Did you know that the term “audiovisual” (AV) is now passe for use in referring to all the gadgets and gizmos that you use in meetings? I’ve been told that the new term is “presentation technology” (PT), because AV is “so 20th century.”

I’ve learned my new thing for the day, and it’s not even 10:30 a.m. yet!

Brandweek brings us this nugget of welcome news: Lift Off and Log On: JetBlue To Offer Net Access. And it’ll be free, too. They’re still holding the line on cellphone use in the air, thankfully.

Via InFlightHQ.

If your laptop runs out of juice mid-flight, there’s an answer: Inflight power recharger cables. Just plug it into the plane seat’s audiojack and charge away.

What will they think of next?

I think the scariest airplane story du jour has to be this one: Man Sucked Out of Plane at 20,000 Feet.

Yikes! That does not do much to alleviate my fear of flying.

This must be the ultimate international traveler’s t-shirt. All you have to do is point at the international symbol for whatever it is you need, and hopefully people will help you, as opposed to fall down laughing at you.

Via Gizmodo.

Here’s an interesting publicity ploy: A Spanish hotel lets selected guest demolish it. I don’t know why this idea appeals to me so much, but it does. From the article:

A few lucky people in need of a break from their stress got a chance at some unconventional therapy. A Spanish hotel chain planning renovations at one of its Madrid locations offered 30 “highly stressed out people” — selected by a team of psychologists — the chance to take up sledge hammers and battering rams and smash through its rooms Tuesday.

They get to come back in a few months and check out the newly refurbished digs, too. Hopefully sans sledgehammers, this time.

Hilton is going to become part of Blackstone’s hotel portfolio, according to this New York Times article. Not sure what, if anything, it’ll mean for the chain, but the article does say that Blackstone is looking to “invest” in Hilton, “integrating the company’s brands — which include Doubletree, Embassy Suites and Hampton Inn as well as Hilton — with its other hotels.”

My first thought on reading this, though, was how nice it must be to be able to pay cash for a $26 billion purchase!

So what if your attendees yawn their way through the keynote. It’s not a bad thing, according to this article, Yawning May Boost Brain Power. In fact, it says,

According to psychologists Andrew Gallup and Gordon Gallup of the State University of New York at Albany, that is why we yawn: to boost blood flow and chill the brain.

Not only that, brain-cooling explains why you can “catch” a yawn, says Gordon Gallup. “We think contagious yawning is triggered by empathic mechanisms which function to maintain group vigilance.” In other words, yawn-catching evolved to help raise the attentiveness of the whole group.”

Well, I’ve learned my new thing for today.