It wasn’t long ago that most mobile phones had their own specialized chargers with their own proprietary interfaces, but in the past year or two, the majority of smart phone makers have standardized on micro USB for power. This standardization is great for users, because you can grab any micro USB cable you have lying around or buy at the store and attach it to your phone, without wondering whether it will work with you for phone. It’s great for the environment too, because the charger you get with today’s smart phone will work with your next phone and the phone after so you don’t have to throw it out.

Unfortunately, there’s no common standard for notebook power bricks, but that could be changing. According to a DigiTimes report, several Taiwanese vendors, including Acer and ASUS, and major manufacturers like Quanta, Compal, Wistron, Pegatron, and Inventec support the idea, which is being pushed forward by the IEEE (Institute of Electical and Electronics Engineers). В 

Digitimes says that the standardization process is still in its early stages so don’t hold your breath waiting for universal power bricks. The report also says that power supply makers – the people who make the bricks themselves – will likely oppose the standard as they have the most to lose.

Wattage is one area where the standardized power bricks will have to differ from standardized smart phone chargers. Where every smart phone can get all the juice it needs over USB 2.0, notebook power supplies vary, from 65 watts for a mainstream system, to 90 watts for something a little more high-end, and well over 150 watts for a mobile workstation. In order to standardize, vendors will have to offer a common connector, but different capacity power supplies, depending on what a notebook needs.

At LAPTOP, we’re really hoping vendors will meet this challenge, because we have to keep two giant drawers full of power bricks, sorted by manufacturer and we have to label each brick with a yellow sticker that has the model number on it. Even with this organization system, it’s often difficult to find the right brick for a given notebook. We can only imagine how IT departments at large companies feel.

While it could be a few years until we see a standard, there are several third party “universal ” power adapters today that come with a number of В different plugs. We recently tested out the Cooler Master SNA 95 and liked it but noted that, like all universal power adapters, it doesn’t work with every brand on the market and there are some notebooks it will power but not charge.

via Lilliputing

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It’s called the Charm for a reason. Today T-Mobile made Motorola’s latest Android phone official,В  and it almost looks small enough to hang around your neck. The Motorola Charm is an Android device with a slender, square form factor, a full QWERTY physical keyboard, and a 2.8-inch touchscreen. The device also has a 3-Megapixel Kodak Perfect Touch-endorsed camera and a backtrack navigation pad–similar to the one we tested on the underwhelming Motorola Backflip.

One the software side, the Charm runs Android 2.1 with an updated version of Motoblur.В  There’s corporate email support, pinch-to-zoom functionality, and Adobe Flash Lite integrated out the box.В В  Some of the new Motoblur enhancements include customizable widget sizes, battery management, and improved social network integration like the Droid X.В  Unlike the Droid X however, the Charm seems to retain the older MotoblurВ  look,В  similar to that of the Cliq XT.

Here’s the tricky part. How much should T-Mo charge for this thing?

T-Mobile has only stated that the Charm will be released this summer, and hasn’t made any announcement regarding price, but we think it should fall somewhere between $99 and $149 (with a 2 year agreement), considering that higher powered Android phones are on the horizon likeВ  Samsung’s Vibrant (for $199.99 on contract).В  Also, T-Mobile should tread carefully, as a number of overly patient Motorola Cliq faithful are still stuck in the Android 1.5 stone-age, far behind everyone else.В  They’ll have a lot of answering to do if the Charm comes out before the Cliq’s Android 2.1 update.

In a post on YouTube’s official blog, Google’s video service announced today the launch of a video experiment titled, “Life in A Day,” an attempt to team up with users to film various moments during this coming July 24th. These moments can range from, “a neighborhood soccer match,” says the post, “or the extraordinary–a baby’s first steps.” In addition, if your clip tickles YouTube’s fancy it has a chance to be added to the final documentary edited by Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, One Day in September) and executive produced by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down). The final product will premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in January, where those selected will be attributed with co-director status and the possibility to attend the premiere.

