Today, The New York Times is reporting that a company controlled by the top three Googlers recently bought a Dornier Alpha Fighter Jet. The company, H211 LLC, is controlled by Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt, and it is responsible for managing a fleet of private aircraft for the three men.

The company already manages a Boeing 757, a Boeing 767, and two Gulfstream V’s. These four aircraft, plus the new fighter jet, all have landing rights at Moffett Field, which is a located near Google’s main offices.

According to a Google spokesperson, the Alpha Jet is being outfitted with scientific instruments for NASA missions, including instruments that the other planes could not carry.

The Times says that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is “an avid pilot.”

The Dornier Alpha Fighter Jet is made by Dornier in Germany and Dassault-Breguet of France.

(image credit: Avi Abrams)

(image credit: Avi Abrams)

(image credit: Fethi Karaduman)

Vintage Commercial Aviation Promotions. You gotta love them.

First, the facts and figures. By next summer, Delta says all of its U.S. flights will provide Wi-Fi Internet access to passengers. The Internet will come via AirCell’s ground-to-air technology, which beams wireless signals up to planes and receives whatever the planes send back.

This means anyone on the plane with a Wi-Fi radio-equipped device will be able to use it to access the Internet. That includes smartphones, PDAs, MIDs, and laptops. For flights less than three hours, the cost will be $10.00 USD. For flights over three hours, the cost will be $13.00 USD.

Worth it? That’s up to you. Speaking from experience, however, I can say that no fee is too large when something really important and timely needs to be passed through the Internet. In general, however, I can last a plane ride without Wi-Fi.

That’s one issue, but what about on-plane support when the system encounters turbulence?

I can picture it already. You have a flight full of business people shuttling from New York City to Chicago on Delta Flight 80211. They’re all very busy, very important people who have much work to accomplish. They pay the $10.00 USD to access the Internet while en route. They don’t want to be behind when they land in the Windy City.

Halfway through the flight, the Internet cuts out for one reason or another. Not only will flight attendants have to deal with surly suits who were working on very important stuff, but they will probably be the ones in charge of troubleshooting the system and getting it in working condition. That is, unless Delta plans to have an Internet tech on board each flight, which I highly doubt.

Flight attendants are, of course, extremely hard working people that put up with a lot of crap from passengers. Adding in-flight Wi-Fi is just one more system that they will likely be in charge of. They won’t necessarily need a Cisco Certification to troubleshoot the problems, but they will need at least some level of additional training.

Fair to flight attendants or not, it will be a nice perk for those passengers who really need it.

Source: Yahoo! News

Under recently disclosed Department of Homeland Security policies, such seizures may be carried out without suspicion of wrongdoing, the newspaper said, quoting policies issued on July 16 by two DHS agencies.

Agents are empowered to share the contents of seized computers with other agencies and private entities for data decryption and other reasons.

Full story and source: Reuters

The $25 box also squeezes in a surge-protector for those untrustworthy hotel power outlets. Taken from the product page:

Hotel rooms and airport terminals never seem to have enough power outlets to charge all the devices today’s traveler brings along. Now you can add outlets and peace of mind on business trips and vacations with the Belkin Mini Surge Protector.

This new design features three AC outlets and two powered USB outlets – perfect for MP3 players and mobile phones.

Something to note, the USB outlets cannot be used as a USB hub and does not transmit data. The powered USB outlets on this unit are intended solely for charging devices that can be charged via a USB interface.

Check out the product page for more information. I’ve already ordered two

No problem. Get your own inflatable Port-a-Pub. It’s constructed to an “Olde Worlde” English pub design with “superb attention to detail.”

The inflatable boasts a pan tiled roof effect, chimney pots on the exterior, an Inglenook fireplace and a stone-wall effect in the interior.

Billed as “the world’s first inflatable pub”, this pub in a box holds up to 50 guests (or 200 college students), fits in the back of a van and assembles in under an hour:

Why add an extension to your house when you can buy a portable pub that travels with you?

All pub-like features are painted directly onto the anti-fungal and flame retardant PVC walls so there’s no need to worry about unruly guests breaking paintings or windows.

