Last year Dell computers commissioned a study that found that 12,000 laptops are lost each week at U.S. airports. Los Angeles leads the pack with 1,200 laptops reported lost or stolen at LAX weekly. Incredibly, most laptops are left behind at security checkpoints, with only 33 percent ever being recovered (17 percent before the flight, 16 percent after).

Now, part of our shock about these numbers comes from the absent-mindedness of travelers who lose sight of a valuable piece of luggage — and one that they probably need to conduct their business or lives at the other end of their flights. But another thought comes to mind: Why don’t the TSA screeners call after people who have left their notebook computers behind — are they themselves too busy? do they assume such left luggage is dangerous and immediately dunk the laptops in a bucket of water?

…”We get belts,” says McFarland who works in Bob Hope’s lost and found department. “Everyone leave their belts, cell phones, clothing items, thumb drives, keys, watches. I’ve read about the laptops, but I don’t get those — TSA has them.” (LA Weekly)

This Yahoo Tech blogger was skeptical and claims he has verified these astounding numbers:

That’s not a mistake in the headline. I checked it twice…

Blame it on the harried and fragile mental state of the modern traveler, so rushed to get to his flight on time that key belongings are left behind. TSA often tries to alert passengers that they’ve left something behind — and it’s much more than just a bunch of laptops; wallets, belts, keys, and everything else is often forgotten — but that people rarely make it back once they’ve left the checkpoint.

Notes LA Weekly: “TSA screeners will page travelers by name when their identities are known. Still, [one] employee says, travelers will often later admit they heard their names on the public address system after leaving the security checkpoint — but somehow didn’t make the connection that they were being asked to recover lost items.” The story calls modern travelers universally “spaced-out.”

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work. - official Google blog

If you could dual-boot and open up either XP or Google OS I’d be all over it. It would be perfect when all you needed to do was get online. PC World has five questions about the Google OS. And Bloomberg sees the OS as a threat to Microsoft, an idea at which the PC World writer scoffs.

From jolly old Ryanair: The London Daily Mail reports that the Ireland-based Sam’s Club of the Skies will offer the equivalent of standing/bar stool-type seats if regulatory agencies will allow them. Seems they got this brilliant idea from a Chinese airline. Yikes. I do enjoy standing on long flights though. When I first saw the headline I feared that Ryan, who have floated the idea of pay-to-pee on their planes, was going to make all the toilets standing only.

And…standing might reduce this nasty bit of bad news: Reuters reports that people who spend a lot of time traveling - by car or plane - have the triple the risk of sustaining dangerous blood clots with the risk rising significantly for every two hours the traveler is constrained. This makes Ryanair’s scheme look better already. My small bladder insures that my legs get lots of stretching on those long flights. See, it is important to drink lots of fluids on the plane.