One of the few comforts we economy class fliers have left is our right to strap on noise-canceling headphones, stare at the back of the seat in front of us, and pretend we're on a beach, or at home, or in a modest-sized jail cell—anywhere, really.
Now that right is at risk. Zodiac Seats France, an industry supplier, has patented a new seating configuration that rips out the (horrid) middle seat in favor of one that faces the rear. With "Economy Class Cabin Hexagon," you get more neighbors than ever before—and they are right in your face.
The goal of the design is "to increase cabin density while also creating seat units that increase the space available at the shoulder and arm area." To be fair, it seems to do that—because you're no longer facing the same direction as your immediate neighbor, you have more shoulder room. And if you're traveling with your kid or spouse, being face-to-face can be nice (we guess).
Why not move to standing-room only, with roller-coaster style restraints?
(Score: 2) by AndyTheAbsurd on Friday July 10 2015, @06:40PM
Sad, maybe, but not surprising: Nobody who is actually sufficiently interested in technology to know what NoScript is bothers to read WIRED.
Please note my username before responding. You may have been trolled.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday July 10 2015, @07:56PM
The physical magazine is no better - It was pretty good once upon a time, before half the magazine became overt ads and the other half became product placements disguised as articles. I received a gift subscription from a friend and after a few issues just ended up throwing them in the fucking trash if not using them for toilet reading material.
As for the site, it didn't even properly render after doing the recursive NoScript boogie three fucking times in a row.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2015, @09:42PM
Not rendering properly is one thing, but not showing anything is another. For example, http://www.pcmag.com/ [pcmag.com] obviously loads all the page info and adds scroll bars, but with scripts disabled, it is just one solid white page. I used to check them daily, but now, eh.
(Score: 2) by randmcnatt on Saturday July 11 2015, @02:06AM
The Wright brothers were not the first to fly: they were the first to land.