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Wireless Power Companies Merge, But No Real-Life Devices Yet

Posted by timothy on from the wait-'til-you-can't-avoid-the-power-zones dept.

A hopeful anonymous reader writes "It looks like Splashpower (Or what is left of it anyway) was purchased by the company behind eCoupled. Hopefully this means that interoperable wireless power is one step closer to reality as two of the companies trying to comercialize the technology are now the same." (US readers, read "administration" as "bankruptcy.")

48 comments

  1. please add by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    vaporware tag to this story

  2. eCoupled and Amway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    eCoupled is associated with Amway, which means it's a shady business, which in turn means that this "wireless power" thing is likely a sham.

    Yes, Amway. You know the company. Haven't you ever had a friend or co-worker invite you to a meeting to talk to you about "an exciting business opportunity"?

    1. Re:eCoupled and Amway by Damase · · Score: 1

      I disagree that Amway or Quixtar (Amway Online) are shady businesses. I would however agree that there are those who misuse their business model and give them a bad rap.

      The part I don't like that has to do with this particular topic is that if Amway is to be the sole distributor of any future products then distribution will be limited to Amway Distributors, which limits access to those products.

      If they came out with viable product, it would suck to have to go through Amway to get it. They charge too much and unless you use Quixtars' site you have to find a distributor to buy from.

      And no, I am not a distributor, but I did become one when I was younger, I just never renewed. Not worth it for me. That's how I know there are plenty of honest Amway Distributors who make an honest living at it.

      --
      ---- Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
    2. Re:eCoupled and Amway by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Of course it's a sham. It destroyed Tesla's reputation. There is no way to transmit electricity and hope to get anything approaching a meaningful level of efficiency. Maybe something like high intensity lasers, but I doubt anyone would want that in their neighborhood.

      It's a fucking scam, for chrissakes.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    3. Re:eCoupled and Amway by kesuki · · Score: 1

      "Of course it's a sham. It destroyed Tesla's reputation. There is no way to transmit electricity and hope to get anything approaching a meaningful level of efficiency."

      Of course, there is might not be a way nitrogen or oxygen are ever going to efficiently conduct electricity as a gas, but Neon and Xenon.. those are another matter...

      for instance: the long time used neon lamp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_lamp

      But wait, what about Plasma, the 4th state of matter!

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_(physics)

      Ah yes, plasma, we use it routinely in television displays now, and trust me those electric bills for new high def TVs aren't nearly as bad as the gaming rig needed to produce full 1080P in video games.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display

      yes, electricity without wires! what a shock, that one could use a gas to transmit electricity wireless, of course the holy grail is to create a plasma conduit without needing a concentrated noble gas, and without massive energy bills for creating the plasma.

      I've heard at one point of a company that was trying to make a wireless taser for the military, and to increase they range by creating a temporary plasma conduit with lasers or some such, not sure if that project ever got off the ground though.

      --
      https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
    4. Re:eCoupled and Amway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course, there is might not be a way nitrogen or oxygen are ever going to efficiently conduct electricity as a gas, but Neon and Xenon.. those are another matter...

      for instance: the long time used neon lamp

      But wait, what about Plasma, the 4th state of matter!

      Ah yes, plasma, we use it routinely in television displays now, and trust me those electric bills for new high def TVs aren't nearly as bad as the gaming rig needed to produce full 1080P in video games.

      yes, electricity without wires! what a shock, that one could use a gas to transmit electricity wireless, of course the holy grail is to create a plasma conduit without needing a concentrated noble gas, and without massive energy bills for creating the plasma. Bull. You Tesla apologists use gaseous matter like electricians can only use wires so far. Well, all "cordless" phones still have a phone cord. In your examples of this "Wireless" power nonsense so far current works the same way using a "wire" called "air"?

      The whole point of wireless technology is to forgo using ANY conductors at all --to just beam power into void like the sun beams EM radiation from millions of miles away and still some use for it at the other end. Maybe not even from that far but once SOMEONE can prove a concept, others can refine it.

      Tesla cannot have created something that got "silenced" by a government that has shown no applications of this nonexistent creation. Having Tesla coils named after him just proves he could divert power into open air in the form of lightning rays. That is not our goal in making discrete, invisible and harmless wireless power.

      Plasma and lights work in glass vacuums and if you break the glass, your WIRE-like gas providing what you call "wireless power" above stops being "wireless power." Plasma provides gaseous conductivity high enough to act the way air acts by letting lightning electrons through it. It is putting lightning in a tube, which nobody wants running inside their living room because it is not controlled enough not to fry everything around it.

      Technically, what we want to arrive is at transmitting power over the void space through great distances. If air or water are in the way but are not affected, more power to our Tesla-Myth-buster... or prover overlords

      What you people believe in is that we must use some scarce gas that really behaves like a big, bendy, stretchy wire, and really count it as proof of concept.

