American Airlines announced today that it’s joining rival Delta Air Lines (DAL) in making Wi-Fi Internet connections available to most domestic passengers, and across its entire fleet of some 600 aircraft, reports USA Today.

American was the first U.S. airline to launch the Gogo service last August. Since then, thousands of customers traveling on 15 of American’s Boeing 767-200 aircraft have enjoyed Inflight Internet service primarily on nonstop flights between New York JFK and San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami.

American, No. 2 in the world in passenger traffic after Delta acquired Northwest Airlines last year, says it will install the Aircell system on its domestic MD-80 and Boeing 737-800 aircraft fleets, beginning with 150 MD-80 aircraft this year.

Delta plans to roll out Wi-Fi across its entire fleet in 2009 using the Aircell system. Virgin America expects to have its fleet of 28 planes outfitted with Aircell’s Gogo Wi-Fi by the end of June.

Southwest Airlines is using a satellite connection from Row 44 and Alaska Airlines may follow while JetBlue is using its own flavor of wireless with complimentary email, shopping and instant messaging. JetBlue and other airlines, such as Continental, use LiveTV’s satellite-based television programming service. JetBlue, which owns LiveTV, won rights to 1 MHz of the 800-MHz spectrum last year for their internet service.

Aircell’s price for the Gogo service ranges from $7.95 to $12.95 based on length of flight and whether the device is a handheld PDA or a laptop computer. Aircell’s pricing plans are:

• Long Flight Pass: $12.95 – Standard price for flights longer than 3 hours
• Short Flight Pass: $9.95 – Standard price for flights 3 hours or less
• Mobile Flight Pass: $7.95 – Mobile device pricing for customers using a handheld device on Gogo-equipped flights of any length

The service will be available only after planes reach 10,000 feet so it doesn’t interfere with communications between the cockpit and air traffic control.

Related DailyWireless stories include; Alaska Airlines Tests Wi-Fi, Southwest Air Tests PlaneFi, American Airlines Launches Wi-Fi, Aircell WiFi on Delta Airlines, Aircell: We Be 4G, Aircell Takes Off, Row 44: Cleared for Take Off, Bill Banning Airplane Calls Moves Ahead, JetBlue Buys Airfone, FAA: Go For Aircell Launch , Aircell Vs Row44: Two for Two, FlyFi Takes Off, Lufthansa & AA Trying WiFi — Again, Inflight Phones Banned by FAA?, AirCell on Virgin by 2008, Wireless Voice on Airplanes? Yes & No, AirCell Demos Inflight WiFi, Aircell for Planes, FCC Rules on Airplane Cellular, Connexion On Again?, Dis Connexion.

Google has pulled tethering apps from the Android Market, reports Android Community. According to at least one developer, who contributed to the WiFi Tether for Root Users app (for the Android DevPhone 1), Google are citing their distribution agreements with carriers as the prompt for removal:

“Google enters into distribution agreements with device manufacturers and Authorized Carriers to place the Market software client application for the Market on Devices. These distribution agreements may require the involuntary removal of Products in violation of the Device manufacturer’s or Authorized Carrier’s terms of service” Google Developer Distribution Agreement

That agreement, when taken with T-Mobile’s terms of service that do not permit tethering, has given Google reason to pull the software from official distribution. It’s a decision that has raised more questions over just how “open” the Android platform is:

“Android phones are supposed to be released for other carriers in the future, right? Does this mean that apps in the Market have to adhere to the ToS for only T-Mobile, even when other carriers sign on? Will all apps have to adhere to the ToS for every carrier that supports Android phones?”

Sprint and Kyocera Sanyo have joined forces in making the Sanyo SCP-2700 stylish phone to all Sprint customers. Available starting at $49.99, the canby-bar style Sanyo SCP-2700 boasts of a full QWERTY keyboard with threaded messaging (similar to the iPhone), a 1.3 megapixel camera, some useful Sprint data services. The Sanyo SCP-2700 will be available starting May 11 at all Sprint retail stores. Juging by the way the Sanyo SCP-2700 looks from the press photos, we could definitely say that the SCP-2700’s main point is its stylish and trendy form factor.

