Continental Finally Installs First 777 With Flat-Bed BusinessFirst

The first flight operated from Hong Kong to Newark and marks the first upgraded plane of the Continental fleet that will install the new flat bed seats on all 777, 757-200, 767-400ER/200ER and 787 when Boeing finally delivers them.

You can track the upgrade progress in Continental’s web site which currently shows the 5% complete of 777 fleet (1 out of 20…). It looks like ship #13 got the seats, so you can always check the flight status page and see if it’s your next flight. Can’t wait to see if my flight to TLV next week is on that plane and I get upgraded

Still Looking for an HTPC

I’ve been looking for a while for a good HTPC (Home Theatre PC) solution. I still didn’t buy anything because I couldn’t find something that will give easy access to the available online content and replace the cable box that is connected to my HDTV (and for cable bill as well…). Two interesting announcements this week show that more vendors are trying to provide a solution for this and take the lead over Apple that still doesn’t deliver with Apple TV.

The first announcement came from Boxee. They finally confirmed the rumors that a “Boxee Box” is coming soon. They plan to reveal more information on December 7th during their Boxee Beta unveiling in Brooklyn. This looks very promising and since it’s an open source project it could lead to a good solution if the hardware will support everything that is needed (HDMI, easy remote control etc).

The second announcement came from Dell, when they revealed the Inspiron Zino HD which basically looks like a black Mac Mini but unlike the Mac, it comes with HDMI port, and can be upgraded to Blu-Ray, 1TB HDD, 8GB RAM and more. Price starts at $229 and this could be a great customized HTPC that will provide good functionality by simply using Windows Media Center along the Hulu plug-in, XBMC or the Hulu Desktop.

Sleep Box by Arch Group

Imagine a situation where you get stuck in the airport or have a long layover and are desperate for some rest and personal space. Most airports have nearby hotels and some offer full service hotels right inside the terminal. The Japanese even have the crazy '”capsule hotels” that remind me of something worse. The Russian company, Arch Group has a better solution and they call it the Sleep Box. It is your personal space that could be in an airport, train station etc. and is a small mobile space of 2 meters by 1.4 meter and 2.3 meter high.

Here are some pictures:

The Sleep Box would be equipped with automatic system of change of bed linen, ventilation system, sound alerts, LCD TV, WiFi, sockets for laptops, charging phones and space for luggage. Pretty cool! Check their web site for more info and pictures.

Good bye SkyTeam, Hello Star Alliance

Continental officially left SkyTeam on October 24th and a couple of days before that I received my official Platinum Elite OnePass card with the Star Alliance logo and a new Presidents Club card with the Star Alliance logo as well. Both valid until February 2010.

Since the end of the year is approaching the question that comes to mind is of course if I should stick with Continental and its new partners or try to get a status match on Delta and stick with SkyTeam. Here’s a short comparison of both:

US Partners	Delta / Northwest	Continental, United, US Airways
Total Airlines	13	25
Number of Lounges	415	954

It is pretty clear that these numbers and all the additional ones you can get from both web sites point to the fact that Star Alliance is a stronger airline alliance. The other thing that I like about it is that now I have access to reward booking on Singapore Airlines for that “All Business Class” flight from New York or Los Angeles on their A345. So I guess I’ll stick with Continental at least for this year, especially since I’ll make Platinum again against all odds after all…