You might want to watch out for guests trying to carve their names on the “wood” beams:

I’ll have a pint of Guinness and an order of fish and chips please:

All you need now is a bouncy castle attached.

Your kids birthday parties would suddenly draw quite the crowd… bouncy castle for the kids, portable pub for the adults.

If you’d like to find out more, check out the Portable Pub website.

Welcome to Google: the reception area of Google’s NYC offices.

Work spaces in the New York offices of Google.

One of Google NYC’s office spaces.

Razor scooters, a preferred mode of inter-office transport.

Snac-tion: The New York offices of Google have micro kitchens and snack stations throughout.

Lots of Almonds, Yogert Covered Raisins, Sunridge Farms Jelly Beans, Peanut M&M’s, Cheerios and Sunridge Farms Trail Mix.

Google NYC’s gaming area features a pool table, air hockey and Guitar Hero.

Google’s tribute to Albert Einstein “Google=mc2″ with Einsign:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, some amazing waterfalls from the beautiful State of Oregon that we visited on August 15, 2006. I won’t go into a long description as the photos speak for themselves but I will put the name of each waterfall:

Latourell Falls:

Wahkeena Falls:

Multnomah Falls:

Horsetail Falls:

As you can see, these waterfalls were just amazing and the lo-resolution versions I posted don’t due them justice. I took multiple shots of each waterfall as well, I just don’t want to post them all until I get a nice gallery plugin or stand alone gallery script for my site.

Keep in mind that I did take very high resolution pictures, so I’ll be able to get some nice prints done to frame for around the house, turn into screen savers, computer wallpaper or even into nice greeting cards for family or friends.

I hope you enjoy the photos. Comments always welcome.

Here is a photo of an interesting door lock at a local Portland, Oregon bank. That’s right, if you need to get into the bank or use the ATM machine after hours, you’ll need to use your ATM card to unlock the door:

Driving down some random street in Aloha, Oregon, I notice a familiar technology logo for a processor company. Yep, Intel’s Aloha Campus:

While in Oregon, I noticed that gas stations don’t want you pumping your own gas which seemed weird to me because I’ve always pumped my own gas. When I asked the gas station attendant about this, he said it was because of safety issues. Interesting indeed. I did snap the photo of the sign below on the gas pump at the Arco gas station while filling up, so maybe this is the safety issue he was talking about?

Most of my friends know that I love classic video games and I even own a few full sized classics myself, so after getting gas at the Arco, we went to a total ghetto arcade called Wunderland. What was really cool was every game took nickels, so basically 5 cents per game. A few did require 3-7 nickels but it was still really cheap to play games.

Next up is a picture of a space age looking pay phone. I’ve never seen one shaped like an egg or green in color for that matter but now everyone can see one because of the photo I took below:

Last but not least is a photo of me next to a yellow road sign which reads “ROCKS”.

As I’ve been doing pretty much this entire trip, I took a bunch of pictures today while in Seattle. Since it took almost 3 hours one way to get into Seattle and I need to be back in Portland tonight, there was only enough time for one stop which was the Space Needle.

The first picture is the view looking up at the Space Needle. This beauty stands at 605 feet high and has an elevation of 730.25 feet above sea level.

Built in 1962, the Space Needle served as the symbol of that year’s World’s Fair. It has since become the symbol of Seattle and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The privately owned Space Needle is managed by the Space Needle Corporation.

Once inside at the observation deck, you have some amazing views. To get a really nice view, there is a sign giving specific directions on what to do:

Once you line your head up against the sign per the instructions (yes I did it), here is the amazing city view:

On the food front, we decided on the Saturday Brunch special which takes place from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm. What’s really cool about having any meal at the Space Needle is the Sky City Restaurant rotates 360 degrees, so while you eat, the world actually does revolve around you:

Both the food an view from the table was just amazing. If you ever come to Seattle, Washington, I recommend coming to the Space Needle. It’s worth every penny.

I did pick up a couple of really cool shot glasses for my collection. Yes I know, I have so many collections of “stuff”. It happens.

Tomorrow I’m checking into white water rafting. That should be an adventure for sure.