To make it easy for you to own the Sanyo SCP-2700, Sprint is offering the device through a very affordable plan which includes 450 anytime minutes, unlimited night and weekend minutes from 7 pm, unlimited mobile-to-mobile minutes, and unlimited text, picture and video messaging.

In addition, the Sanyo SCP-2700 features Sprint Family Locator which uses GPS for locating children’s phones and display its location on an interactive map on the phone. It also has Social Zone which provides you qith quick access to Photobucket, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and other social networking sites.  You can also quickly post mobile photos, and other updates anytime, anywhere.

Other features of the Sanyo SCP includes 2.2-inch TFT LCD, Bluetooth, rear-spotted speakerphone, SMS Voice messaging, voice-activated dialing, built-in tools including calendar, alarm clock and more.

Tomorrow is that day again, the one time of the year you have to doubt everything you read.

Check out Google’s April Fools’ Pranks: 2000 -2008, courtesy of Business Insider via The Hunffington Pots.

Here’s the Skype app, delivered on Tuesday as promised.

In their own words:

With Skype on your iPhone or iPod touch, simply sign into Skype from any WiFi zone, and call friends and family on Skype totally free.

See who’s online and instant message them.

Sign into Skype via 3G, Edge, GPRS or WiFi and check who’s online – then instant message them whenever and wherever the mood strikes.

Guards have intercepted two carrier pigeons carrying mobile phones to detainees at a prison in Sorocaba, 62 miles from Sao Paolo, a spokesman for the state penitentiary system said, reports The Telegraph.

Each pigeon was carrying a small bag containing a mobile phone and charger, she said. The birds were caught on two successive days, last Wednesday and Thursday.

The use of pigeons to smuggle contraband into jail is the latest twist in a ongoing struggle by criminal networks to deliver forbidden goods into Brazil’s prisons.

Related:

– Carrier pigeons fly cell phones into jails (June 2008) – “Inmates at the prison in Marilia, Sao Paulo state had been training carrier pigeons to smuggle in goods using cell phone sized pouches on their backs, a low-tech but ingenious way of skipping the high-tech security that visitors faced.

Officials said the pigeons, bred and trained inside the prison, lived on the jail’s roof, where prisoners would take their deliveries before smuggling the birds out again through friends and family.”

Twenty of the hottest sites on the net with fresh content (not to mention some nice mobile offerings) and this is the ultimate and LAST subscription that you’re ever going to need– period. You’re not going to believe the sheer variety of the different types of sites that you get with your membership package, far too wild to mention here for sure but you’re going to have to check it out yourself. With a free trial there’s absolutely no reason why you haven’t signed up for this mind blowing offer yesterday, check out all that the MegaPornoPass has to offer right now!

Alvarion will be showcasing its video surveillance solutions for public safety and security at ISC West, April 1-3 in Las Vegas this week.

Alvarion will connect several network cameras at the event exhibiting interoperability and end-to-end solutions with multiple partners and distributors including Winncom Technologies and Vigilant Technologies.

Over the years, Alvarion’s solutions have supported many applications for the public safety market:

• Alvarion’s BreezeACCESS was utilized as part of the solution that provided broadband connectivity and security during President Barack Obama’s historic inauguration ceremony in Washington DC.
• U.S.-based Electronic Technology selected Alvarion equipment for use in their Operation Green Light (OGL) network in the city of Lenexa, Kansas to provide robust and reliable communication.
• Mid-America Regional Council implemented a wireless network that covers two states, 23 cities, 17 jurisdictions and 600 intersections, supporting an intelligent traffic system for reduced pollution, better traffic flow and emergency evacuation capabilities.
• Roissy Porte de France, a rural community of 14 villages spread around Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris, with a population of 46,000 inhabitants and 10,000 daily commuters, chose Alvarion equipment to monitor crime activity for community safety in this high density industrial area.

