virgin

The future of in-flight entertainment in an iPad age

During the past decade, airlines have been keeping passengers' eyes focused on the seat backs in front of them, filling in-flight entertainment systems up with satellite TV, real-time maps, and movies on demand. But does the proliferation of devices like the iPad mean people will stop paying attention?

It's a particularly compelling question for Virgin America, which runs an in-flight entertainment system called Red that's inarguably the fanciest out of any U.S. airline. Virgin is still on its way to profitability--it recently posted a first-quarter loss of $35.5 million, narrower than last year's--and while trying … Read more

A few minutes in the sky with Richard Branson

Virgin Group CEO and entrepreneurial icon Richard Branson promised "one hell of a party" for the kickoff flight for air carrier Virgin America's first international route from San Francisco to Toronto on Tuesday, and if the trays of mimosas and acai-cranberry cocktails that kept getting toted past his first-class seat were any indication, his promise would not be broken.

Branson, a British national who was knighted in 1999, has become one of Silicon Valley's icons of late for his enterprises in green energy and the fledgling Virgin Galactic space company, and Virgin America is headquartered in … Read more

Green tech, jobs hailed in Virgin America expansion

SAN FRANCISCO--So a British billionaire, a Hollywood action hero, and an unusually good-looking city politician walk into an airport terminal.

That would be Virgin Group CEO Sir Richard Branson, California governor (and erstwhile Terminator) Arnold Schwarzenegger, and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, who were all on hand at San Francisco International Airport on Tuesday morning to kick off Virgin America's inaugural flight from San Francisco to Toronto. It's the three-year-old Burlingame, Calif.-based airline's first international route.

"To get Virgin America established, we had many battles," Branson said in the press conference, sounding more like … Read more

The 411: Prepaid phones

Welcome to The 411, my new Q&A column answering all your questions about cell phones and cell phone accessories. I receive plenty of questions about these subjects via e-mail, so I figured many of you might have the same questions, too. At times, I might solicit answers from readers if I'm stumped. Send your questions and comments to me at nicole.lee@cnet.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know in the e-mail.

I am looking for a pay as you go plan with a phone that will last. Can you recommend one? My intent is to keep the cost down to below $20/month with basic texting and calling/receiving calls. -- Sudeep, via e-mail

Since you're looking for a phone that will last, I would recommend a rugged handset that's military-certified to take a beating. Luckily, Boost Mobile offers a number of those. One of the more recent ones is the Motorola Clutch i465, which is rather compact and sports a QWERTY keyboard. It does cost around $80, but remember that's without a contract. As for the monthly plan, Boost Mobile doesn't offer flat rates quite that cheap, but Boost's Pay As You Go option costs 10 cents per text message, and 10 cents per voice minute. If you don't use the phone a lot, you can easily make it under $20 a month.

I live in the Bay Area and I'm planning on buying a prepaid phone but don't know which one has the best features and phones for me. I'm looking for a plan that will let me text, call, use the Web for a CHEAP price, and I'm looking for a good music phone, with a music player and FM RADIO, what is the best plan for me? I send around maybe 130 txts a month, talk around 100 minutes a month, and browse the Web A LOT. What/which plan, phone, and prepaid carrier would be the best option for me? -- ST, via e-mail

I tried looking for a phone that satisfies all your requirements and it was quite difficult.… Read more

First Take: LG Rumor Touch (Virgin Mobile)

Now that Sprint owns Virgin Mobile, it's no surprise that a few of Sprint's phones will make it to the prepaid carrier's lineup. The LG Rumor Touch is one such device, and while the hardware remains the same, the Rumor Touch is now available for $149.99 without a contract for Virgin Mobile customers who like going the prepaid route.

As a reminder, the Rumor Touch has a nice 3.0-inch touch-screen display, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and a unique interface that puts text-and-multimedia-messaging center stage. Other features include a 3.5mm headset jack, a 2.0-megapixel … Read more

Virgin's Branson does battle with carbon

Virgin chief Richard Branson has seen the enemy and it is carbon.

Branson is touting the Carbon War Room, a group of entrepreneurs, public sector officials, and industry leaders as a way to "remove gigatons of carbon out of industry." Branson, speaking at the SAP Sapphire conference, a coordinated Orlando-Frankfurt powwow with customers, Branson said:

Basically the enemy is carbon. There was no war room to coordinate to fight carbon.

When asked where information technology fits into this war on carbon, Branson noted that the industry plays a big role. Information technology companies and industry leaders need to … Read more

A to-do list for open-source robots

I didn't show too much enthusiasm for Microsoft's new Spindex project in Wednesday's episode of Loaded. But truth be told, I am cautiously optimistic about it.

Spindex is a social-networking aggregator designed to pull in your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, whatever accounts in one place. Big deal, right? It's when you mix in the ability to add RSS feeds that I get excited. Throw in the ability to bookmark like Evernote, which is a product that I love, and search with Bing, which I really like a lot, and my interest is sufficiently peaked.

I spend a … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 1190: Steve Jobs vs. Predator (podcast)

Announcing our very first not-even-remotely sanctioned by the legal department video creation contest: make us an awesome video in which Steve Jobs and the Predator work out who has prior art on swipe-to-unlock. We will reward the awesomest video with a Buzz Out Loud ceramic travel mug. Oh, and Google turns off its filters in China ... briefly.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1190

Google turns off filter in China http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-approach-to-china-update.html http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-23/google-said-to-have-made-no-progress-in-two-month-china-dispute.html http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/interview-sergey-brin-on-googles-china-gambit/… Read more

Social network's CEO documents flight nightmare live

Flying is increasingly becoming pleasant only for proctologists.

However, one CEO, David Martin, perhaps now considers himself fortunate to have been on Saturday's flying Alcatraz that was the Virgin America flight from LA to New York.

This flight seems to have consisted of a diversion away from JFK due to high winds. It then involved a landing at Stewart International Airport, which does not seem to be an international airport owned by Rod Stewart but some little outpost 90 miles northwest of New York.

Passengers were then kept on the plane for somewhere between four and a half and … Read more

CNET TV Apple Byte: When Steve says no Flash, the world listens

In this edition of CNET TV's Apple Byte, Brian Tong discusses Apple's recent lawsuit against mobile handset maker HTC for patent violations, Virgin America loses Flash in favor of a more universal, iPhone-friendly website, and the iPad gets an official release date.

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