I have flown a lot (IE: 100K+ miles/year) at various points in my career, and I'm disappointed by the commentary here about flight attendants. Think for a moment about their job - every day they are interacting with hundreds of people, assessing which ones might be a problem and trying to deal with each personality type with a smile, all while balancing (often in high heels) your drink at 30,000 feet in a vehicle traveling hundreds of miles per hour AND to add insult to injury, doing so on little sleep and for very little pay. Give 'em a break, eh?

Separate from that, even as a frequent flyer, I'd rather people not have their attention stuck in their iDevice during takeoff and landing. Those are the times when a problem on the aircraft is most likely to materialize, and I'd rather not lose my ass in an accident because your attention was on Angry Birds. Further, in those minutes at the beginning of a flight if you are fooling around with your phone/kindle/etc and blocking the isle, you delay expedient loading and unloading of the aircraft. I've had colleagues busy on their [device] say things like "but, but I was just wrapping up a call, why was the flight attendant so rude!" No asshole, you were blocking the plane from loading / unloading. Think of others for a whopping ten minutes and put down the device so we can all safely load / unload and get on/off the ground.

I just want to be able to read my kindle on takeoff and landing. I hope this goes into effect soon. The device uses the exact same power sitting in my lap with the case closed as it does while I'm reading it.

I wish one of these articles would quote some actual regulations. As far as I understand, the CFRs (FARs) have been more advisory than regulatory in these details, generally leaving it up to the airlines to decide their policies on personal electronics, then approving those policies. The 10k foot rule that Techcrunch refers to was never in the FARs, as far as I've read, rather it is/was an FCC regulation. Seriously, I'd like to see the actual regulations that have changed, if anyone can find them.

There is nothing about flight that "defy physics", in fact it is physics as to how airplanes fly

Link to the FAA.gov page: http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId...

I was thinking about this the other day with all the smartwatch news. I can picture attendants telling passengers to shut off their watches.

Part of me likes this.

Another part of me hates this.

I usually don't really do much during takeoff and landing. The thrill of an aircraft's takeoff and landing may wear for some, but it pretty much never does for me. I just stare out the window (if I'm lucky) observing the spoilerons deploy and close, and those flaps deploy and retract. I love hearing that slight loss of engine power for climb after takeoff to prevent overspeed.

Cruise is pretty boring, but when I'm somewhere over Nevada or any picturesque area, I put my S7 to sleep and just watch the beautiful scenery.

The pragmatist in me is saying, "Yay, now I and everyone else can work round-flight!"

The Transcendentalist in me is saying, "How I wish others could see the beauty of a mass of metal rising to the heavens, and all that we can see below from above..."

This is fantastic news for people who fly a lot.

I know that a "2-hour flight" for me _could_ mean a really good sprint on something, if it weren't for the interruptions that tell me when to put my computer away and ask me if I want peanuts.

Please, let this be one area where Europe promptly copies the US!...

A number of years ago I wrote a bunch of Verilog code and ran simulations during a flight from LA to NY. The code, save a few minor issues, worked perfectly when tested on hardware. What's remarcable about this is that I wrote the code with pen and paper and ran the simulations similarly by hand on graph paper. No computer involved.

After a couple of similar experiences I've resorted to using flights as an excuse to unplug for a few hours. A set of good noise cancelling headphones and a notebook can give you an opportunity to explore and think in ways that might be nearly impossible at the office.

Can anyone tell me what city is shown in the main picture?

Fortunately, FAA regulations also seem to require the flight attendants to sit in their seats during takeoff and landing.

Once the flight attendants are done "policing" the isles and get in their seats, I just take out my Kindle and start reading again.

So far, I haven't caused any aircraft crashes... and my fellow travelers have never called me out on it: apparently they also think the rules are stupid.