• American Airlines and Alaskan Airlines are saying ix-nay to Ype-Skay, but say there's no plan to lock out the nudie sites. The head of Aircell, which is wiring up these planes, cited a likelihood that "decency and good sense and normal behavior" will guide people's surfing decisions.

• Virgin America is considering a Skype ban. Virgin's director of in-flight entertainment cited concerns about passengers "yapping away or playing on a boom box." (Boom box? WTF?) Virgin will give parents the opportunity to control their kids net access, and may limit large downloads.

• Australia's Qantas Airways is testing high-speed net access by Panasonic Avionics Corp., which plans to block sites from "an objectionable list," including sites that feature porn or violence. (Note to grammar nuts: we're pretty sure they mean the sites are objectionable, not the list itself.) They may block Skype calls on the PC, but not on Wi-Fi handsets, which demand less bandwidth. Panasonic says that airlines could block incoming calls—and annoying ringtones.

• Air France is going to wait and see about its OnAir system for cellphone calls, setting up rules only after complaints start coming in. How laissez-faire!

The AP story also raises an important legal question: If you hack a website or engage in some RIAA-hatin' file swapping on a flight between New York and Nova Scotia, which country's laws apply? [AP; source image]

Tim O'Keefe, Australia's Digital Suppliers Industry Forum coordinator, believes that due to the country's/continent's small purchasing power, the energy requirements imposed will not be met by TV manufacturers. Well, here's to hoping that the manufacturers hear the energy-conscious cry of Australia, and produce some more energy-efficient TVs.[ABC via The Raw Feed]

Each tube is four inches in diameter and 0.46 inches thick. The steps are recycled paper and plastic, and the foundations sand-filled wooden boxes. It was built by 24 French and 3 Japanese architecture students over the course of a month, and will be on show for six weeks before being dismantled ahead of the rainy season.

The structure, which connects one of the banks of the Gardon with a sandy islet that sits mid-river, was tested for resistance by rolling balloons filled with one-and-a-half tonnes of water over it. "It is a very interesting contrast, the Roman stone bridge and the paper bridge," said Ban, who made his name making temporary emergency structures for disaster victims. "Paper too can be permanent, can be strong and lasting. We need to get rid of these prejudices." [France24 via Boing Boing]

Unlike the students of Duke University of North Carolina, it seems. Three years ago it handed out iPods to its undergrads in an attempt to enhance the learning process. And have they seen an increase in cheating? No, according to Tim Dodd, exec director of The Center for Academic Integrity at Duke, who claims it is beneath his students to stoop to that level, and that such incidents have dropped over the past decade. So what's the moral of the story? You can trust an undergrad, but not a high schooler, it seems. – Ad Dugdale

Some schools ban iPods to stop cheating [Fox News]

Despite not banning things like eating in the car, fiddling with the dial in the car, or pulling the old "stop short" maneuver, banning texting could actually do something. Both as a deterrent or as a punishment, this may bring down the cases of people texting in cars. Just as long as they don't ban playing with your junk while driving, we're pretty okay with this. – Jason Chen

Legislators Aim At a New Misdeed On the Road: DWT [WSJ via News.com]

Bill Banning iPods in Crosswalks Slated for Albany [WCBS]

Click though for some close up shots.

– Louis Ramirez
Transmit Data Through Human Body [via AVING.net]

Oh ya, the second thing: I'm totally over...this. No more Apple news for at least 12-hours during this ban. If I have to post anymore Mac news, I'll surely vomit into my overheating Macbook's discolored keyboard. That is all.–Brian Lam

All Apple Showtime Posts [Gizmodo]

Movie Downloads, 99% percent chance of iTunes hard-launching full-length feature films.
We win, even if this was a no-brainer.

Video Airport Express: 75% chance.
Kind of.

True Video iPod: 50%
Burned!

iPhone: 25%
Burned!

Macbook Pro with Core 2 Duo: 25% tomorrow, 80% sometime this month
Burned...but September isn't over, yet.

The other Korean carrier, Asiana Airlines, says both laptop brands are still alright on their flights. So keep an eye out if you're flying Korean Air sometime in the next few weeks. – Jason Chen

Korean Air Bans Apple, Dell Computers on Board [The Korea Times via Apple Insider]

Available now for 39.99 ($73). – Jason Chen

Product Page [Ban Beater via Tree Hugger]

The use of laptop computers on airliners may be banned entirely because of a series of incidents involving overheated batteries, including a May 15 incident in which a laptop caught fire in an overhead luggage compartment as a Lufthansa airliner prepared to leave Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Exploding Laptops Worry Air Regulators [The Consumerist]

There are a couple of problems with this. In Cambodia, very few people can afford 3G phones and service to begin with. And secondly, when was porn ever a bad thing? – Travis Hudson

3G phones banned in anti-porn drive [Reuters]

"Even though we made it, SCH -B570 with 8GB HDD is not allowed within the company," said Ki-Tae Lee, Samsung Electronics' Telecommunications Network CEO. During the Wireless Broadband Forum in Seoul, President Lee explained the strict prohibition by saying, "8GB storage capacity is more than enough to steal all confidential data about our company."

Many companies are disallowing MP3 players, cellphones and other personal devices in their buildings for the same reason. It's terribly easy to plug in a device and siphon off all the IP (intellectual property) owned by the company.

We're a little more relaxed here at Giz HQ, though. Even a 60GB iPod wouldn't be enough to suck out all the moldy old pictures of us in a hot tub. – Jason Chen

Samsung Bans its 8GB Phone in the Company, says CEO [Telecoms Korea] Thanks, Randy!

The iTrip was banned because it violated the Wireless Telegraphy Act from 1949. Yes, the greatness of the iTrip is hindered by a 57 year old act. The act forbids the installation or use of radio equipment in the UK unless the Secretary of State granted a license. Granted permission for the iTrip was denied.

While there are still means to get an iTrip into the UK—unlike Iceland and Austria who have stopped shipments at the bonder entirely—there is still that pesky law that could cause problems if one were found to be using the iTrip.

Ofcom has said that they will be reconsidering the ban on the iTrip. Clayton Hirst, Ofcom rep, said that the organization is "working with other European administrations to develop a common set of standards to allow some low-power devices to be sold and used in the UK." But the devices are going to be forced to meet strict technical standard to minimize interference to other radio users.

Like any legal matter, this reconsideration will likely take a while, but that is okay. This is just a baby step to opening up the airwaves for more modern technology.

iTrip Ban Reconsidered [Trusted Reviews]

What's to blame? Poker, of course. Well, poker along with other sorts of attention-distracting activities such as surfing, IM'ing or even—ahem—blogging. Entman said that laptops in the classroom were turning students into stenographers and inhibiting classroom discussion. Her students filed a complaint that was quickly dismissed.

I kind of agree with Entman. With universities across the nation getting wireless access everywhere, these distractions could definitely be a problem in some of the more boring...sorry, gotta jet—my geology professor is yelling at me.

More Professors Ban Laptops in Class [Yahoo! News]