The American Recovery and Investment Act offers 2.5 billion in grants and loans flowing from the USDA’s Rural Development fund, and another 4.7 billion in broadband funding distributed through the Department of Commerce’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. It totals close to 7 billion after items like a national broadband map are factored in, notes Arstechnica.

Now Microsoft has weighed in on how the government should spend its billions in broadband stimulus money.

We believe that connecting schools, libraries and hospitals will generate the quickest, most impactful and most equitable distribution of social benefits.

Schools. By prioritizing Recovery Act projects that install future-proof, high-capacity connections, the government can ensure schools have both near- and long-term access to such learning. An example from Microsoft’s own backyard is instructive. On Inauguration Day, a well-funded Seattle area school district told its teachers not to use the Internet to view inaugural events. It turns out that if all of the classrooms had tuned in via the Internet, they would have overwhelmed and crashed the district’s system. That day, TV broadcasts served as good substitutes. But the story lays bare the fact that even a wealthy school district could not support Internet video into all classrooms all the time. Based on anecdotal assessments and what information exists, we believe a vast number of schools across the nation have woefully inadequate connectivity.

Libraries. The role of the nation’s public libraries is also in transition. Access to physical books and other materials will be important for a long time to come. But, increasingly, libraries are becoming community hubs for digital access and e-learning. They complement the role of K-12 schools, community colleges and other social hubs in expanding patrons’ knowledge. This is especially true in rural and hard-to-reach communities where, unlike in suburbia or city centers, there is not a sufficient concentration of people or wealth to foster a large market for Internet cafes, coffee shops and other access points. At libraries, Internet usage is and will be, in our estimation, comparable to usage in schools.

Hospitals. Investing in connectivity for hospitals brings near-term improvements in the quality and efficiency of healthcare. Improving healthcare efficiency is, of course, intimately tied to our economic growth goals, and quality healthcare is an unalloyed social good. By assuring that the nation’s hospitals have access to future-proof, high-capacity connections, the FCC and its companion agencies will dramatically help spread those benefits to all communities. And as in the school environment, there is value in distributing that capacity among treatment rooms throughout the hospital.

Related Dailywireless stories include; Defining “Rural” and “Unserved”, Rural Fiber to Wi-Fi, huge Telcos: “Open” for Broadband Grants?, Push for Rural Broadband Intensified, USDA: Rural Broadband at a Glance, Municipal Fiber: Stimulus Plan?, Broadband Elements of Stimulus Plan, Mapping the Connected Nation, and Senate Approves Stimulus — Minus $2B in Broadband.

The free Skype for iPhone will finally be available to download from the iTunes App Store sometime on Tuesday, says C/Net. The announcement will be made at CTIA 2009, April 1-3 in Las Vegas. C/Net says Skype’s VoIP app for iPhone looks more like your traditional iPhone app than it does Skype 4.0 for Windows.

Skype already offers a Windows Mobile version of its client, as well as Skype for Nokia phones and for Android phones. Skype for the BlackBerry is planned for May as part of its effort to expand beyond desktop computers. Skype for the iPhone allows subscribers use to the phone numbers in their existing iPhone address book, eliminating the need for duplicate lists.

Om Malik says Skype will use Wi-Fi networks, and calls to landlines will cost 2.1 cents a minute. There is no calling over the 3G network. SkypeIn and SkypeOut, along with Skype Chat, are the key features of this new version of the Skype application.

Scott Durchslag, Skype’s chief operating officer, said he did not think the limitations on using Skype on the iPhone would be a huge drawback for users, since Wi-Fi networks have become common. However, reports the NY Times, he hoped Apple and AT&T would relax restrictions and let people make Skype calls anywhere they roamed. “We think these things should work on any device, any network, at any time,” he said.

In related news, the number of mobile application users is set to quadruple in five years, according to market researcher In-Stat. In-Stat believes worldwide sales of open source-based smartphones are expected to be twice that of devices based on Apple’s software in five years.