”Walk-in” Interfaces and Internet Applications

Abstract

Remember the airline reading light we discussed earlier? Well, as with everything, the machines that passengers interact with on today’s airplanes have grown ever more complex. In this chapter, we look at the new personal entertainment system available on many aircraft. We start by pressing the video button on the personal control unit in the armrest (figure 9.1). The blank screen awakes with a flicker, but not much else. You hit the video button again but still nothing. That’s not very entertaining. You play with the brightness controls thinking maybe that is the problem—but it’s not. So you try every button, hoping that something might turn up on the screen. Not today.