Interesting piece in today's Chicago Sun-Times about a plan to give traveler's free access to power up their laptops and other mobile devices at O'Hare and Midway airports. (No more looking for an open duplex -- maintenance -- outlet in any of the seating areas?)

Last month, 40,000 air travelers paid $6.95 daily for the right to access the Internet at O'Hare and Midway airports. But what good is wireless Internet access if passengers have no place to recharge their dying BlackBerries, PDAs and laptop computers?

Newly appointed Chicago Aviation Commissioner Nuria Fernandez has been asking herself that question after strolling through passenger terminals, only to find desperate travelers sitting on the floor hogging electrical outlets reserved for maintenance equipment.

The plan is to open 25 "Re-charge and Relax" stations -- 21 at O'Hare and four at Midway; eight stations at O'Hare and two at Midway are to open by September. The rest will debut in January.

We can only hope that this good idea will spread around the country -- and fast!

www.suntimes.com