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Mobile Users Plug-in Anywhere They Can
jasonla writes "The New York Times looks at mobile technology users who leech power from restaurant and airport outlets while on the road. The article looks at the habits and 'culture' of people who use portable devices -- such as laptops, iPods and cellphones -- and what the businesses think of power hungry customers." As interesting as the phenomena of customers leeching power from the businesses they frequent is the self-imposed etiquette of many users.
I have to admit that I do this all the time, especially in airports-- and it is getting harder and harder to find places to recharge.
Geeze, you could have a cafe full of plugged in laptop users and still not have this cost you 25 cents an hour.
Dog is my co-pilot.
Here in the UK Virgin has been putting power outlets for charging up phones and laptops next to all the seats in their new trains.
So you could go on a pleasure trip and charge up (but given the state of the UK rail system that might not be a good idea if you need to make it to something on time. )
Philip
Signatures are broken
Cellphones, ipods and even portable computers are not that power hungry that it would matter. I consider using the power outlets included in what I pay for coffee, airport tax or whatever. Just like I don't pay extra for breathing air from businesses' ventilator systems (which probably costs more than the power). If some business doesn't like me charging my laptop, I choose to go elsewhere.
For reference, my portable computer's battery is rated 14.8V, 4400mAh. That roughly equals 65 watt-hours. The biggest cost of electricity I found is 9 cents per kWh, so filling the battery from empty to full would cost less than 0.6 cents. I will gladly pay 0.6 cents extra to use my laptop wherever I go, if asked for.
1) www.bugmenot.com It has a firefox plug in, you right click the username field, click bugmenot, and it logs you in, no registration required. 2) I'm guilty, so what? I like to go to a coffee place (a cheap, friendly one nearby) and work for 3-4 hours. It's a productive environment. I reckon I drink a coffee every 30 minutes while I'm working, so I probably have about 6 in 4 hours. Call it £3/coffee, that's £18. Call it 6p/kWh, my laptop drinks 65W, so that's about 2p worth of energy. It's a bit of a fuss about nothing. Quote: "Somebody's got to pay for that electricity." Yes, the customer. They might say "if everybody came in and did it..." well, for 12 hours, there are 10 people drawing 100W, that's 12kWh, that's about 70p for the day. Boohoo. BTW, guys who can't find power outlets, use my Confucius say style motto... Think like the cleaner.
It's because you're paying for a capacity to be made available for you as well as the power itself.
As a simple example, suppose your peak power consumption is the same as the peak output of the local power-station.
Given that you could want 100% of the power plant output at any one time, the power ocompany has to effectively reserve it for you. Even if you just want 1% of it, it can't sell the other 99% because you might need it.
DISCLAIMER - yes I do work in the electricity industry.
Nokia is using a standard charger for all models that has not been changed since the mid 90s. With the (past) marketshare of Nokia this means you are never far from a charger, at a friends, at work, with a customer or around town. I travel a lot without bringing a charger (+adapter) for my Nokia without a problem. Genious.
I know at the "School of Advanced Technology" college I went to they had zero [yup count them zero] places to sit down and use a laptop. We had to make due sitting in the cafe and steal from the wall outlets [of which there were a half dozen for a school of 14,000 people].
Just wondering, anyone else goto tech schools like that?
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
I own Node Coffee Shop in Milwaukee, WI (open 24 hours). When I built the cafe I had the electrician put in quad outlets every 6-8 feet around the shop so that customers would never have to fight over a power outlet. Every seat has an outlet. No other cafe in the area can boast that kind of setup. I dont believe it costs us very much more as far as operating expenses go, but it does increase our profits as we get a lot of customers who come to our establishment because we have such great access. Check us out if you are ever in the Milwaukee area! http://www.nodecoffee.com/
...especially since they tore down all the analogue masts...
er, no they did not tear down the analog masts. Some rural locations (I have a friend that commutes 2hr to the city from the boondocks every day) are still well served by analog systems. Additionally GM's OnStar service is carried mostly by Verizon's old analog system because analog still has more complete coverage that digital (again especially in rural areas)
Back on topic, he said talk time, 180 min is pretty standard for most digital phones talktime.
