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Convicted hacker to serve 20 years
Hacker and former government informant Albert Gonzalez, who was convicted of stealing credit card numbers and other information, was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison.

Air France
At airfrance.com, regardless of how their booking was made, customers can now access their reservation details, modify their personal data, change their itinerary and consult useful information for their trip. In the "Your reservations" section on the website's homepage, customers can log on easily and access all useful information, services and options enabling them to organize their trip as they wish. This section is divided into four separate categories: "Your trip" to access, finalize or change a reservation; "On board" for information on in-flight products and services on their chosen flight; "At destination" for information on their destination; and "Practical information" to make their trip easier with the Air France guide to airports, all there is to know about transporting baggage, online check-in and more.

Airbus
As airlines increasingly adopt slim seats for their economy-class cabins, the drive to pull weight out of in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems is also picking up, a top Airbus official says.

Apple
Kleiner Perkins, which has invested $100 million in iPhone application development, says it is putting another $100 million into its iFund. Kleiner's John Doerr said holding the iPad "feels like you're touching the future."

Apple
Can the iPad's reality match the buzz?. Estimates that Apple will sell 5 million iPads before the close of the year hinge on a number of factors, most importantly whether mainstream consumers -- not only early adopters -- buy in. "The reality for the iPad is going to be determined by what apps are made for it. ... A lot of people are still on the fence [as to] whether this is a legitimate market," said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

Apple
Apple reportedly sells out of iPads for launch date. Apple, which is said to have pre-sold hundreds of thousands of iPads, has apparently sold out of tablets for April 3 delivery, and will reportedly ship newly placed online orders by April 12.

Google
Google reported that access to its Google.com.hk search site was temporarily disrupted Tuesday for Chinese users, and it blamed the outage on a government firewall. Service was restored later in the day, but this article notes that Google's accusations could cause its relationship with China to deteriorate further. 

Google
Google: Mobile service may be blocked in China. Google has posted on its status page that its Mobile service in China is now partly blocked, although it is unclear whether the Chinese government is behind the disruption given that the mobile service has been known to fluctuate.

Google
A "broadband ghetto" would mean a competitive disadvantage for U.S.. Google's initiative for a super-fast fiber network underscores the reality that much of the U.S. is still relying on slower broadband piped through copper, according to this blog post. That disparity -- which could leave broadband in some areas a hundredfold slower than in others -- is not addressed by the national broadband plan, Stacey Higginbotham writes. "It's the key reason the U.S. isn't competitive with other countries when it comes to the rapid deployment of next-generation networking technology," she writes.

NCR, Grupo TACA
NCR Corp. announced that Grupo TACA is deploying a self-serve enterprise software solution that "enables passengers to manage a broad range of check-in services, beyond simple check-in, through the Web or at a kiosk," including changing seats or adding frequent-flier information. The capability is available at San Salvador's Cuscatlan International.

Royal Jordanian
Royal Jordanian launches online check-in today. Service is available 24 hr. prior to departure for passengers leaving Amman for all international destinations except those in the US. The remainder of the network will be added "at a later stage," RJ said.

Ryanair
Ryanair is to embrace social media for the first time by taking tentative and controlled steps, on its own website. The airline is to develop an online travel community looking to engage with travelers beyond simply providing a booking service. Reported plans will see Ryanair developing its destination section allowing users to post comments recommending local attractions.

Ryanair
Irish budget carrier Ryanair is to look for an alternative on-board mobile phone provider after OnAir opted to terminate its contract with the airline.

Ryanair, SITA OnAir
SITA said disagreement on timing for a fleet roll-out, among other issues, led SITA OnAir to terminate its agreement to provide on-board to-fit mobile phone service across budget carrier Ryanair's fleet.

Ryanair, SITA OnAir
OnAir has terminated its April 2008 agreement with Ryanair. After operating the OnAir service on 50 of its aircraft for about a year, Ryanair wanted to expand deployment to its entire fleet. However the two companies did not reach a mutual agreement on the process and timing leading to the full deployment. Neither company can comment further on the terms of the agreement. OnAir currently operates with six airlines and has a portfolio of 23 signed agreements with national carriers worldwide. The company will also be launching its services with six more airlines during the course of this year. OnAir will be announcing very shortly new agreements with other carriers for both short range and long range aircraft as well as strategic partnerships with major mobile phone operators to enter new markets."

Sabre
Sabre Holdings has purchased Iceland-based Calidris ehf, a revenue integrity and business intelligence solutions company. Sabre said this acquisition will result in a breakthrough revenue integrity solution, flexible enough to help airlines make more money, and move beyond traditional processes of just preventing revenue loss.

Sony
Sony works toward "zero environmental footprint" by 2015. Sony has announced an ambitious "Road to Zero" campaign that will involve such eco-friendly initiatives as climate change, conservation of resources, controlling chemical substances and biodiversity. The goal of the campaign, the company said, is "zero environmental footprint" by 2015.

Spectralux, Icelandair
Spectralux Corp. announced that Icelandair chose its Dlink+ ACARS system for its 757 fleet.

Travelport, Copa Airlines
Travelport, a leading global distribution system (GDS) providers, operating both the Galileo and Worldspan platforms, reached a new global full-content agreement with Copa Airlines, a subsidiary of Copa Holdings, S.A. The multi-year agreement secures access to the airline's full range of published fares and inventory for all Travelport-connected travel agents, corporate customers and online agencies worldwide booking through Galileo and Worldspan, effective immediately.

TripAdvisor
More families plan to travel this year, study finds. Family travel is expected to pick up this year -- domestically and internationally -- according to a study from TripAdvisor. The survey found as many as 92% of travelers with children plan to take at least one family vacation this year, up from 88% who did so last year. And a third of families plan to take domestic and international trips, up 5% from last year.

US Airways
US Airways announced the launch of Aircell's Gogo inflight Internet on five A321s and plans to offer the service onboard all 51 A321s by June 1. A Wi-Fi symbol on the outside of the aircraft will alert passengers that Gogo is available, US said, and beginning in late June passengers will be able to check service availability when booking travel on the carrier's website. The airline will offer passengers who create a user profile one free inflight session March 29-June 1 and will offer the service free June 1-8. It then will be priced as follows: For flights in the continental US up to 90 min., all passengers will pay USD4.95; for flights of 90 min. to 3 hr., computer uses will pay USD9.95 and PDA users USD7.95; for flights longer than 3 hr., computer users will pay USD12.95 and PDA users USD7.95. For destinations beyond the contiguous 48 states computer users will pay USD9.95 and PDA users will continue to pay USD7.95. The service is not available beyond 100 mi. from the US mainland.

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