To add your video to the running, upload it to YouTube’s Life in a Day channel. Although one of the requirements is that you film on the 24th, they will be accepting admissions until the 31st. The project is sure to be a success considering YouTube’s enormous user base… although the ratio of cat videos to all other videos remains to be seen.

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The official Twitter app from RIM has finally left beta and we had a chance to spend some quality time with it today. The first thing we noticed was how good the UI looked. Compared to other free Twitter options on the Blackberry such as UberTwitter or Seesmic, we think this has a great interface, though we can’t say it has a better UI than Twitter apps seen on iPhone or Android.

In terms of typical Twitter functions, the app seemed to do a good job. When composing a tweet typing the “@” sign brought up a list of users you follow for easy @mentioning. Adding a picture to a tweet was easy as well: hitting the camera icon will take you to your saved pictures; you can even snap one on the spot. The 640×480 image is automatically sent to TwitPic.

You are even able to compose a tweet from the Blackberry Messages app as well as the SMS app via a slick slide-up window. Retweeting is possible using the “Quote Tweet” command. Even though the text in this window is editable, we would have preferred if RIM followed standard retweet procedure by starting the tweet with “RT”.

We were unable to add location to our tweets (a feature possible in other Blackberry apps) though when doing a Twitter search you can specify how close in proximity you want your results.

We thought the trending topics functionality was well done. Not only is one able to see a list of the current popular topics, but upon clicking the “Recent” tab, you are taken to a tag cloud of topics which have been popular recently. Although we liked this idea and found it useful, we can imagine the concept working better on a touchscreen than when using our Blackberry Curve’s trackpad.

Another stand-out feature of RIM’s offering is faux-kinetic scrolling. We thought this was a nice touch that made scrolling through lists feel more natural even when using our Curve’s trackpad. Because many Blackberry apps don’t incorporate this, it makes the Twitter app stand out. Upon reaching the end of a page the app loads more items automatically—another useful touch.

Other features include the ability to search for users within the app, list support, notifications upon receiving @mentions and direct messages. Although seeing our @mentions and direct messages appear in the Messages app proved useful, having the phone check Twitter so frequently drained our battery. If you’re willing to sacrifice some juice, this feature is definitely a useful one.

All in all we found RIM’s official Twitter app to be a compelling product, even when compared to the numerous Blackberry Twitter apps already available. The interface is well done for a Blackberry app and includes most of Twitter’s key features. Despite not having as many features as other apps, Twitter for BlackBerry is a solid choice for this platform.

Who do you think is the most influential person online right now? Could it be Perez Hilton? Steve Jobs? Carlos <shudder> Mencia? Think it could be you? Fast Company’s willing to entertain the idea with The Influence Project, which is designed specifically to seek out the real movers and shakers (and, incidentally, clickers) of the online universe.

The premise is pretty simple: after a quick registration process, you get your picture uploaded to The Influence Project’s website, where it join scads of others. Fast Company then sends you a unique link, and in order to win this little contest you need to “influence” people to click on that link, which makes your picture on the site bigger.В  By simply participating you get to have your picture appear in their November issue as “part of an amazing photo spread,” and the more influential you are, the more surface area your adorable mug gets to dominate.

So how does Fast Company measure your now-justifiable narcissism? Well, according to the site:

The T-Mobile Charm can’t get all of today’s Android attention, no, Sprint isn’t having it.В  Today they officially dished the details on a new mid-range Android set, the Samsung Intercept.В  Available nationwide this Sunday, July 11th, for $99.99 (after a $100 mail-in rebate, on a 2-year contract), the Intercept is a direct shot from Sprint, aimed clearly at the T-Mobile MyTouch Slide and AT&T HTC Aria.В  Are they on aim?В  Read on.

