Note: Stupid Tip of the Day is a not-so-new regular feature of The Gate which will not be featured regularly — if at all — after today…or maybe not. Does this disclaimer need a disclaimer?!? Okay…no animals were harmed in the creation of this disclaimer.
“E xcuse me, sir,” said a man who approached me here at Abu Dhabi International Airport while I await my flight to Johannesburg. “May I plug my device into the USB port on your laptop computer?”
As much as I wanted to assist him, I denied his request. It is not because I am a mean person; but I have no idea what may be on his portable electronic device which could potentially cause mayhem on my laptop computer — such as a computer virus, for example.
Fortunately, I came up with an idea after he walked away disappointed. Because I will be at this airport for several hours and can plug in my laptop computer later to have it fully charged before the flight, I whipped out my portable plug which has a USB port in it, which is shown in the photograph at the top of this article; unplugged my computer as I have only one adapter for an electrical outlet in the Middle East; and plugged the portable plug with the USB port into the adapter and into the electrical outlet itself.
I then went to the gentleman and proposed my solution, to which he seemed grateful. He plugged in the USB cable from his portable electronic device into my portable plug and charged it. When his flight to Doha was ready for passengers to board, he thanked me and unplugged his device. I was glad to be of assistance after all.
Actually, there are two stupid tips of the day here which should be learned from this scenario:
- Do not allow anyone to plug an electronic device into your computer or device for any reason and by any means unless you are certain that it is safe to do so — even when other people need power from your device — in order to protect your device and the information and software which reside on it.
- If you are going to use portable electronic devices when you travel, ensure that you have the ability to plug in the device so that it can stay powered; as well as carry a set of adapters if you are traveling to other countries.
Two stupid tips of the day for the price of one: how can you beat that deal?
Please do not answer that question…
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
