(Some thoughts on hotel and key cards from a colleague at our sister publication Kunststoff Information)

Last week in Paris, the reality of technology caught up with me once again. We fly to the moon and lay miles of pipe in the deep sea, but we are unable to leave a hotel room and keep charging a laptop or cell phone inside. And this fails to consider the fact that a second socket was only available after unplugging the television set.

The crux of the matter lies in the small plastic card that has to be inserted into the narrow slot on the door after unlocking it – for the purpose of lights and such. If you leave (and want to return later) you have to take the card with you – and that's the end of the recharging process. So three business cards squeezed into the slot together as a replacement and the power stays on. Was this what the inventor of the electronic hotel key intended?