The Intercept is a 3.2-inch slider with a full QWERTY physical keyboard and a 3.2-Megapixel camera.В  It comes in 2 color options, Gray Steel, and Satin Pink.В  On the software side, the Intercept runs stock Android 2.1, and is loaded with social networking apps including Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter.В  We had a brief hands-on with the Intercept a while back and came away impressed with the overall feel of the device. В  We particularly liked the keyboard, which had generously spaced keys and good tactile feedback.В  We’ll have more on the Intercept soon, and a review up as soon as we receive one.

T-Mobile may have started the Android frenzy, but Sprint has been very aggressive lately, with more attractive Android options.В В  The Intercept seems like another win for Sprint.В  It’s running Android 2.1, has a slide out physical keyboard (a must for some), and the price is just right. We’re eager to see how T-Mobile will react, as the current price of the MyTouch Slide is $199.99 (on a 2 year contract)В  and the upcoming Motorola Charm’s price tag hasn’t been announced.В  We’reВ  also standing by to see how AT&T will react with the HTC Aria (currently $129.99 on a 2 year contract).В  Sprint’s aggressiveness makes watching the Android game unfold more and more fun, don’t you agree?

The increasingly ubiquitous Facebook lost a bit of steam in the month of June after posting giant numbers just one month earlier. In May 2010, Facebook gained 7.8 million monthly active users, but that number dropped to just 320,800 for June. What’s more interesting is that Facebook actually experienced a drop in active users among its core user group of 18-44 year-olds.

The drop of few hundred thousand people in Facebook’s core user group coincides neatly with the privacy flaws and concerns that plagued the service last month. The most egregious of these was a flaw that exposed people’s private chats. Meanwhile, other Facebookers fretted over somewhat confusing, often changing privacy controls that came to head last month, too.

So what does this mean? Well, according to Inside Facebook, the people who didn’t login to Facebook last month barely made a dent in the overall user pool. In fact, 18-44 year-olds still make up 70% of users. In other words, there’s nothing to worry about– yet. However, if Facebook continues to have more bad press, alters its privacy controls in favor of advertisers again, or just starts being “lame,” users may start abandoning the site on a larger scale.

via Inside Facebook.

It’s been about two years now that airlines have been offering the web in the air. Wi-FiВ  is currently available in about one-third of the U.S. fleet of planes, according to USA Today. But, only 10 percent of passengers are using it.

But Aircell, provider of the biggest in-flight Wi-Fi program, Gogo, isn’t concerned. In fact they say that those 10 percent are mostly repeat users, thereby proving the quality of experience. Aircell told us that 61 percent of Gogo customers have used their service again within three months. A company spokesperson said, “We’re thrilled with our usage rates to date. Gogo usage continues to grow as more and more aircraft are equipped with Gogo, giving more consumers the chance to utilize it, making plane time their time.”

“Me” time or not, 10 percent doesn’t exactly make the case for an overwhelming need, and that could be a reflection of the cost.

Aircell is available on Air Canada, Air Tran, Alaska Airways, American Airlines, Continental Airways, Delta Airways, Frontier Airways, United Airlines, US Airways, and Virgin America, boasting availability on 3,500 flights per day. Gogo costs $4.95 on flights of up to 90 minutes, $9.95 for flights of up to three hours, and $12.95 on longer flights. Plus, there’s now a monthly option for use on all carriers with GoGo for $34.95. Seemingly perfect for business travelers, it’s unfortunate that some companies are refusing to reimburse their employees for in-flight Wi-Fi expenses, according to Business Travel News, which could also be putting a damper on usage.

Analyst firm In-Stat predicts that a drop in fees, by as much as 24 percent, is on the horizon before 2014. Their recent report also says the airlines may start to provide in-flight video via the web, as a way to boost revenue. It’s unclear if this could mean an additional fee for streaming video. Regardless, they feel revenue from in-flight Internet services will increase by 1,357 percent over the next four years, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. But first they’ll need to get more people to use it.