When laptop power inefficiency is a virtue

Efficiency may be the scalable business model for green power, but here's a point in favor of consumer apps with inefficient power management: When you're sitting all day at a conference in a large drafty hotel in winter, it's really nice to have a nice, warm, power-wasting laptop to huddle 'round.

Fortunately, APEC (Applied Power Electronics Conference) is in southern California this year, where inefficiently powered laptops will probably not be a feature.