A system that can deliver power to devices without the need for wires has been shown off at a hi-tech conference.
The technique exploits simple physics and can be used to charge a range of electronic devices over many metres. Eric Giler, chief executive of US firm Witricity, showed mobile phones and televisions charging wirelessly at the TED Global conference in Oxford.
He said the system could replace the miles of expensive power cables and billions of disposable batteries. ”There is something like 40 billion disposable batteries built every year for power that, generally speaking, is used within a few inches or feet of where there is very inexpensive power,” he said.
Trillions of dollars, he said, had also been invested building an infrastructure of wires “to get power from where it is created to where it is used.” ”We love this stuff [electricity] so much,” he said. Mr Giler showed off a Google G1 phone and an Apple iPhone that could be charged using the system.
Witricity, he said, had managed to pack all the necessary components into the body of the G1 phone, but Apple had made that process slightly harder. ”They don’t make it easy at Apple to get inside their phones so we put a little sleeve on the back,” he said. He also showed off a commercially available television using the system.
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lol – oxford! wow oxfords actually done something useful! never know derren may even want to come back here sometime!
What about people living next door nicking all your electricity, and you’re left paying the bill?
Will be interesting to see how they get round that issue.
Yeah, that would be aworry of mine as well.
Unless there was a way of adding security to whatever transmits the power, like with Wi Fi connections.
I’ve always wished someone would invent this!! But my worry lies with what Michelle said above. Will be interesting to see if this hits the market any time in the near future. It’d be interesting to see how versatile it was; would there one day be a possibility for less plugs and cables etc etc? Surely good for decreasing our carbon footprints etc
Still will need lots of research to make it really work in houeholds ofcourse. And I have to say ..I really think it can be disturbed quite easily .. and def. are not too sure whether it completely 100% safe for living beings, but I dont know enough about this to point out why, so I can be very wrong, but I think I’m not. What about pacemakers and such? I’m really curiuos whether they tested it very thoroughly around living beings, in various states. Probably not that thorough. We live on a planet where magnetism is common .. so ofcourse it will effect people and all life on it. Not saying that they should not go on with their research, just wondering about some stuff. It’s not always their concern (yet) .. and one system might not be unsafe, but in this form it will never be used all over the world in most households I guess.
I’d love to get rid of all cables and wires though. But not in my life that will happen for me.
And what if you cross the electro magnetic fileds to often ..
MRI on your body def. does have its influence .. Long term influence might be sickening .. MRI changes something in your cells for a short period .. something gets swopped./flattened if I remember correct. They should not be in that state too much/long/often I guess .. .
If people are insisting on cell phone and wifi signals growing tumors, then the first place where this is implemented will turn into cancerland!
PS: Forgot to mention: Tesla did it!