"Whoa! Whoa! Are you on a spaceship? Seriously, are you on a spaceship?!"
Those words came flowing -- enthusiastically, I might add -- from an anonymous Airtimer just today, on the launch of Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning's Airtime project. "I'm actually on an airplane," I replied. "Where are you headed?," he responded. "LA!," as I tried to keep the conversation going. I failed to get to the part about continuing on to San Francisco, but it mattered not -- I just confirmed that Airtime does indeed work in airplanes. On a packed-to-capacity flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles, the onboard Gogo connection held up decently enough to have a relatively meaningful conversation (and eventually, for me to post this very article). The video feeds were a bit bumpy -- not completely unlike the ride itself -- but audio was fairly crisp. We shot the breeze for a minute or so before waving goodbye, two complete strangers brought together for the sake of discovering what's possible.
I never engaged in any late-night Chatroulette sessions, so the first-time Airtime experience was quite the surreal one -- particularly given that I was somewhere high over the New Mexican mountains. If I had to guess, I'd say it's just a matter of time before Airtime is funneled into that same black hole as Skype, making it impossible to complete a call whilst onboard; but for now, the tunnels are wide open. The friendly skies never felt so friendly.
Confirmed: Airtime video chatting works in the air... on Gogo in-flight internet! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | |
Email this |
Comments
Most easyJet flights are short enough that you can usually stave off boredom with a book and an expensive beer, but in-flight entertainment could soon be part and parcel of your airfare. Instead of retrofitting planes with seatback screens, easyJet i...
Once Facebook and Twitter had live streaming under lock, Meerkat said it was done with it. As promised, the company has now pirouetted to the next trend -- group video chat. According to Recode, it has quietly launched Houseparty, a relatively simple...
When the ex-Napster duo Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning first launched Airtime in 2012, it was a one-on-one Chatroulette-style video app with some social functions. Suffice to say, that didn't work out too well, and the app was in limbo for several yea...