Here's the article:
Power Users, Ready for a Refill
By MICHEL MARRIOTT
MIHOKO HAKATA, a freelance illustrator and recent art-school graduate, ducked into a coffee shop in Midtown Manhattan last week, desperate for a jolt of energy.
She had work to do. But as she removed her materials from her backpack, it became clear that the energy she was seeking could not be found in a cup. She had a more pressing need: to find a power outlet for her laptop computer, whose battery had died.
"I realized they have this," said Ms. Hakata, a 29-year-old Tokyo native, as her hand slipped beneath a table to deftly plug her I.B.M. ThinkPad into a wall socket.
Before Ms. Hakata, who lives on a drafty boat on the Hudson River, could settle into her work, a young man clutching a dying cellphone rushed in.
"I just have to charge it," he said, asking Ms. Hakata if he could share one of the two power outlets under her table. She smiled politely and nodded.
Every day, millions of people are finding themselves scurrying about in search of wells of electricity they can tap so their battery-powered mobile devices can remain mobile. Dependence is growing on laptops, cellular telephones, digital music players, digital cameras, camcorders, personal organizers, portable DVD players and the latest hand-held gaming devices - most of which operate on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries - and finding available electrical outlets away from home and office has become more urgent.
Starbucks and other establishments catering to wired customers appear to do little to discourage or regulate customers who plug in, either to work on AC power or charge up. In large part, the power seekers seem to negotiate their needs among themselves with cooperative grace, following a series of unspoken rules.
Chief among them, some say, is never to use more than half of the sockets in a wall outlet. If an outlet provides four sockets, electrical etiquette dictates that you can plug in, say, your laptop and your cellphone, but not the iPod, too.
Those who disregard this courtesy may find themselves the targets of grumblings and harsh stares.
"It's better not to hog all the outlets, of course," said Zyphus Lebrun, a graduate student in journalism at Columbia University. "It's like when you go to the Laundromat and there is one person using four dryers."
While some devices, like a dying cellphone, require only a few minutes of charging to regain short-term use, most devices, like laptops, take much longer. It is not uncommon for users of electronics with more ravenous appetites to camp out for hours near an electrical outlet. In some cases, those staking a claim do so by plugging in a device - even a $2,000 laptop - only to leave it unattended while fetching a $4 coffee.
Much of the mounting quest for power stems, some hardware manufacturers say, from battery performance that has generally not kept up with the rapidly expanding capabilities of today's consumer electronics.
In turn, some battery makers blame hardware makers for adding power-consuming extras like larger, brighter display screens on laptops and bigger hard drives in digital music players. The result is devices that can operate for little more than four to six hours between charges.
As a consequence, knowing the location of a well-placed (and unused) electrical outlet may be considered more vital than knowing the closest public bathroom.
"It has become part of your lifestyle," Ralph Bond, the consumer education officer for Intel, said of the continual challenge of taking advantage of the widening offerings of digital electronics but not becoming a slave to the socket. "I can give you a guided tour of the two concourses for United Airlines in Chicago O'Hare." He then rattled off a long list of airports where he knows the whereabouts of obscure but accessible electrical outlets. "I can show you where the very valued and highly prized electrical outlets are for frequent travelers that need to jui
Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.
They used more energy brewing your coffee refill than your laptop did. (Note to Starbucks victims---normal restaurants often provide "bottomless" cups of coffee for the price of a single cup, typically less than a dollar and a half).
If it was winter when you did this, you cost them more energy by opening the door to walk into the restaurant in the first place. Then again, you're providing them with 0.1kW of heat just by existing, so maybe you should be charging them.
This is not my sandwich.