...or a real pain in the ass. Christian Laniosz tracked down a sweeeeeeet tool called "Seat Guru", an online tool you can use to check out which seats are the best by plane - and which ones have power outlets.
So I'm not at SXSW, but I am on the road. And here's a nugget: travel adapters are a SCAM. They always look like crap, cost a bloody arm and leg, and they never last. Pictured below is my hearty dependable, never-used RODEX adapter that I just pulled out of my bag. Apparently, putting my bag IN THE OVERHEAD BIN subjected the little piece of garbage to stresses beyond any envisioned by the manufacturer, who was apparently too busy cackling at my stupidity and wiping their bottom with my shekels to worry about Quality Control.
I am currently also pissed about the on-air, onboard power adapter (the "Empower", for "empowered to rob you f-ing blind") I mean - what the hell is with charging $114 for AN ADAPTER? When you are traveling your ass off, sipping infrequent juice from the now practically hidden airport power sockets (which when you find them often have so many freaking things plugged into them it looks like the Griswold Family X-mas is in town) then getting buck-whacked to plug into specialized sockets feels...wrong.
Interesting social media challenge. Connected, well-off audience (biz travelers) with a clear need (power up sources in airports) and a champion (Wired) Fail to create any real solution. Over at Gadget Lab, Mark Mcluskey suggested an AirPower Wiki - he even set one up over @ one-minute wiki (created by Microsoftie Jeff Sandquist) - but other than conjecturing about it on AirPower Talk, the page has degenerated into spambots posting bullshit Xanax come-ons. [note: some of the most prolific "commenters" on this blog are spambots, too]
Why?
Marketers take note: even clear cases with a valuable demo and a clear need may not take off. So please don't post video mash up tools. I don't f-ing care.
On a related note, ever wonder how many things you can plug into an electrical outlet before it catches on fire? Yeah, so did I. Not many. And apparently, if you see fire spewing out of the outlet, you're screwed because the insides of your walls are ALREADY ON FIRE, Holmes.
Typical airport socket overload.
Courtesy Electrical Safety Foundation International
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