Sneaky Ways To Get Free Laptop Recharge On The Move
12/12/2006 By Sam Phillips, Technology Editor, On The Beach Holidays

Short of surreptitiously flying a kite, attaching length of string and a key and hoping for vengeance from the heavens, we all need a semi-reliable and not life-endangering plan for keeping our laptops alive and kicking when between power points. Here are some tips to get the juice you need, for varying degrees of desperation.

Work with a spare battery or backup power source. There’s no easier way to get a whole new battery’s worth of power into your laptop than just slotting in the spare that you charged up earlier. Or you could try using a portable power source like the myPower All, which can hold about 3 hours worth of laptop power once charged.
Look a gift horse in the mouth. A free fix of electricity isn’t always that hard to come by – many airports, airplanes, trains and, if you have occasion to be aboard one, boats, offer charging facilities as part of their value-added services.
It's not free if you've already paid for it. Your hotel, again, will have sockets which they all but expect you to use, as will coffee shops and other pretentious, yet yuppie-centric, facilities. Like a German with a beach towel, have your power cable ready in hand to bag any sockets which you may come across.
Carry a four-way. So your Germanic tactics haven’t worked and the guy next to you has got the last socket. No problem! Just whip out your four-way adapter and start some commie-style sharing.
Buy a car charger. I constantly forget that the cigarette lighter in my car actually has a purpose. Most of the time it feels like the material and space could have been used to make the GPS screen just a little bit bigger, or the empty space where I tend to keep my sunglasses a little more generous. But if you’re driving for a long period, you can use it juice up your laptop quite happily. Be careful, though, as partial charges are like cholesterol in the arteries of some laptop batteries. If your system is flat but you’re only going a short distance, find some other use for the cigarette lighter socket.
Play pretend. Some airports, stations and similar facilities will hide or otherwise bar their sockets from public use. Don’t let this stop you – remember the customer is always right and, at the moment, you need power. Scout around for covered sockets (try to spot people vacuuming the floor!) and surreptitiously whip out that power adapter. The fact of the matter is that you are probably either in IT, or a closely related field, and so are the people who would be expected to use these sockets. You can blend right in, camouflaging yourself with technical jargon and giving confusing answers to any enquiries that may come your way. Act naturally and you’ll be playing minesweeper on free power for hours on end.
Use the sun! It’s beating down all day, why not take advantage of that? Get hold of a solar bag or maybe even a portable solar panel, and let the free electricity flow.
Prevention is better than cure. When you do get some electricity, make it last - follow the tips in our 10 Ways to Extend Laptop Battery Life article.

The travel and hospitality industries are catching on fast to our need for power and internet access, and newer facilities and vehicles offer such services built-in. The more we beg, borrow and steal electricity, the more it will be provided for us without asking.

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Sneaky Ways To Get Free Laptop Recharge On The Move 12/12/2006 By Sam Phillips, Technology Editor, On The Beach Holidays

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Sneaky Ways To Get Free Laptop Recharge On The Move
12/12/2006 By Sam Phillips, Technology Editor, On The Beach Holidays