Today in technological developments that have taken far too long to come to fruition, a few exciting announcements from some big players in the business travel industry. In a surprising service reversal from their recent debit-card debacle, Bank of America has announced that their first chip-and-pin cards will go out in the first quarter of 2012 to U.S.-based corporate customers — a relief for those who travel frequently to regions where the technology is already common (as in, most of Western Europe).

Also this week, Continental ran their much-delayed first biofuel-powered commercial flight from Houston to Chicago, on fuel derived from algae. They’ve agreed to buy 20 million gallons of the fuel starting in 2014, and it looks like other airlines may be following suit: Alaska Airlines and their subsidiary Horizon Airlines will start biofuel flights later in the week.