wonders never cease!!

[cousinlucky]

Hope for humans who dislike charging batteries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6129460.stm

[fingal]

Thanks Coz - That's interesting and looks like it could work. Hope it doesn't affect someone's pacemaker!

[techieMoe]

Oh, I read that wrong. At first I thought you said, "For those who like discharging batteries!" and I immediately expected to see videos of people blowing up alkalines in spectacular ways. *sigh*

[fingal]

Oh, I read that wrong. At first I thought you said, "For those who like discharging batteries!" and I immediately expected to see videos of people blowing up alkalines in spectacular ways. *sigh*

A bit like this? Needs broadband ...

[antidrugue]

Hope for humans who dislike charging batteries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6129460.stm

Interesting.

Oh, I read that wrong. At first I thought you said, "For those who like discharging batteries!" and I immediately expected to see videos of people blowing up alkalines in spectacular ways. *sigh*

A bit like this? Needs broadband ...

Frightening. But certainly spectacular. I'm gonna keep on eye on my laptop

[bidi]

I for one think it's never going to work! Nikola Tesla tried the same concept over 100 years ago and ran into one tiny detail: you can't charge for it! If energy is avaiable in the air, there's no way you can charge people for it, so companies are not going to invest on something they can't make many of.

Of course there's always the case that they could figure out a way to charge people for the service!

Just my opinion on the matter...

[antidrugue]

I for one think it's never going to work! Nikola Tesla tried the same concept over 100 years ago and ran into one tiny detail: you can't charge for it!

I'm sure they can find a way to do that. If Internet (so data) can travel over power (power over ethernet), then sure you can track who is using and who is not. No ?

[techieMoe]

I read the article and I find the term "centuries-old physics" humorous. I mean, the basic concepts have always existed in the universe, correct? Just because humans didn't discover the idea of gravity until the 1500s for instance doesn't mean it wasn't there.

[smolloy]

Being a physicist I see problems for this device. In order for the power to couple efficiently both the transmitter and the receiver need to be very high Q devices. This implies that their resonant frequencies need to be really well matched (difficult but not impossible), and that there be no absorbing material in the vicinity.

It could work for low power devices, but it would take an age to recharge a laptop!!

Although it would be great if they figured out a way round all this, cos it sounds like a cool device.

[fingal]

I read the article and I find the term "centuries-old physics" humorous. I mean, the basic concepts have always existed in the universe, correct? Just because humans didn't discover the idea of gravity until the 1500s for instance doesn't mean it wasn't there.

I was brought up in the same English county as Isaac Newton. The irony is that people from Lincolnshire aren't exactly noted for their genius. An old rhyme goes:

Lincolnshire, born and bred.
Strong in arm, thick in head.

It's fun to say to people, 'Sir Isaac Newton invented gravity' and see if they react. Strange to think how different the world might have seemed had he not been born, but as you say the things we discover are there anyway.