I wonder if this will kill your mechanical watch?

Noobs-R-Us

We all have a ton of "Wireless" gear but none of it really is without wires. If they get this stuff going we could truly get stuff that doesnt have wires, whadya know maybe we can call that stuff "Wirenot" or "Anti-wire" maybe "Wi-No" ...

VideoVampire

Years? Try decades. Not even Tesla got it right.

In any event, I'd rather see betavoltaics get more love than wireless power transmission. A battery-like power source that could outlast a device's usefulness is certainly one I'd love to have.

DisposableInterloper

"Hey Aunt Gertie, check out the new wireless electricity we installed! Just don't walk between the 2...AUNT GERTIE! STOP! AUNT GERTIE!!?? AUUUNT GERRTIEEEEE!!!!"

"Hi, 911? My Aunt just got fried in my living room"

Ding dong.

"Hi Paramedic Guys. She's on the floor, right over there. Just don't walk between the 2...PARAMEDIC GUYS! STOP! PARAMEDIC GUYS!!?? PAARAAMEDIC GUUUUYYYS!!!!

mcdj

Sure, so I'll be able to use my Macbook all day without the cat trying to bite the ol' Magsafe, but the real question is will this fry my brain and/or groin area?

NNTPgrip

Tesla what?

rock99rock

I hate wireless power. I totally screws up one of many (supposedly) faux products I've come up with.

Bring on the supercapacitor batteries, that sounds too grounded. "Giant electrochemical batteries" sure sounds exciting!

Wait..

liquidsoapdispenser

Wireless power seems to me like a straw dog that these tech companies are needlessly chasing after.

Give me an affordable laptop battery that will actually last an entire day and I'll be more than happy.

Sportyboard

didnt tesla do this like 80 some years ago?

Rage42

@Noobs-R-Us: Watch hell, how about your pacemaker?

BigDogues

@mcdj: Well played.

Kaveh

I'm glad that there are major companies (read: real money) chasing "impossible sci-fi" technologies. Sure the results we see now are underwhelming compared to their fictional counterparts, but they're steps in the right direction. Wireless power would be amazing. It would change ubiquitous computing completely.

Sure it's hard to comprehend how we would be able to walk around and receive wireless power the same way we receive wireless internet, but it's that the point of innovation?

DorkRawk

@trendspotter:

I think I'll pass if they start offering that ;) Bathing in a magnetic field strong enough to charge a car would probably do bad things to my reproductive capabilities, and probably fling my car keys out of the ignition...

lurgy

This is something I want to see come to "plug-in" electric cars and hybrids. That way there could just be either designated parking spots or a "pad" at home that you would park on to charge the vehicle.

For the public charge spots there could be an RFID chip so that charging would only happen after verification of a charge account, and you'd get a monthly bill for your parking/charging. The charging stations could be within parking structures with solar arrays on the roof and additional renewables, like wind or hydro, supplying the rest of the juice--thus eliminating the whole coal emissions replacing gasoline emissions problem with electric cars which depend on the already overloaded (and over-coaled) grid.

trendspotter

I remember them saying at a CES a few years ago that they were going to be manufacturing LCOS chips for less than it takes to feed an Ethiopian village for a day.

How'd that work out?

pyleg

Prediction:

wireless power will cause cancer

ljj

Come on guys, ThinkGeek has had this for a few years now for only $35.

[www.thinkgeek.com]

Platypus Man

@lurgy: Yeah, shielding my nads was the first thing that popped into my mind too.

Could be a great opportunity to market shielded boxers...

stratboy

@Platypus Man: That was an April Fool's gag. I *wish* those wireless extension cords were really true! Maybe with this tech, it will be!

If this tech gets to be ubuiqutious, we won't *need* any long-running batteries. Our devices will charge themselves, anywhere and everywhere!

J0hnP

I've always been a little leery of wireless charging/powering. I feel a lot more comfortable about the developing kinetic charging/powering solutions.

Killjoy

@Rage42: Tesla is now working on a Grand Unified Field Theory while Einstein is working on a conceptual design for wireless power. They got bored.

whootowl

@trendspotter: i like your thinking...too bad there's money involved.

dandaman247

@BigDogues: Perhaps we should test it first on Dick Cheney!

Noobs-R-Us

yes tesla did this 80 some years ago after he invented ac power.

it doesnt hurt, it is just a magnetic field and induction coils.

wormy3000

@VideoVampire: Wireless = Lesswire

mrchimp

Go ahead. Stick your head in there. It won't hurt a bit.

avconsumer2

It is just another government scheme to kill us all since AIDS is taking too long.

reddingofish

Maybe it doesn't hurt if you're standing between the coils if it's just you and some cotton clothes, but what if you're wearing a metal-banded watch that could be a conductor?

tcolberg

@DisposableInterloper:
Actually Tesla did get it right, and he demonstrated wireless power transmission as early as 1891, and the World's Fair of 1893. Tesla wanted free wireless power for the world, something that his employer, Westinghouse, wasn't interested in. There was no profit investing in free power, and that was one of the factors that lead to their split in 1897.

If Intel tries to patent this, wouldn't Tesla's work be considered prior art?

nimblesquirrel

Supercapacitors... Anyone want to go fishing? >:-)

ugar

I just got cancer from looking at that picture.

stonefry

Just the other day I was looking at my electrical extension cord and saying,

"Why isn't there a cordless version of this?"

fluf

@nimblesquirrel:
No, Tesla didn't get it right. Tesla coils put out way too much noise and they're too unpredictable to be of any use, and Tesla's plan to build a tower to transmit power was flawed from the beginning. Like it or not, as much of a pioneer Tesla was in the field, he didn't have as complete a knowledge of electrical phenomena as people do today.

What's being worked on right now is the means to transmit power efficiently across long distances with minimal interference and no risk to human safety. Tesla didn't accomplish that.

DisposableInterloper

Forget wireless charging and uber capacitors. I want my micro nuke reactor. In my laptop. One that is the size of a AA battery, will power for 70+ years, and cause cancers in unwanted places.

Makkuro

@DisposableInterloper:

"What's being worked on right now is the means to transmit power efficiently across long distances with minimal interference and no risk to human safety. Tesla didn't accomplish that."

that's debatable.

nutbastard

@DisposableInterloper: unpredictable, schmunpredictable. Just think about the possibilities for hillarious situations if tesla coils became household appliances. People randomly being struck dead by lightning from the fridge = pure gold.

lpranal

When I first pulled the pic up,I thought it was a giant-@ss hamster wheel,except the hamster was conspicuously absent.
Then,judging from the people in the pic,I figured it out...Intel has harnessed WHITE POWER!!!

Wait,what do you mean "that's not it"??? D'oh!

FiveLiters

@nutbastard:
I'll just say that there's a reason I keep you on my shit list and leave it at that.

@lpranal:
It would certainly have entertainment value, but the problem is that we don't know if the fridge would even be powered well enough or consistently enough to keep the beer cold. If the beer isn't cold, the subject won't go to fetch some, and hence won't get fried for our viewing pleasure. But then, perhaps the unpredictability of it all would make it that much more delicious and suitable as gambling fodder. It's a tricky conundrum.

DisposableInterloper

I'm sure wireless power is completely harmless and nothing to worry about! [notnews.today.com]

dgerard

it is better if they invent a battery that would last for months in a single charge! that would be much better than this wireless power thing and you may also end up electricuted with this thing!

japong