Gadget fans dreading the prospect of long Transatlantic flights without the comforting flicker of LCD screens or the in-ear thump of iPods will be pleased by a relaxing of the restrictions brought about by last week’s ‘critical’ terrorist security alert.
From 4.30am this morning, the Department for Transport (DfT) will allow Heathrow passengers to carry one item of cabin baggage on to planes, and this can include your lovely electronic gadgets – on the proviso that it is kept in clear plastic bags.
In a statement, the DfT said the new arrangements will apply to “all passengers starting their journey at a UK airport and to those transferring from international flights at a UK airport”.
The maximum dimensions for cabin baggage have been substantially reduced which may tempt hardcore travellers into investing into an ultra portable laptop rather than risk lumping their precious laptops into unpressurised cargo compartments.
Long distance lotharios who like to splash it all over with Brut 33 before arriving at their destination will be disheartened to learn that the carrying of all liquids remains forbidden.
Here’s a full breakdown of the new rules:
Cabin baggage must not exceed a maximum length of 45cm, width of 35cm and depth of 16cm (17.7″ × 13.7″ × 6.2″ approximately), including wheels, handles and side pockets. This is smaller than the previous limits on hand luggage.
Other bags, such as handbags, may be carried within it.
All items carried by passengers will be X-ray screened.
No liquids of any type are permitted through the airport security search point, with two exceptions: Prescription medicines in liquid form essential for the flight (such as diabetic kit), as long as it is verified as authentic. Baby milk and liquid baby food (the contents of each bottle or jar must be tasted by the accompanying passenger).
Liquids not allowed include gels, pastes, lotions, liquid/solid mixtures and the contents of pressurised containers, for example toothpaste, hair gel, drinks, soups, syrups, perfume, deodorant, shaving foam and aerosols. No cosmetics, toiletries or sharp objects.
To help their progress through search points, passengers are encouraged not to include items capable of containing liquids (e.g. bottles, flasks, tubes, cans, plastic containers etc.) in their cabin baggage.
All laptops and large electrical items (e.g. large hairdryer) must be removed from the bag and placed in a tray so that such items neither obscure nor are obscured by the bag.
Pushchairs and walking aids are permitted but must be x-ray screened. Wheelchairs are permitted but must be thoroughly searched.
Passengers boarding flights to the USA and items they are carrying, including those acquired after the central screening point, will be subjected to secondary search at the gate.
Any liquids discovered will be removed from the passenger.
More info: BAA
HomeChoice have agreed to be taken over ISP Tiscali in exchange for 11.5% of their new owner.
HomeChoice has been settled on around 45,000 subscribers for quite a while now as they’ve been restricted to operating within London and some areas to its north. They just haven’t had the investment available to unbundle anymore exchanges beyond the 145 they have to spread their service. Their original expansion was hampered by the huge cost BT used to charge them for the Visionstream service they needed to run the service.
By buying HomeChoice they’ll start with something they can build on, rather than having to start from scratch, giving them a time advantage. This is made very real by gaining 145 unbundled exchanges within London taking Tiscali to a total of 330 country-wide.
Recent research shows that US consumers are becoming more aware of Portable Media Players (PMPs), devices that can play video as well as music. Over 75% of 1,099 people polled were aware of PMPs.
Sony threw their hat into the PMP ring when they 
Currently listed as the fourth most popular English-language Website on the planet and the sixth most popular in any language, MySpace has become a social networking phenomenon, and looks set to notch up an amazing 100 million accounts in the next few days. As we publish, it’s sitting on 99,677,398 after being on 99.4m yesterday.
To the chagrin of many of its users, Rupert Murdoch whipped out his fat wallet in July 2005 to the tune of $580 million and added MySpace to his News Corporation empire.
Commercial synergy ahoy!
A new survey by service comparison firm USwitch.com claims that Britain’s 10 million broadband users are spending an average of nearly a whole day online every single week.
Internet telephony looks to be continuing its explosive growth, with one in eight people of those surveyed saying that they’d used net telephone calls using technology like VoIP software such as Skype.
The mobile division of TV production company Twofour and Player One Sports are working together to create a weekly short form TV show covering the Australian portion of the Ashes tour for portable devices.
Today, a rather old book from the late 11th century England (1086 to be precise) will be brought online to be searched. The Domesday Book, is the earliest surviving survey and valuation of the King, his senior supporters, the land they owned and their resources.
You might think that there’s a little difficulty in using it, as many of the surnames used by people and names of areas have changed substantially over the last thousand-odd years. Luckily they thought of that one. Simply enter the modern name in the Place Name box, if you’re a boffin with knowledge of ye-olde world, you enter the old name in the Other keywords box.
There’s a couple of theories as to why it’s called the Domesday or Doomsday Book (depending on your preferenece) – Biblical Day of Judgement or when some bloke called Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. Neither of them particularly jolly.
Prestige-hunting iPod owners keen to get one up on their mates need look no further than this rather remarkable iBlueTube valve amplifier, available from Japanese tech company, Thanko.
The iPod docks in the centre of the mains powered unit, with the power being supplied via a disappointimgly dull looking, hefty black external power block.
The 295×130×68mm valve amp pumps out a modest 2 x 12W output, with a frequency range of 20Hz – 30Khz (+0dB -3dB), and a claimed 80dB signal-to-noise ratio.
As many a beard stroking hi-fi hugger will tell you, you’ll only get real hi-fi when you’re using the best source components available, and we certainly wouldn’t put an iPod up there with Linn Sondek turntables and Cyrus CD players.
UK ISP PlusNet has issued an official ‘sorry’ after having lost 700Gb of their subscribers email and not succeeding recovered it.
To put this in perspective, the flow of email for any ISP is considerable with PlusNet getting 1.5 million ’email writes’ a day. They estimate that 700Gb of email takes about 3 days to build up. With this flow of data backing up to tape simply isn’t practical.