American Airlines, 1961

Looking out of a cabin window at the Starboard engines of an in-flight American Airlines Lockheed L-188A Electra in August 1961.

The L-188 Electra was an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. It was the first turboprop airliner produced in the United States. It made its maiden flight in 1957, and when originally delivered had performance only slightly inferior to that of a turbojet airliner while at a lower operating cost.

The design of the Electra was started by Lockheed in 1954, and the following year the company received a launch order from American Airlines. The prototype first flew on December 6, 1957. The aircraft is a low-wing monoplane with retractable tricycle landing gear, powered by four Allison 501D turboprops. Standard accommodation was for 66 to 88 passengers, with an optional high-density layout for 98 passengers. The initial production version was the L-188A. Later a longer-range L-188C was produced. A total of 170 aircraft were built, with production stopped earlier than planned due to the lack of confidence in the design after two fatal crashes. The aircraft were modified following the accidents but by then customers were interested in operating turbojets. Most of the aircraft currently in service are operated as freighters. In 1957 the United States Navy issued a requirement for an advanced patrol aircraft. Lockheed proposed a development of the Electra which was later placed into production as the P-3 Orion.

American Airlines Ramps Up Activation With NFL Teams

signed a three-year deal with the New England Patriots making the carrier the official airline and an official sponsor of the NFL team. The deal also encompasses the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer and Gillette Stadium, where both teams play their home games. Financial terms were not revealed.

American Airlines said it would activate the alliance through the teams' media properties, including TV and radio programming, out-of-home advertising and in-stadium signage, as well as online assets including Patriots.com and RevolutionSoccer.net. American Airlines marketing is expected to support the Patriots game in London at Wembley Stadium against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 25 as part of the NFL's International Series.

In addition, American Airlines will fly many of the players who comprise the Patriots' 50th Anniversary Team for a ceremony in their honor at the Patriots' regular season opener against the Buffalo Bills at Gillette Stadium on Sept. 14.

The deal comes on the heels of a sponsorship alliance signed in July between American Airlines and the NFL's St. Louis Rams that includes an American Airlines patch on practice jerseys and other activation. The airline also has a deal as the official airline of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys that runs through 2019, and among other sports-related deals has naming rights at American Airlines Center in Dallas and American Airlines Arena in Miami.

This week, American Airlines also signed a deal with NYC & Company, the marketing, tourism and partnership organization for the City of New York, supported by marketing offering specially discounted airfares between New York and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and Miami for flights between Sept. 15 and Dec. 12, 2009 (some dates embargoed around Thanksgiving).

American Airlines will use its relationship with the Revolution to augment its MLS partnership, which the carrier said "has yielded strong results in the U.S. Hispanic market." "We have focused more closely on developing affinity marketing opportunities with major sports and entertainment entities because they offer a great fit with our customers and our network, and both the Patriots and the Revolution can deliver that for American," Charlie Schewe, American's managing director, passenger sales - Northeast Region, said in a statement. "We are also very excited to see the Patriots play this year in London, a city that American serves from Boston Logan Airport with three daily nonstop flights."

Phone as airline boarding pass coming to American Airlines

The US airline industry, with airlines still using decades-old planes and FAA air-control computers running less processing power than the smartphone that’s being used to write this post, isn’t exactly quick to adopt new technologies. But, they’re slowly starting to catch on.

In their search to attract more customers and streamline operations, American Airlines has announced that they’re shunning paper-based boarding passes and e-tickets in favor of using electronic boarding passes. The cellphone-as-boarding-pass program is now available to American Airlines travelers departing from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

American is offering eco-travelers looking to save a few trees and techie-flyers alike the option to use their mobile phone as an electronic boarding pass. Upon checking-in via AA.com (which now has a mobile version), American will email electronic boarding passes to customers with email-capable cellphones. These e-boarding passes contain barcodes that can be scanned by TSA security personnel and American Airlines gate-crews at O’Hare.

The move follows similar programs rolled out by Continental Airlines and Delta Airlines at select airports across the US. Continental launched their own electronic boarding pass program last year, followed by Delta’s own phone-based paperless boarding pass program earlier this year.

American says it will expand the program to American Airlines travelers departing from Los Angeles International and John Wayne Orange County airports starting November 17.

Now, with US airlines starting to finally embrace technologies like in-flight internet access and mobile phone-based boarding passes, we’re sure to see the FAA start to upgrade their antiquated air-control system. Right?

American Express Headquarters

Frost Design was approached by American Express to develop global branding graphics for its new Asia-Pacific headquarters in Sydney. The aim of the graphics was to reinforce the global brand while engaging staff in an attractive work environment. Frost used historical imagery from the company's archive and black-andwhite photographs by Annie Leibovitz, from the 'Experience life' campaign. The imagery was then applied to floor-toceiling feature walls, desk mats, privacy film and room identification.

