Amid the economic downturn, there are fewer places in New York to plug
in computers. As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables — nursing a
single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for hours — and as shop
owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between
coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is fading. In some places,
customers just get cold looks, but in a growing number of small coffee
shops, firm restrictions on laptop use have been imposed and electric
outlets have been locked. The laptop backlash may predate the
recession, but the recession clearly has accelerated it. — Erica Alini, Wall Street Journal