News - This is the future: use your electonics without wires

[HEXUS]

How homes of the future will deal with electronics.

Read more.

[aidanjt]

Meh, waste of energy, and old tech really. All that's really needed is better standardisation of energy distribution.

[The Jambo]

This same thing appears every year or so.

The same question is always asked though, How badly does this field affect the body?

If some are worried about the minute power of WiFi, then this would be madness.

[aidanjt]

This same thing appears every year or so.

The same question is always asked though, How badly does this field affect the body?

If some are worried about the minute power of WiFi, then this would be madness.

It's just a magnetic field, it uses an electromagnet to emit it. And a mini generator in the recieving device is turned to produce current to charge the battery. That makes it horribly inefficent at power transmission.

[moogle]

I'd prefer wires. Like it's been said unefficient. We haven't mastered efficiency with wires on standard appliances and things anyway.

[kingpotnoodle]

And what happens when you place a magnetically sensitive item on the table? Magnetic tape for example?

I think I'll stick with good old wires for now, but I really would love to see standardised chargers.

[HSK]

Not impressed. I don't want no wires so I can put my laptop on a magic desk and charge away? I might as well stick the wire in and sit there and type away, it doesn't make any difference. I want to be able to run around without the restriction of a wire, or a desk or a mat. let me be free.

[Fraz]

It's just a magnetic field, it uses an electromagnet to emit it. And a mini generator in the recieving device is turned to produce current to charge the battery. That makes it horribly inefficent at power transmission.

I doubt they have a "mini-generator" - just an alternating magnetic field will do. There aren't any moving parts in a transformer which works by the same principle, after all.

[Fraz]

And what happens when you place a magnetically sensitive item on the table? Magnetic tape for example?

If the whole table surface is one big mat of alternating magnetic field, then presumably it really won't like it. Just imagine getting your credit card out to pay for something online... d'oh.

[Lucio]

It's one of those ideas that seems great when you're first told about it, but once you stop and think about all the consequences it kinda dampens the enthusiasm.

As such, I'm very surprised it's not been patented by Apple as iPower!!!

[Saracen]

Some things are solutions looking for a problem. There may be situations where something like this could be useful, but as far as my own situation is concerned, I can't think what they would be. The vast bulk of the time, wires aren't a problem.

And in these days of ecological concerns about power usage and carbon footprint, not to mention high energy prices, this will have to be a very efficient technology to get me to even consider it, let alone pay for the privilege of doing it. Nah, it's a non-starter in my opinion.

[Hicks12]

This idea is an old one and proven but i cant agree with it unless its atleast as efficient as wire, there are alot of downsides to this that far out weigh the pros such as the cost of the items and limited range. I cant see how having a mat to put something on to charge is less annoying than a wire, most laptops are using on your lap or something not on a desk.

[scaramanga]

This idea is an old one and proven but i cant agree with it unless its atleast as efficient as wire, there are alot of downsides to this that far out weigh the pros such as the cost of the items and limited range. I cant see how having a mat to put something on to charge is less annoying than a wire, most laptops are using on your lap or something not on a desk.

Well I suppose it will be useful for trickle-charging your mobile phones. You don't have to go searching for cables every time you plonk your phone down.

In an ideal world where all the downsides are solved, this would be a good idea. I'd love to see the charging distance be farther although the health risks need to be properly assessed.