Mobile Computing: Watch DVDs in Flight
James A. MartinCheap DVD rentals, player options, turn your seat tray into a megaplex.
To paraphrase Steven Spielberg, there is simply no saving Meg Ryan. The videotape of her most recent film, Kate & Leopold, is flickering so badly on the airplane monitors that the blonde, cutie-pie movie star is giving everyone on my cross-country flight a migraine. At last, a flight attendant puts Meg out of her misery, apologizes to the passengers for the poor quality of the tape, and begins issuing refunds.
While most everyone else is disappointed by the in-flight entertainment interruptus, I contemplate an enormously challenging quandary: Should I pass the time watching Woody Allen's latest movie? The classic comedy Some Like it Hot? An episode from the first season of The Simpsons? I decide to try all three, as I have 5 hours to kill, a DVD-equipped notebook, plenty of battery juice, and a handful of discs.
Watching the videos you want to see can make a long flight pass quickly. Here are some tips to getting the most out of DVD entertainment on your next business trip.
Rent discs from Netflix. With charges of $3 or more per day, it's expensive to rent discs from video stores to take on a trip. That's one reason why I joined Netflix, a Web-based DVD rental service. For $19.95 a month, you can have up to three DVDs checked out as long as you want, with no late fees. The discs are mailed to you; when finished, just return them in prepaid envelopes and Netflix automatically sends you the next three titles on your wish list. Netflix offers other monthly service plans, too--the Lite membership, for instance, lets you have two discs out for $13.95 a month. You can cancel a membership at any time. And with more than 11,000 titles, Netflix offers plenty of variety. One complaint: The site can be skimpy on movie details, such as cast listings.
Pick up a last-minute disc at the airport. If you've dashed out of the house without discs, you're in luck if there's an InMotion Pictures kiosk nearby. InMotion Pictures is a DVD rental service currently operating in 16 U.S. airports. You can pick up a disc or portable DVD player at one airport and return them to the same airport, or to another. If your trip ends at an airport without an InMotion Pictures kiosk, you can return discs and players using prepaid UPS packaging. InMotion Pictures rents portable DVD players with 5-inch screens for $12 a day and 7-inch screens for $15 per day; rates include one free movie rental, high-quality headphones, a fully charged battery, and a canvas tote bag to carry it all. If you want to rent multiple movies for your flight, you'll pay $4 per disc.
Recently, I rented a player and discs from the InMotion Pictures kiosk at the Atlanta airport and returned them from my San Francisco home via UPS. The process was convenient, easy, and reasonably priced. But if you're hungry for selection, look elsewhere: InMotion Pictures currently stocks only about 180 titles, mostly recent releases, and many of the titles I wanted were checked out.
Watch DVDs on your notebook. Admittedly, portable DVD players from Panasonic, Toshiba, Sony and others are sleek, compelling, and versatile--you can hook them up to home entertainment centers or hotel TVs, too. But they're expensive, ranging from about $500 to $1500, and they're yet another piece of equipment to carry. Most importantly, their screens are small (usually 5 to 7 inches, or 9 inches in newer high-end models), compared to the 12.1-inch to 15-inch displays most notebooks offer.
Portable DVD players do have their place. If you don't travel with a notebook as a rule, you're a movie buff who is particular about the movies you watch, and you have some extra cash, a portable DVD player may be just the ticket. Though many airlines offer in-seat video terminals with multiple movie channels, particularly in business and first class and on international flights, you're at the mercy of their programming--hence the need for your own DVD player. If you're so inclined, take a look at Panasonic's DVD-LA95 PalmTheater, a feature-rich player with a 9-inch screen.
Your discs won't play in an airline's player. Instead of in-seat video terminals, some airlines provide passengers with portable DVD players on selected flights. On its Boeing 767 planes, for instance, American Airlines offers Panasonic DVD players with 7-inch screens to first- and business-class passengers on international flights and to first-class passengers on domestic routes, according to Todd Burke, an American Airlines spokesperson. American stocks 20 DVD titles for each player as well--and that's important, because you won't be able to watch your own discs on an airline's DVD player.
The reason? Hollywood devised a regional coding system for DVDs and players, making discs sold in one region (such as North America) incompatible with players sold in another (such as Asia). The idea is to minimize international video piracy. DVD titles and players offered by the airlines conform to Regional 8 coding, Burke says, while DVD titles and players in North America conform to the incompatible Regional 1 coding.
