I'm an Electricity Junky

Going about my work I carry around a plethora of devices, all with a nasty ampere habit! I need to feed this habit. The problem has been exaggerated by the recent arrival of a Nokia N95, whose GPS feature (with the navigation subscription) has been wholly useless to me (I know where I've been going) but which I leave turned on for the pure fun of it. BUT IT SUCKS POWER. Add onto this my tendancy to leave bluetooth on all the time means that I've formed an acute sensitivity to where the power sockets are in any room or building I enter. No matter whether it is a bar, a friend's home, a business partner's office or public buildings, I enter rooms with my eyes wide open and scanning the skirting board like a junkie needing a fix.

What with our sources of energy becoming increasingly precious and our cravings for power sockets increasing, what would you call the resulting phenomenon?

Power pinchers? Power poachers? Socket surfers? Electricity junkies? Ampere addicts? Hz hoppers (hertz hoppers)? Volt hoovers?

Tags: technology, mobile phone, ampere addict, fix, electricity junkie, GPS, junky, hertz hopper, habit, Hz, power pincher, power poacher, socket surfer, volt hoover, Nokia, N95, navigation

How Will the Apple iPhone get to market in the UK?

Today at MacWorld Expo, Steve Jobs made the much anticipated announcement that the iPhone will be launched this year. The story is being covered thoroughly across the blogosphere with particularly good coverage at Engadget. In short, a very exciting looking product.

The phone will be launched in the US mid year, then Europe before the end of 2007 and Asia in 2008. The prices being announced in the US are based on a Cingular exclusive 2 year contract from $499 for the entry level phone.

My question is- how will this play out in the UK? The networks are very powerful and their model of subsidising at the point of sale is particularly aggressive. Phones that would otherwise retail at around £500 can actually cost the user only a hundred pounds up front if they are on a sufficiently high usage contract. I've never paid for any of my phones because of my business usage, despite opting for the high end business phones each year [Note that it is not unknown for a monthly bill to exceed £1,000 so I don't feel especially priviledged about the situation].

Watch out for announcements.

Tags: Apple, iPhone, technology, telephony, mobile, phone, contract, tariff, network, 3, Vodafone, Orange, O2, mobile

3.5G Data Card Brings Life to Commuter Train

On the red eye express where most of my fellow commuters seemed dead to Monday, my new 3.5G data card from Vodafone (Qualcomm under the hood) was the only sign of life this morning. The card seems a bit slow to make its initial requests (I guess theres some validation going on) which is frustrating, but once in full stream it is seriously quick. By the time I'd done the painless installation I only had chance to try the various basics so that's about all I can review at the moment. However, even then (maybe 5 minutes use) I'd used about 1.5 of my 50Mb per month tariff. I'll have to keep an eye on that!

In the software there appears to be a neat WLAN finder directory. However, entering Cafe and London results in a long enough list that you don't seem able to navigate beyond 'C' and Costa Coffee. A minor gripe in an otherwise pleasant out-of-the-box experience.

Tags: technology, mobile, data card, 3.5G, HSDPA, gadget, Qualcomm, Vodafone, tariff, WLAN, Costa Coffee