Want to stay connected above 10,000 feet but don't want to pay the premium? Here's how to get in-flight Wi-Fi at a discount or even completely free.

Recently, I booked a last minute trip to Northern California for a week. Whenever I travel, I always struggle with what I will want to have on hand while away. I try to travel as light as possible, whenever possible. For this trip, I decided that I was going to start by leaving my laptop behind and only rely on my iPad and iPhone for internet connectivity.

Google is addressing one of the biggest complaints new Gmail users have about the service: it's giving users a way to turn off threaded messages.

To be honest, I’ve never understood the fuss that’s made over some startups’ swanky offices. So when I saw the photos of Yelp’s fancy new offices, I was cynical. All the same, the cube farm image Dawn used in a recent post (by Mark Sebastian) makes me want to scream.

Open sourcers have seized control of the OpenOffice project and product and declared their independence from database giant Oracle.

As I write this, it’s a typical Sunday here at Xmarks. The synchronization service continues operating quietly, the servers chugging along syncing browser data for our 2 million users across their 5 million desktops. The day isn’t over yet, but we’re on track to add just under 3000 new accounts today.

Tomorrow, however, will hardly be anything but typical, for tomorrow one of our engineers will start a script that will email each of our users to notify them that we’ll be ceasing operations in around 90 days.

This post attempts to summarize the Xmarks story: how we got to be the most heavily used browser synchronization service in the world and yet still find ourselves pulling the plug.

Because Everyone Needs a Router

Do you remember when a router used to be an exotic bit of network kit?

Those days are long gone. A router is one of those salt-of-the-earth items now; anyone who pays for an internet connection needs a router, for:

1. NAT and basic hardware firewall protection from internet evildoers
2. A wired network hub to connect local desktop PCs
3. A wireless hub to connect laptops, phones, consoles, etcetera

Let me put it this way: my mom — and my wife's mom — both own routers. If that isn't the definition of mainstream, I don't know what is.

The Asus UL20FT which launched recently is an updated version of the older Asus UL20A 12.1 inch notebook. But while the older model has an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 CPU, the new model has an Intel Core i3-330UM processor. While the two laptops look virtually identical on the outside, the folks at Asus-Event have put the two side by side for a photo shoot and discovered a few minor differences.

What I’ve come to learn is that growth leaders are distinctive not only in their actions, but also in their attributes. These specific attributes are more like personality traits than true management skills, and they ultimately build trust:

It seems that Windows Phone 7 won’t come with tethering support.

I have seen the Toshiba Libretto mentioned on various websites, but did not take much notice of it. It is unique in that it has 2 screens rather than 1 screen and a keyboard, but you have to ask if 2 screens are little more than a novelty? I’m not convinced, but like the innovation anyway. Thanks to Peter.

Another day, another Eee PC in the Seashell line. But wait, this one is different! The 1015PEM boasts one of Intel’s new dual-core N550 Atom processors.

It looks as though Apple's long-neglected MacBook Air may finally be getting an overhaul. According to DigiTimes, an 11.6-inch Air is going to be on sale before the end of the calendar year.

Last week, we attended the Intel Developer’s Forum where Intel unveiled its new CPU line, codenamed Sandy Bridge.

Today’s deal of the day takes a chunk of savings off the price for the big-screen ThinkPad T510 business laptop.

NVIDIA has apparently spent more than a billion dollars developing its low power, HD video-capable Tegra chipset. But aside from the Microsoft Zune, there haven’t really been any big name products with Tegra chips

I saw something interesting on my Twitter stream the other day: “Your blog is the new resume.”

I recently travelled from the UK to the USA for a holiday (or vacation). Prior to leaving, I checked how much data was going to cost on my Palm Pre when abroad. It was an eye-watering £6 ($9) per MB. Yes, per MB. Needless to say, I turned off data roaming as soon as I left the UK.

Every year at LAPTOP, we test hundreds of different notebooks. That’s hundreds of keyboards to type on, touchpads to stroke, buttons to press, and webcams to stare at. After playing with so many systems over the years, I’ve gotten a good sense of what makes a notebook feel like a premium product and what should give a buyer pause.

Walt Mossberg, personal technology journalist for the Wall Street Journal's All Things Digital, posted a column yesterday about using an iPad on a "working vacation" to Paris.

If you were to create the ideal thin-and-light notebook, the recipe would look a lot like what was used to make the ASUS U45Jc-A1. This $899 14-inch laptop has all the right ingredients, including zippy performance, Nvidia graphics, and long battery life. We also like the handsome brushed aluminum design, making the U45Jc a tempting low-cost alternative to the MacBook. However, this design looks better than it feels, raising questions about build quality. Is the U45Jc-A1 a solid choice or does it fall flat?

The European Commission (EC) has slammed the high price of roaming Mobile Broadband data usage within the EU, describing it as both an "exorbitant cost" and "outdated concept". The comments signal the start of a process that the EC hopes will eventually lead to cheaper data / internet roaming within the EU.

Review It's common to take a shiny new notebook out of the box, judge it to be worthy and then find that some aspect – performance, price or feel – rubs off the polish. Rare are machines like the Dell Inspiron M101z that leave you happy with your initial verdict. Well, almost…

Windows only: Freeware utility The Handy Start Menu organizes the applications in your Start Menu into categories automatically, so you don't have to deal with organizing everything yourself.

Microsoft has quietly changed the terms of its TechNet subscription service by reducing the number of product keys made available for download to its users, The Register has learned.

DropBox for iPhone and iPad has just been updated to version 1.3 and you can get it now from the iTunes App Store. Like Apple’s own MobileMe iDisk, it lets you store files online and sync them locally as well.

Networking is essential to freelancers. Through networking, we build relationships with individuals and companies that may eventually become our clients.

USA Today has a trend story about upscale hotels hawking two price tiers for wi-fi, with the lower tier sufficient for e-mail and web browsing, and the higher one suitable for video and other high-bandwidth services.

Google Voice VoIP service has returned to Apple's iTunes App Store in the form of two third party apps, GV Mobile + and GV Connect.

Good news: your business is expanding. Though it initially consisted of three people working from their homes, your company now has 15 employees sharing 5,000 square feet of office space. To keep them connected, you could spend thousands hiring an IT consultant and a construction crew to string Ethernet cables through the ceiling and floorboards, or you could set up a simple wireless network using your own tech savvy and some inexpensive equipment. Better still, your employees will be able to share printers, files, and an Internet connection without being chained to their desks.

Intel’s upcoming Moorestown, Oak Trail, and Tunnel Creek chips will use the company’s new GMA 600 graphics, which should be significantly more powerful than the GMA 500 graphics that came with earlier Atom Z5xx series chips. That’s because GMA 500 has a clock speed of 200MHz, while GMA 600 is clocked at 400MHz.

Recently introduced at the Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas 2010, this new torture-chamber design for an airplane seat is meant to reduce the space used per row by 5 inches, thus cramming more people inside of each flight increasing cabin density. The SkyRider was created to outfit a new economy class of seating. In this arrangement passengers tilt forward into a saddle-like position, so each person only takes up 23 inches, as opposed to the conventional 28 inches. The reasoning: if it’s good for cowboys, Americans will dig it.

Windows Phone 7 will do a lot to help make the Microsoft Life a reality, weaving together many Microsoft services in such a way that one would not really need to look elsewhere to have one’s needs met.

Listen to this concession: “Okay, yes, once you’ve used a two-monitor setup, going back to a single monitor sucks.”