Oct. 2--Bored between flights? Airline travelers at select U.S. airports can now download movies and games to a laptop wirelessly over the Internet in less than five minutes thanks to a service that Vancouver-based Dotster Inc. helped to develop for FreeFi Networks.

The new rental service, called m2go, is available over FreeFi's free wireless Internet service at Oakland International Airport and will be up at Denver International within a month, with plans to eventually roll out the service to other airports, said Richard Bogen, president of New Jersey-based FreeFi.

The company hired Dotster to develop its online store, as well as the application that allows customers to download high-quality files within minutes instead of the hours it would take over a traditional wireless connection.

"We had to figure out how to download a full-length feature film to a laptop in minutes," said Clint Page, CEO of Dotster, which employs 100 people in Vancouver. "It's a new type of technology that has a lot of potential applications."

Customers pay about $5 to download a movie from m2go.com and then have 48 hours to watch the rental and 24 hours to finish it once they've started the show. Budget-conscious travelers can also download free and paid games and puzzles as well as free weather, news, sports and other TV programming via the service.

The m2go service is part of a larger trend in "cloud computing," in which applications are made available to consumers anywhere they may be on mobile devices by ever-faster and abundant wireless broadband access. Such services available at airports and elsewhere are likely to only increase in number and sophistication in coming years, Page said.

Airport entertainment is an easy first target for the quick downloads because it serves a mostly captive audience that's also often on a tight schedule.

"Renting movies is remaining steady but it's trending toward doing that in a different fashion by downloading directly onto a laptop instead of renting a player," said Steve Johnson, a spokesman for Portland International Airport.

Movie rentals at PDX are sold by InMotion, which now allows travelers to download directly to a laptop as well as rent a DVD and player. FreeFi takes the service one step further by allowing customers to download wirelessly over the Internet, without leaving their seat at the gate.

M2go's service is still fairly limited, however. The only movies available to download are from Disney -- FreeFi holds an exclusive contract with the studio. And it works only for PC users, requiring Windows XP or Vista, as well as a Windows media player, to watch the movies.

FreeFi is working to sign deals with other movie studios to broaden its selection, as well as set up the service for Mac users and handheld devices, Bogen said.

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