Posted by
CmdrTaco
on from the now-thats-just-crazy dept.
Flibble writes "The BBC has a story about a uk startup offering a mat for charging all your portable devices via magnetic inductive power transfer. Is this the answer to cutting the mountain of chargers I have to carry all the time?" God wouldn't that be a dream come true?
The article actually addresses this very issue. Using actual words. They were in English too, amazingly, so that anyone who read the/. article could also read those informative little squiggles.
Just put your Palm Pilot in the microwave for 30 seconds. Works for me.
Oh wait - I didn't say turn it on!
Re:Works for my toothbrush, why not?
by
cswiii
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Oh, we all know that/.'ers never leave the computer anyway... so why not just use a USB toothbrush instead?
Integrate this with seat warmers
by
FuzzyDaddy
·
· Score: 4, Funny
Volvo's come with seat warmers. Add one of these, and charge your cell phone as you drive!
Of course, as long as you don't mind putting your future progeny's genetic material on and induction coil...
Hmm. Nevermind.
-- It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
Re:Integrate this with seat warmers
by
swillden
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Of course, as long as you don't mind putting your future progeny's genetic material on and induction coil...
Not a problem. Given the way I feel right now about my four "past progeny", there ain't gonna be no future progeny, no way, no how.
Yes, the two year-old got into my books and CDs. Again. But now he knows how to open the shampoo bottle. And after the yesterday's incident with my wife's computer and the peanut butter...
-- Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Re:Dumb Question
by
Glen+Ponda
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· Score: 4, Funny
OK, Dumb Question: Why doesn't it short out easily?
Uh, it like, uses technology, or something.
Why not just build this into the carpeting?
by
BreadMan
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Then you could get conductive shoes, socks, pants and just charge the devices as you carry them around! You'd be sterile, but that's a _small_ price to pay for not having to cradle your phone.
Re:Why not just build this into the carpeting?
by
Quill_28
·
· Score: 4, Funny
> You'd be sterile
And that would matter around here why?
Just a joke. Move along.
Six months in the future.....
by
hplasm
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· Score: 4, Funny
"Aargh! My charging mat has attracted the steel plate in my skull! Someone get this thing off of me!!!"
-- ...and he grinned, like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.
Similar stuff like this has been done before and is already in the market place. For instance the key fob on new BMW never needs the battery changing as it is recharged by induction when it is in the ignition. I don't know if this would affect a patent on this device though
-- If you read a speed reading book, does it take you less time to read the second half?
Re:Are you watching USPTO?
by
eXtro
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Well, I would argue that it either already is patented or it's too late to patent. I have a Panasonic shaver that uses inductive charging. There's no receptacle on my shaver it just sits in a device and charges without wires. This mat is only an expansion of this concept.
Re:Are you watching USPTO?
by
seanadams.com
·
· Score: 2, Funny
THIS is the sort of thing that is worthy of a patent.
Yes, I can see it now... "method and device for transmitting power by means of inductive coupling".
Here's a clue: the transformer been around for about as long as we've known about electricity.
ALso, the idea of using a transformer as the coupling for a charger base has been around for as long as I can remember. As a kid I had an electric toothbrush that did this. It's a great idea for something like a toothbrush, because it's harder to waterproof an electrical contact.
You can also use it as a kind of "holistic mousepad". Improves tracking and cures wrist pain at the same time.
-- ---
What?
"God wouldn't that be a dream come true?"
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Funny
"God wouldn't that be a dream come true?"
God says he thinks it's not a bad idea but it as its drawbacks. Personally, he's worried that he'd leave a floppy disk on it, or even worse, a credit card. God has Amex you know.
Re:Are you watching USPTO?
by
semanticgap
·
· Score: 1, Funny
I doubt you can patent such a fundumental principal - how do you think transformers work? Also my Braun electric toothbrush charges its battery wirelessly and I've had it for years.
The only way to solve the patent problem is to remove the patent office's requirement to be self-funding. That way, there's no incentive for them to accept bad patents just because it pays.
Nothing else in patent reform matters before that is resolved.
--
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey
Slashdot Mirror
This is definitly better then their first idea, which of course was the 'Jump-to-Conclusions' mat.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
... until everyone's head explodes from all the radiation. ;)
"Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
-Marilyn Manson
The article actually addresses this very issue. /. article
Using actual words. They were in English too,
amazingly, so that anyone who read the
could also read those informative little squiggles.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
If it is strong enough to charge power sources through the case, wouldn't the plate in my head cause me to be stuck to the thing?
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
for the low cost method ... http://www.afrotechmods.com/cheap/arnoldpad/arnold pad.htm
:)
After all what could possibly go wrong?
Just put your Palm Pilot in the microwave for 30 seconds. Works for me.
Oh wait - I didn't say turn it on!
Oh, we all know that /.'ers never leave the computer anyway... so why not just use a USB toothbrush instead?
Of course, as long as you don't mind putting your future progeny's genetic material on and induction coil...
Hmm. Nevermind.
It's not wasting time, I'm educating myself.
OK, Dumb Question: Why doesn't it short out easily?
Uh, it like, uses technology, or something.
Then you could get conductive shoes, socks, pants and just charge the devices as you carry them around! You'd be sterile, but that's a _small_ price to pay for not having to cradle your phone.
"Aargh! My charging mat has attracted the steel plate in my skull! Someone get this thing off of me!!!"
...and he grinned, like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.
Similar stuff like this has been done before and is already in the market place. For instance the key fob on new BMW never needs the battery changing as it is recharged by induction when it is in the ignition. I don't know if this would affect a patent on this device though
If you read a speed reading book, does it take you less time to read the second half?
Well, I would argue that it either already is patented or it's too late to patent. I have a Panasonic shaver that uses inductive charging. There's no receptacle on my shaver it just sits in a device and charges without wires. This mat is only an expansion of this concept.
Chris Kuivenhoven is a thief, beware
THIS is the sort of thing that is worthy of a patent.
Yes, I can see it now... "method and device for transmitting power by means of inductive coupling".
Here's a clue: the transformer been around for about as long as we've known about electricity.
ALso, the idea of using a transformer as the coupling for a charger base has been around for as long as I can remember. As a kid I had an electric toothbrush that did this. It's a great idea for something like a toothbrush, because it's harder to waterproof an electrical contact.
You can also use it as a kind of "holistic mousepad". Improves tracking and cures wrist pain at the same time.
--- What?
"God wouldn't that be a dream come true?"
God says he thinks it's not a bad idea but it as its drawbacks. Personally, he's worried that he'd leave a floppy disk on it, or even worse, a credit card. God has Amex you know.
I doubt you can patent such a fundumental principal - how do you think transformers work? Also my Braun electric toothbrush charges its battery wirelessly and I've had it for years.
grisha.org
The only way to solve the patent problem is to remove the patent office's requirement to be self-funding. That way, there's no incentive for them to accept bad patents just because it pays.
Nothing else in patent reform matters before that is resolved.
What we call folk wisdom is often no more than a kind of expedient stupidity.-Edward Abbey