May 12th, 2008
Electrical outages make you appreciate mobile technology
I awoke this morning to the crackle and thunderous crash of a 100-year-old oak tree snapping and falling in my next-door neighbor’s yard (iPhone picture above). We’re lucky that no people or property were damaged, but the tree fell on a power line knocking out service for my entire street. The local electric utility has said that 45,000 customers in my area ares without service due to heavy wind storms – so it may not be fixed any time soon. And Comcast isn’t even picking up the telephone.
Electricity is the backbone of a wired technology and it’s kind of weird to wake up without lights, being able to open the refrigerator and my trusty RSS reader. However I was able to get online quickly thanks to my MacBook Air and Verizon UM150 EVDO modem (which I reviewed on 07 May 2008). The problem is that my MBA had only half a charge so I’m now at the local public library charging my batteries so that I can be productive tonight.
The electric utility is telling me that power might not be restored until tomorrow, so it looks like I may be eating chinese food tonight by candlelight and the warm glow of my MacBook Air –at least until the battery runs out.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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| 08/22/08
