What is Digg?121 Comments
- quomen, on 10/12/2007, -11/+96This seems cancerous.
- cutlerite, on 10/12/2007, -3/+82It isn't "from the air" its THROUGH THE AIR.
- andyrobo60, on 10/12/2007, -2/+43"For years, electricity experts said this kind of thing couldn't be done."
Its not like someone called Tesla did this over a larger distance than 3 feet in the early 1900's - CDefense7, on 10/12/2007, -5/+40The transmitter has to transmit in all directions (otherwise you would have to line your device it up with it) - so how much electricity is being wasted by being transmitted in all directions? Obviously it is very low power, but if it's enough power to charge devices, it will add up to a significant amount of waste over time, right? They say the signals bounce off of walls but I would think that a good amount would not make it back to your device. And do you turn this off when you leave the room or just leave it on, emitting expensive electricity to no-where?
- blakeh, on 10/12/2007, -3/+36Wasn't this discovered by Tesla several decades ago ?
- FizixMan, on 10/12/2007, -8/+35FOOL!
EVERYTHING causes Cancer! Even babies and fluffy bunnies!
At least, that's what all the studies and cancer groups would like us to believe. - nathanwalker, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30Straight out of the workbook of Nikolai Tesla...
- stagl, on 10/12/2007, -15/+40cancerous? just like cell phones, wifi, bluetooth, tv screens, microwaves, etc. this always comes up when someone is scared of new tech.
- msprout, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Yeah, and forgotten by Edison.
- AxeSwinger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Damn, well now I have to take out the bunny I was going to give my two year old for Easter....
NOTE: For purposes of this discussion a two-year old is a toddler not a baby, or my wife would kill me. - lensman00, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14A crystal radio also operates on the principle of "power through the air". These radios have been around for about 100 years.
http://www.crystalradio.net/museum/radios/Carco.html - Jakubowski, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14They changed the date, it first said April 1st. That was the first thing I noticed.
Now it reads:
March 30 2007: 7:08 AM EDT - Y0tsuya, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12@AxeSwinger
Why would you give a bunny to a 2 yr old? They'd just gnaw on the poor thing, and develop a taste for raw meat in the process. - Gugel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11This technology is really not as innovative as the article makes it seem. The reason why it hasn't been done before is the massive amount of power wasted. The power is distributed in a 3 foot radius from the source. Only a small fraction of that is getting to the appliance that you want to charge.
- nfulton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Buried by Westinghouse . . . who had just laid miles of cable all over New York City and set up a power plant at Niagara falls. Give away power? Bull Hockey . . .
- nfulton, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Go Tesla Go . . . the Magnifying Transmitter is here at last . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wardenclyffe_Tower
http://www.tfcbooks.com/articles/ntbio.htm
And its more efficient because there are no wires. - AngryBoy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Look, here's the patent itself: #7027311
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7027311.PN.&OS=PN/7027311&RS=PN/7027311
It's just an inductor with multiple taps. - Dycacian, on 10/12/2007, -6/+13Good questions. Though this has the potential to be a breakthrough that could change the way we live. If this can be made to be energy efficient, then it might even become a power saving device.
- chkmate21, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10First they tell you you're wrong. Then they try to find mistakes. Then they become your customers. Good going! Keep it up, you got a killer app!
- fuzzmeister, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9No, March 30th.
- number9ine, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/wec.shtml
Yep. - mt256, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6pfft GI Joe had this back in 91 with the BET - Broadcast Energy Transmitter
Remember Serpentor tried to steal it? - dsignr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8Just like how electric toothbrushes are charged. That's not new. What the article refers to is doing away with the magnetics, and instead charge a low voltage device in the same way that radios pick up their signal.
- abstraxion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Ever heard of the inverse-square law? "Power" falls off pretty goddamn quickly.
- noahhoward, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7WHy not just set it up so it charges off regular AM/FM broadcasts if it is all energy?
- S1ngular1ty1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Not exactly. A rechargeable toothbrush uses a inductor in the base of the charging unit and a coil in the tooth brush to transfer power between the two devices via magnetic fields. A current flowing in a wire produces a magnetic field. The magnetic field in the recharging base, in turn, creates a current in the coil of the toothbrush which recharges the batteries. This requires close contact between the two coils and it isn't very efficient.
