posted on January 24, 2009

The Web hasn't democratized this world of hurt - yet

By: IVOR TOSSELL
Published: JANUARY 23, 2009
Source: The Globe and Mail

"After the lights went out in the middle of Toronto, leaving a cool 100,000-odd people without power for almost 24 hours in the dead of winter, the mayor had a suggestion: buy battery-powered radios.

That preparedness advice wasn't without merit. There was one report of the ill-equipped being forced to use an iPhone as a flashlight. (In my defence, the light it casts is more colourful than your average flashlight's.) But a good many of the afflicted discovered that, as battery-powered gadgets go, smartphones were even more useful than radios. Within minutes of the power going out, people with mobile Web access had hopped online and were comparing notes. Reports pinging in from around the city described the extent of the outage, directing people toward neighbourhoods (and pubs) that still had power."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/article654664.ece