Magnets To Replace Bluetooth?

aceat64 writes "News.com is carrying a story that suggests magnets could eventually replace Bluetooth as a cheaper and more energy effiect wireless solution. The concept of magnetic induction isn't new, but Aura has managed to shrink the technology onto a single chip. The first device to be made using the technology is a wireless headset that will cost between $60 and $80."

Comments

Infomercials?

[RalphBinaca]

I can just now see the new line of infomercials talking about combining the freedom of a wireless headset and the 'healing power' of magnets! Sweet Jesus...

Re:Induction

[v1]

Radio waves are referred to as "electro-magnetic radiation". There is no such thing as a magnetic component without an electrical component, or vice-versa. The two fields compliment eachother.

Another interesting thing mentioned in the article was that this magnetic field made a "bubble" that "stopped" at four feet. Magnetic field strength decays at the same rate as the electrical component. If you want a smaller "bubble" for wireless, just cut the power down. I don't see a difference here, unless they are just planning on running really low power as a general rule, and I suppose this would also explain the longer battery life they describe.

I'm really not seeing the difference here. The only thing the article mentions that really separates this from radio is the frequency, which they only vaguely described as "used by industrial and medical" applications. I'm going to guess this means either very high frequency or very low frequency. Very high frequency is far from efficient, and is already staked out well in the bandplan. If they're targetting very low frequency, (VLF) then there's no way they'll have the bandwidth necessary for video as the article suggests.

The article also said "interferance is not an issue". 640k of memory will be plenty, too. I normally don't slam on people, but this article just reeks of lack of forethought and research. It's only natural that any new technology niche has breathing room, until it becomes popular. I'm sure cell phone makers 10 yrs ago didn't expect to ever use even 30% of their allotted spectrum.