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New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

cnn.com

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Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#341

> The designers are considering adding facial recognition technology to the design. Um, what > In fitting with the trend towards more personalized, data-driven flying experiences, New Territory is keen to add facial recognition technology to the mix too. > The idea is that as the seat wing recognizes that you've fallen asleep, it'll automatically turn off the movie playing on your IFE. This could be the worst idea ev…

> This could be the worst idea ever. Have cameras pointed at every flyer for the duration of the flight, for the incredibly minor benefit of stopping your movie This seems to be uniform across all surveillance technology. The purported convenience is so laughably minor that it's almost a parody. Like Alexa - people are willing to have a Big Brother-esque speaker inside their homes for the convenience of playing some…

Most people already carry a Big Brother-esque device with a camera and microphone in their pockets everywhere they go.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#342
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

However, a smartphone is more transparent, relatively, over what it does. Not so much with Alexa.

A smartphone is more transparent than a device explicitly designed and advertised to record audio in entire rooms? Or did you mean the smartphones signal more system status? In my experience a lot of people have privacy concerns over the speakers, and underestimate the smartphone.

I meant that security provisions for smartphones are way better than for Alexa type devices.

People do underestimate the smartphone, but I feel the problem with smart speakers is even more pronounced. I mean, voice is the primary interface for a smart speaker.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#343
post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This could be the worst idea ever. Have cameras pointed at every flyer for the duration of the flight, for the incredibly minor benefit of stopping your movie This seems to be uniform across all surveillance technology. The purported convenience is so laughably minor that it's almost a parody. Like Alexa - people are willing to have a Big Brother-esque speaker inside their homes for the convenience of playing some…

To be fair, everybody who has Alexa already has a phone constantly with them everywhere. So it's just one extra microphone, not something completely different.

Two wrongs don't make a right, and I make sure to disable all voice commands from my smartphone (which is admittedly useless if my device is compromised because I'd need a hardware killswitch, but it's a start). On the other hand those assistants' whole purpose is to work with voice controls, they're useless without them.

It's not completely different but it's far from completely the same in my opinion.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#344
post #304
post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be shocked if there aren't already cameras covering every square inch of modern airplane cabins Now that you mention it, I don’t recall ever seeing a camera on an airplane before. I see them on busses and trains, airports and stations. But not in aircraft cabins. If they’re there, they must be better hidden than in other places.

IIRC some dude found a camera right next to the screen before him. Apparently those cams are pretty well known—just search for ‘plane seat camera’. E.g. cams being tested, from eleven years ago: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/06/more_on_airpl...

I believe they're included as standard in the infotainment systems on modern aircraft. It's up to the airline if they decide to use it or not.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the asocial behavior documented in the blog typical of Finland?

The blog is called "depressing Finland" which is kind of a Finland meme. It's certainly played up on the Internet but it's got a kernel of truth. I have a couple of very good friends in Finland and I've visited the country and it's a lovely land filled with lovely people. But it's true they can be aloof to other people at first. My Finnish friend joked that Finnish people don't care about others until you get drunk w…

Thanks for the explanation! I am always curious to learn about other cultures. TBF I am an introvert myself but it was interesting to see the behavior extended to the mainstream.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#347

Interesting but they should try them with oversized passengers as well. I’m guessing that it will increase the level of discomfort for passengers that are wider than the typical narrow seat even more.

If you're too big then you just don't fold them forward and it remains a regular seat. I don't see the loss.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#348

> The designers are considering adding facial recognition technology to the design. Um, what > In fitting with the trend towards more personalized, data-driven flying experiences, New Territory is keen to add facial recognition technology to the mix too. > The idea is that as the seat wing recognizes that you've fallen asleep, it'll automatically turn off the movie playing on your IFE. This could be the worst idea ev…

What would be far more helpful is to just turn off screens that the person hasn't interacted with. I've been on too many late night flights where the screens for empty seats, or for people who are staring at their iPad have made it really hard to sleep(eye masks are uncomfortable for me). I've even seen people actively trying to sleep with the full brightness screen right in front of them because it's not obvious at all how to turn them off(usually you have to find the brightness menu and press the down button a dozen times).

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This could be the worst idea ever. Have cameras pointed at every flyer for the duration of the flight, for the incredibly minor benefit of stopping your movie This seems to be uniform across all surveillance technology. The purported convenience is so laughably minor that it's almost a parody. Like Alexa - people are willing to have a Big Brother-esque speaker inside their homes for the convenience of playing some…

Most people already carry a Big Brother-esque device with a camera and microphone in their pockets everywhere they go.

You can completely disable Siri or whatever your device's equivalent is. The entire purpose of Alexa is to be listening all the time. They're not equivalent.

Re: New airplane seat design to make it easier to sleep in economy

#350

> The designers are considering adding facial recognition technology to the design. Um, what > In fitting with the trend towards more personalized, data-driven flying experiences, New Territory is keen to add facial recognition technology to the mix too. > The idea is that as the seat wing recognizes that you've fallen asleep, it'll automatically turn off the movie playing on your IFE. This could be the worst idea ev…

There are already cameras in some seatback systems although airlines have denied using them.

https://www.flyertalk.com/articles/seatback-cameras-designed...

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