Productivity in the sky should pick up this holiday season, as Google is teaming with a number of U.S. carriers to offer free in-flight Wi-Fi.

Delta, AirTran and Virgin America are all teaming with the search giant to offer the service at no cost between Nov. 20 and Jan. 2. Each carrier has outfitted their entire domestic fleet with the Gogo Inflight service.

Normally, in-flight Wi-Fi runs roughly $5 or $13 per flight.

The service is a promotion of Google’s Chrome browser. The company offered a similar program last year, offering free Wi-Fi in airport terminals.

“We were excited by the response from last year’s free holiday Wi-Fi program, and thought that this would be a perfect holiday gift,” said Google in a blog posting.

You can find out more about the partnership at www.freeholidaywifi.com.

Microsoft’s Zune media player may not be making any noticeable impact on Apple’s dominance of the personal media player space, but it does have at least one corporate fan: United Airlines.  

The Redmond-based tech giant and United are extending the Zune partnership they kicked off a couple months ago. On the Zune Insider podcast, product evangelist Dave McLauchlan noted that the airline will be providing Zune HDs to passengers on flights to Hong Kong and Australia as part of the expanded test.

Microsoft is providing 500 of the devices – and to make it particularly interesting, it’s talking with studios about loading those with exclusive content, including films that haven’t yet been released on DVD.

It’s a limited test, yes – but the high quality screen on the Zune HD could convert some travelers. And it’s a big step from where things started less than three months ago, when United began offering passengers Zune inflight audio – a series of 21 playlists programmed by the team behind the gadget. 

Of course, Apple has its own airline partnership – with Jetstar Airways making the iPad available as an in-flight entertainment option.

Productivity on planes used to be limited to working on a PowerPoint presentation or document. Slowly, though, today’s frequent flyers are able to go online while in the air – and Aircell, the top provider of in-flight internet, has just made it a little easier.

The company has expanded the pricing options for its GoGo services, which are available on select flights on Delta, United and American - and all Virgin America and AirTran flights. (Air Canada service will launch soon as well.)

Passengers lucky enough to be on one of the planes carrying the service now have the option to purchase passes for either short haul flights or a 24-hour pass (in case you’re doing a same-day return or will be making multiple connections).

The short haul pass will cost $5.95 and will cover flights lasting up to 1.5 hours. The 24-hour pass will run $12.95, but is currently only available on AirTran and Delta planes.

While distribution of in-flight internet is still limited, that’s changing. Delta plans to offer the service on over 300 planes by the end of the year, a move that may force competitors to increase their usage as well. 

Admit it… that voice on your GPS gets old. The condescending way it says “recalculating” after you miss a turn? The harsh tone that seems to occasionally seep in when it tells you to “Turn right”?

Maybe it’s time to replace it – with the dulcet tones of Homer Simpson. TomTom has unveiled a new voice skin putting the patriarch of the Simpsons household in charge of your navigation. It’ll cost you $12.95.

Sure, it’s a marketing gimmick, but with lines recorded by Dan Castellaneta, it’s a more entertaining way to get where you’re going. For example, “Take the third right. We might find an ice cream truck! Mmm…ice cream.”

Homer isn’t the first celebrity to lend his voice to navigation systems, of course. Everyone from Mr. T to John Cleese have offered skins. Kevin Carter, a TomTom spokesperson, said the most popular, by far, has been Mr. T. The company declined to give any sales numbers though.

Carter, though, says the company expects Homer to give the iconic “A-Team” brawler a run for his money.