The device from this article relies on another method of transferring power without wires. The wireless power device in the article uses resonance of an inductor to a varying electromagnetic wave to produce power. An inductor is carefully selected so it resonates at the frequency of RF radiation that is desired to be used for power like 900 MHz from cordless phones. The power is then collected, rectified, stored, and supplied to devices as a DC current.
The two methods sound similar but operate quite differently and are constructed quite differently. - S1ngular1ty1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4A lot of good info about wireless power.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer - AngryBoy, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11Really, it's not even through air. Electromagnetic waves travel through spacetime. Also, this technology is called induction. It's the same thing that powers RFID chips. Not sure what's so revolutionary about this... sounds like marketing hype to me.
- quarsaw, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Concept is not new as lensman00 pointed out so well.
Of course it can be done, keeping in mind that:
1) your power falls off exponentially as you get further away from the source
2) if it is omni-directional a small device will receive a tiny fraction of total transmitted power
3) if it is directional or needs to be within 3 feet of the transmitter then you might as well have a wire.
4) if you put transmitters everywhere so you don't have to think about where you leave your phone, some environmentalist will eventually attack you for wasting energy.
Finally many things that require so little power that this is enough, could just as easily have a little solar cell on them and be powered by room lighting like a lot of calculators.
- S1ngular1ty1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yes power falls off inversely proportional to the square of the distance between you and the source. Which is pretty freaking fast.
- AngryBoy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@noahhoward
In theory, you could charge something off of AM/FM radio waves. The problem is, unless you're right next to the source, there's so little energy to be collected, you'd barely collect enough energy to power a digital wristwatch. - beavioso, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Why did people dig down angryboy. RFID is similarly powered through the air, or spacetime. Last I checked EM waves (light, gamma waves, x-rays, microwaves, radio waves, etc) travel through spacetime.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Tesla!!!
- changyang1230, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Longevity is the major cause of cancer.
- benitojuarez, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5i dunno this pretty much says april fools to me.
"Within five years, Shearer says, laptops will be down to single-digit wattage--making his revenue potential even more electrifying."
laptops requireing less than 10 watts of power? in FIVE years? I say HAH! to you sir. - munit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3popular science just had an article about this in the last issue. There are several products already being tested and maybe on the market that do the same
- S1ngular1ty1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Actually radios tap into the magnetic portion of an electromagnetic wave via induction via an antenna.
- topace3000, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Another misleading title. It seems that everyone posting now is either a propagandist, alarmist, or simply exaggerates the story with some ***** half-true title.
- kurtu5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Or they take prozac, get crazier, get a gun and find a nice tall tower near a campus.
- KMartSheriff, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Digg me down plx
- number9ine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@S1ngularity
Yes, it is a joke. Try clicking add to cart....
I'm not saying the concept is a joke but a wireless extension cord for household use? No way. - D4rkDrago0n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So what happens when you walk in wet from the rain with your mobile in your pocket?
- AngelBunny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I will believe it when I see it.
- sportfan98, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Really, it's not even through air. Electromagnetic waves travel through spacetime. Also, this technology is called induction. It's the same thing that powers RFID chips. Not sure what's so revolutionary about this... sounds like marketing hype to me.
John - unlocked cell phones - unlocked phones - cell phone accessories
http://www.cellular-blowout.com - nfulton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The only thing is . . . Tesla showed how the magnifying transmitter could be used to create an EM shield which stops things like missles.
You can see how some governments that shoot people with missles might not like that kind of thing. - Narrator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There are going to be people who won't get this for 10 years. They'll still think it's a scam or use a flawed theory to interpret how it works. It's a bit like the way that it took 10 years for people to get Prozac. That you could take a pill and go from being depressed to being happy and be able to function in daily life (Which was not the case with alcohol, the traditional anti-depressant) was against 1000s of years of conventional wisdom.
- Narrator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Cnet has a VIDEO of it with the Cnet correspondent demoing it ( Top right corner of the article)
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12760_7-9673092-5.html
The host seems to be a little nervous. She even has trouble explaining it. It's like someone trying to explain how a light bulb works having only used gas lamps their entire life. - treelovinhippie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just wait for the lawsuit from the long-time user who suddenly gets cancer... or the more win-able lawsuit of some guy walking past and his pacemaker suddenly failing.
- supervapio, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Quite doubtful. I'd better go and sleep instead of reading THIS http://musiclabs.blogspot.com
- venir, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://www.powercastco.com/
I don't think this is April fools.... -
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