Honeywell gets YouTube videos to play over global in-flight WiFi

The days of staying offline during your international flights might be coming to an end. Honeywell and Inmarsat have successfully stress-tested their global Ka-band satellite internet access in mid-air, doing everything from streaming YouTube videos to holding conference calls. The dry run shows that space-based broadband should be viable around the world, not just in certain areas -- fly to Europe and your mid-trip WiFi connection should vaguely resemble what you have back home. It'll take a while before airlines get the Honeywell/Inmarsat hardware into their fleets, but one of the biggest challenges is over.