projects under way.

Some airlines have already announced that pricing will be roughly in line with what it might cost to connect to a WiFi network in an airport for a day, about $10 to $12. American Airlines has stated that its wireless service will cost $12.95 for flights that are three hours or longer.

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In Derbyshire, in the UK, a mobile fingerprinting device is being used by police in a bid to keep officers on the frontline for longer, reports This is Derbyshire.

The portable handheld gadgets have been rolled out to ten forces, including Derbyshire, as part of the National Policing Improvement Agency's Lantern Project.

Derbyshire Constabulary has been given eight of the devices, which allow officers to check a person's identity electronically without having to take them to a police station. After a period of training and testing, the force has now deployed them as part of Operation Relentless.

San Francisco, in the US, is utilising wireless technology from Streetline, a provider of city infrastructure technologies, to test a programme that will let motorists use their smartphones to find empty parking spots nearby, writes InformationWeek.

As part of a $95.9 million park programme to ease traffic congestion on the city's busy streets, 4-by-4-inch sensors will be glued to the pavement on 6 000 of the 24 000 metered parking spaces later this year.

These devices, called bumps, are battery operated and embedded with a wireless sensor that can determine in real-time whether the spaces are occupied or vacant. This information is transmitted to city transit offices, and the data can then be sent to Web sites that can be checked on an iPhone 3G, BlackBerry, or any smartphone with mobile Internet access.