Marketing Cuts: Long-Term Mistake?

With many large corporations losing millions of dollars each month, one popular reaction has been to cut down on the money earmarked for marketing. However, many experts are wondering how smart that move is when considering its long-term effects.

Sure, spending more on money can help you save money today. But down the line, a company could hurt its potential growth (or re-growth). If you think about it, there is a reason why companies have been spending billions of dollars in marketing.

Another example of this practice can be found by looking at American Express. Due to being in the struggling financial industry, they’ve needed to find ways to stay afloat. One of their solutions has been to cut down on marketing. According to numerous reports, American Express reduced their marketing in the second quarter by about 50% — or more than $300 million.

Bart Narter, who is with research firm Celent, put it nicely when talking to Bloomberg News.

Said Narter: “You can cheat your brand for a little bit and not lose, but do it for too long and people start forgetting about you.”

Being forgotten will hurt your business much more than this current economy.

INTEL UNVEILS INNOVATION CENTER IN DUBAI INTERNET CITY

Intel’s Chairman Dr. Craig Barrett joined Ahmad Bin Byat – Director General of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone (TECOM), HE Mohamed Al-Ghanem, Director General of the UAE Telecom Regulatory Authority, and Abdullatif Al Mulla, CEO of TECOM Investments, to open Intel’s Innovation Center at Intel’s office in Dubai Internet City (DIC) today.

“Innovation is one of the key value creators and growth drivers in the ICT industry,” said Jamal Abdulsalam, Executive Director of Dubai Internet City. “Innovation is no longer a matter of choice. Higher customer expectations, the need for product flexibility and changing market dynamics have led to an increasing demand for more innovative technology solutions and products tailored to the local market," “As the region’s ICT hub, Dubai Internet City is keen to foster the development of innovation. We are confident that developments such as the Intel Innovation Centre will promote the local entrepreneurial spirit and spur ICT growth,” he added.

The Dubai based Center will focus on themes aligned to expertise and opportunities found in the region. It will serve many purposes, including becoming a catalyst of disruptive technology development at Intel and a venue for promoting industry initiatives and showcasing technology solutions. It will also be resource for Dubai companies, as well as becoming an environment to conduct innovative training and seminars.

Following the launch of Intel’s Energy Competency Center in Abu Dhabi in 2002, which combines Intel's recognized technology and industry leadership with the advanced oil and gas technical capabilities of this region, Intel’s Innovation Center in Dubai Internet City will complement this development and will focus on demonstrating the benefits of technologies in a number of areas, including Digital Health, Digital Education, Digital Cities, Digital Home, Digital Enterprise and IT Research.

The Intel Innovation Center is a component of Intel’s Digital Transformation Initiative for the Middle East, a comprehensive, multi-year program designed to develop a more competitive IT workforce capable of driving innovation and economic growth in the region. The program is designed to build on already significant IT activities in the region and increase the company’s investment in four key areas: local entrepreneurship; education; digital accessibility; and specialized technical competencies.

Intel Wireless Power Transmission

Intel is working on a way for your laptop to get not just data wirelessly, but power as well. The company claims to have made progress in increasing the efficiency of a technique for wirelessly powering consumer devices.

(Intel wireless demonstration - light bulb powered without wires)

Magnetic fields are used to broadcast up to sixty watts of power for short distances - two or three feet. Only 25% of the power is lost in transmission.

“Something like this technology could be embedded in tables and work surfaces,” said Justin Rattner, Intel’s chief technology officer, “so as soon as you put down an appropriately equipped device it would immediately begin drawing power.”

“In the future, your kitchen counters might do it,” Mr. Rattner said. “You’d just drop your espresso maker down on them and you would never have to plug it in.”

The project is being led by Joshua R. Smith, an Intel researcher in Seattle, Washington. Marin Soljacic, an MIT physicist, pioneered the original technique, called resonant magnetic fields. Read more about this technology in an earlier article - Wireless Power For Laptops, Cellphones?

The idea for wireless power transmission was first suggested by Nicola Tesla. Science fiction writers eagerly seized on the idea in the early twentieth century. In The Mightiest Machine, a novel serialized in Astounding Science-Fiction in 1934, the technology makes an appearance:

Aarn pushed a second standard into view, which was surmounted by a metal bowl that closely resembled a deep soup dish. The inner surface was evidently a parabolic one, made up of a maze of tiny coils, each oriented carefully toward some definite aim, while the entire rim of the "soup dish" was a single larger coil. Carefully Aarn adjusted it so that it pointed toward the flickering cage of copper wires, and beyond it to the apparatus at the other end of the bench. This apparatus seemed fairly simple, merely a number of standards with various arrangements of wires. Two parallel copper bars, a double spiral made of two insulated wires, two metal disks.