http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ ... e_changer_?

One transmitter in the house charging everything up to 30 feet away? Nice.

Normally I don't go in for these 'wifi and mobile signals will give you brain cancer' points of view.
But surely something that powerful can't be good for you?

Assuming it's not going to cook your eyeballs anyway .

They need to get the 'device end' part inbuilt for it to really work. Having a main unit then a smaller podule you have to plug your phone into to charge isn't actually that much better than mains if you think about it in terms of effort. Useful for distributed power to outhouses or for those who have listed buildings say who can't rewire but for the vast majority it's no more convenient. Once you get to the point where when you walk into your house or office your devices just start charging automatically - or more probably trickle charge all the time so they never run out - then we're getting somewhere.

Hmm.. the claim is 1W of power at up to 30 feet. Most current range smartphones and tablets need at least 1A on the charging circuit at 5V (normal USB voltage) to claim to be charging. That means, using the calculation we all learned at school, they expect to be getting 5W. This system apparently can't provide that much power. So I'd be interested to know how the iPhone the guy was holding up decided it was getting charged...

We're getting there - I'd probably accept medium health risks if I thought I could get rid of USB cables

I wouldn't.
I've got enough USB cables not to charge a device in almost any room in the house anyway.

I don't mind it too much when it's a standard micro USB device, but I've got Sony devices that are very particular, hubs, MP3 player and feck knows what else. I'm just sick to the back teeth of everything needing a cable.

It might not be much but if you leave your gadgets in the same place it will be able to trickle charge every thing. You could replace all your batteries with the wifi rechargeable versions. It will mean that your console handset will always be charged, your camera will always be fully charged.

If commercial operations adopted this it could provide power for customers in airports stations offices shops. In offices it could eliminate the plugging in of USB cables and so allow computers without USB ports so be much more secure, yet people could charge phones etc.

I think a better application might be things we don't carry around much/very far from home but we'd just prefer to be wireless and don't want to keep changing batteries in. Bluetooth Keyboards and mice for example. They use much less juice than charging a phone battery but you still need to recharge them or swap batteries fairly often. You'd never have to do that again with this system. Remote controls, children's toys...

There are a lot of places relatively low level wireless power would be great, I just think launching with an application like phone charging, which by the looks of things their tech might not actually be that suited to, is a mistake. They've done that because it's the most obvious one to most tech journalists and tech-interested but it rather strikes me they've shouted "look at our replacement for the Transit van" when what they've actually built is a bicycle...

if they could build a version of the small cube from the demo that was the size and shape of a AA battery that put out the same power, they'd be rolling in money in no time at all.

Jon

In the video he mentioned it being as small as the size of a AAA battery. That would make it perfect for mice, remotes, wireless console controllers, smoke alarms, kids toys would move about a lot during the day but be stationary at night. Though they could have larger D sizes for toys etc. That could apply to mobiles and tablets at home as well.

If coffee shops had them then you could pick a cafe with this system over one without, and charge up without needing to be next to the wall socket or get it out of your pocket. In an airport they could be everywhere and they could charge up security radios, police radios etc as well as passenger devices. That will make passengers happier when travelling and less stressed. If it became universal you may never need to take your charger with you or certainly very rarely.

The big question is how efficient is it? If it isn't running at over 90% efficiency, then it will be a non-starter.

Maybe for you, and clearly it would be bad for the planet, but most people are willing to pay for convenience.

It's only quite recently that regular adapters are 90% or better.

I have a Braun toothbrush that wireless charges. The stand is also effective on my Seiko Kinetic watch. Though you need to balance it in a very specific position for it to work.
Transmitting power over wireless has got to be lossy as hell.

I think that's magnetic induction charging. I don't think that works over range, it's a way to not need an actual wire connection so you can charge electrical devices that have to be sealed so they can operate in wet environments. They were talking about having induction charging pads in parkings paces for electric cars buta s you say, the alignment needs to be pretty accurate for them to work.


Yup. Given the energy deficit we're looking at, we should maybe be prioritising efficiency a bit more than we are...

Yes it is induction charging. This is different, more like microwave power transmission.


I think that efficiency is what will kill this idea. Though small USB chargers must have some losses of their own as they convert the power down to the USB standard from mains.