Invest in high-quality headphones. Airplanes are noisy beasts, and a $10 pair of headphones isn't going to protect you from that constant whirring noise. Instead, consider a pair of noise-canceling headphones. They're not cheap--the Bose QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Canceling headset sells for $299--but based on my experience, you'll enjoy the ride a lot more (particularly if there is a wailing infant or a chatterbox seated nearby).
Notebooks
Tip: One-Stop Shop for Notebook Bags
Shopping for a notebook bag is a drag, because many stores offer only a half dozen (or less) models. But you can get a much broader overview of what's available in computer cases at EBags.com, a site devoted to, you guessed it, bags. After searching by computer bag type (such as wheeled or backpack) or by maker, you can either buy the bag you want online or, even better, go to the bag maker's Web site to find a retailer near you--that way, you can get a look at the bag you're interested in.
Review: Sony's Petite VAIO
The new Sony VAIO PCG-SRX77 notebook earns kudos from Contributing Editor Carla Thornton for its weight (just 2.7 pounds without AC adapter and external CD-ROM), compact size (it slips easily into a handbag or small briefcase), features (it comes equipped for wireless and wired networking), and long battery life (4 hours and 43 minutes from one charge). But beware its dim, small, 10.4-inch screen; tiny keyboard; and lack of legacy connections such as a parallel port and a mouse/keyboard PS/2 port. For the latest prices, go to PC World's Product Finder.
News: Two New Subnotebooks From Toshiba
Not to be outdone by Sony, Toshiba has expanded its Libretto subnotebook line with two new models. Both are based on an 800-MHz TM5800 Crusoe processor from Transmeta and have 10-inch wide-screen TFT-LCDs that support up to 1280-by-600-pixel resolution, 256MB of memory, a 20GB hard drive, an ethernet port, and a slot for Toshiba's Secure Digital memory card. The main difference is that the L5/080 TNKW features an internal wireless local-area network adapter and runs Windows XP Professional, while the L5/080 TNKN lacks the wireless adapter and runs Windows XP Home Edition.
The new Libretto models are available in Japan only; Toshiba has not yet announced plans to sell them in the U.S.
Handhelds
News: An Ultra-Portable Notebook/Desktop/Handheld PC
A start-up company, Oqo, has announced a handheld wireless device that can serve as a notebook or desktop PC. Oqo's PC measures just 4.9 by 2.9 by 0.9 inches and weighs less than 9 ounces, yet is a full-fledged PC running Windows XP Professional. The device runs on a 1-GHz Crusoe TM5800 processor, features a 4-inch VGA color LCD touch screen, and includes 256MB of RAM, a 10GB hard drive, IEEE 1394 and USB connections, and WiFi and Bluetooth wireless networking. The device becomes a notebook PC when slipped into a Oqo case or a desktop PC when placed in a cradle. The Oqo PC should be available in the second half of 2002 and is expected to sell for about $1000.
Read "IBM Deals Up a Card-Size Computer" to learn about a similar product that IBM demonstrated.
News: Toshiba's Consumer Pocket PC
The new Toshiba Pocket PC E310 is the company's first Pocket PC 2002-based handheld for consumers. The device contains a 206-MHz Intel StrongArm processor, a Secure Digital expansion slot, and has a $441 street price. Toshiba's other Pocket PC 2002 device, the Pocket PC E570, is aimed at the enterprise market. Read more about the consumer model in "Toshiba Unveils Its Latest Pocket PC."
Tip: Drag and Drop to Reschedule
To quickly reschedule an appointment on your Palm OS device, click the Calendar button twice until you're in the week view. Click once with the stylus on the appointment, then just drag and drop it to another time or day.
Wireless
News: AT&T Introduces Mobile Web Service
AT&T Wireless has introduced its mMode consumer Web service in a dozen U.S. markets. The service provides high-speed data transfers of up to 144 kilobits per second to and from wireless handsets and includes instant messaging, sports scores, news stories, and more. Currently, AT&T Wireless offers three compatible phones: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications' T68 and Nokia's 8390 (both $199.99) and Motorola's P73821 Timeport ($79.99). Basic service is $2.99 a month, with additional charges of 2 cents per kilobyte of data uploaded or downloaded.