Hasta La Ideas

[image via JBT AeroTech]

Your correspondent managed to travel via subway this Thanksgiving, avoiding the car-clogged roads, the train-jammed tracks and most importantly, the airplane-choked skies. But this past weekend, I departed for Autodesk University on the other side of the country, meaning there’s a plane ride in my immediate future.

On the jet bridge, I’ll be looking out for that little wheeled thing in the photograph above, which I’ve not noticed (so much for being an observant industrial designer) on the numerous flights I’ve taken in my lifetime, probably because during the boarding process I’m more concerned with if there’s any overhead bin space left. Slate, however, has been kind enough to point the object out and explain its function. Can any of you guess what it is, and what it does?

(more…)