Word: palm
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...Apparently a small bunch of Palm users have had rather nasty shocks to their system. Static electricity, they say, has somehow made its way from their Palm cradles to their PCs during the HotSync process, which is where the two exchange and back up information. Result: fried motherboard. This appears to have happened enough times for San Francisco attorneys to file a class-action lawsuit last week. The law firm has garnered testimony from at least 40 new complainants since the suit started to be publicized. Palm maintains it is not aware of any such problem...
...Whatever the merits of the case, the merest hint of a HotSync problem was enough to make my mind reel. For more than eighteen months now, ever since my Filofax got sucked into the vortex created by a cinema seat and my chronic forgetfulness, my Palm V has been my personal religion. Not only do I have every single piece of information important to my life stashed in there, I also have it regularly backed up on my PC for safekeeping. HotSyncing is so supremely simple - stick the Palm in its cradle, press a button, and you're done...
...universe where nothing from the speed of light on down is stable, not even a Palm Pilot can be relied upon with the kind of blind faith most users invest...
...thought. But what if I stuck the Palm in its cradle and both Palm and PC got fritzed? I know that static electricity can be a potential death blow for computers; that's why you're supposed to ground yourself by touching the metal casing before installing a new graphics card, sound card or internal drive. I also know it would have to be a huge long-shot for an electric current to somehow pass from your body to the Palm's casing, down the cradle cable and into the computer. It's not like this will affect Palm...
...their ears. I don't doubt it's possible that some thousandth of a percent of users are affected. Just as I don't doubt my lottery number might come up, or that I might have touched enough laundered linens and walked on enough carpets to blow up my Palm and PC. In a universe where nothing from the speed of light on down is stable, not even a Palm Pilot can be relied upon with the kind of blind faith most users invest in it. Personally, I'll be handling my HotSyncs with kid gloves from...