      What you want to be a reality is lightbulbs and computers using free power from nearby towers, the way cellphone towers do. I wouldnt mind if we found a user for those stray mWatts floating in the air.

      But using unfocused beams of power is like trying to un-electrify a just part of a bathtub when a power cord falls in it... physics is hard to invert when it works one way. Matter of fact, I would hate for military science to find a way to make plain air act like such a bathtub to transmit harmful power, for obvious reasons. Aiming it at electronics without frying them and frying people or getting Gigawatt power outputs sounds like a pretty big feat.
    5. Re:eCoupled and Amway by Eivind · · Score: 1

      Actually there is, but only if it's direct line-of-sight, AND you use a directed antenna and receiver.

      Somehow "broadcasting" energy and have a significant portion of it picked up by devices in the viscinity will never work. (unless you're happy with 0.01% efficiency or something)

      Transmitting say microwaves using a parabolic antenna and aiming it at a rectenna tuned for the frequency used can give you upwards of 80% efficiency, and may some day be used to transmit power from solar power sattelites and down to earth, or something.

      It'll never power your car...

      Now, inductive short-range coupling for low currents work okay. The idea of the splashpad ain't so stupid: a surface to place gadgets on and have them recharge or run off power in the surface with no metallic contacts.

      This -could- be practical, the average household have half a dozen or more gadgets that need periodic recharge (mobile phones, remote controls, dect-phones, mp3-players etc) typically each with their own one-off charger, which is a mess. If all of them would recharge simply by being put on a special shelf, that would be an improvement, but that's a much more limited application anyway, besides, much of the same advantage would be had if the makers would simply AGREE on a charging-interface, even if it required a plug.

    6. Re:eCoupled and Amway by kesuki · · Score: 1

      All i was trying to point out is that the 4th state of matter, plasma, can conduct electricity like wires can. I mean being able to safely or otherwise beam energy at targets with precision is harder, but i was pointing out that you can move power around for short distances without wires, and with just a little knowledge. if there really are 1.5 million of those 'amway espring' devices most likely are only 'wireless' in the aspect that they've got a big, glass tube of neon inside them to generate suitable levels of UV light to destroy some harmful bacteria.

      so most likely the companies touting wireless power haven't broken new ground, but are still retracing the past 120 years of physics that have been learned.

      --
      https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
  3. Surgeon General's Warning by daveime · · Score: 2, Funny

    Putting your head between your portable kettle and your microwave emitting kettle charger can seriously damage your health.

    1. Re:Surgeon General's Warning by Yvanhoe · · Score: 1

      Well, of course. An oven is optimized to fry things.

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
  4. wireless power, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    my microwave does it. the sun does it. but can it be done without frying whatever happens to be in the middle?

  5. administration isn't chapter 7 by igb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    In UK law, administration is closer to US Chapter 11 than Chapter 7; the company is assumed to be capable of being returned to the status of a going concern, rather than a set of assets and liabilities pending liquidation. But in the US the management of the company would normally remain as debtors in possession; in the UK an administrator is more hands-on than a US trustee, has to be agreed by the court, and works for the creditors rather than the shareholders. ian

    1. Re:administration isn't chapter 7 by dintech · · Score: 1

      Thanks for explaining that more tactfully than I was about to.

  6. Michael Faraday being dead and all... by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 1

    The acquisition reinforces Fulton's industry-leading position in the rapidly growing wireless power industry by expanding both the breadth and depth of Fulton's substantial patent portfolio, comprised of over 250 patents granted or pending worldwide.
    Whaaaa? 250 patents on electromagnetic induction?
    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  7. In-flight charging ... by psergiu · · Score: 1

    And around the year 2100 FAA will give the OK for this technology to be used in the planes (but not during landing & take-off).

    --
    1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
  8. Now all they have to do... by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

    ... is prevent my fillings from lighting up when I turn on my toaster.

    --
    Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  9. MOD PARENT UP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    +1 Insightful

    1. Re:MOD PARENT UP by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      Fools! I will destroy you all with my Beamed Power Ray!!!

      {Manic laughter}

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  10. Interoperable wireless power by Wargames · · Score: 1

    Having a brick in my pocket with my iPhone will attract the babes. (referring to pic on one of the sites in the article).

    I was expecting something else, like...

    Tesla was focused in his research for the practical development of a system for wireless transmission of power and a utilization system. Tesla said, in "On electricity", Electrical Review (Jan. 27, 1897):

    "In fact, progress in this field has given me fresh hope that I shall see the fulfillment of one of my fondest dreams; namely, the transmission of power from station to station without the employment of any connecting wires."
    Tesla Colorado Sprints Wiki

    --
    -- Each tock of the Planck clock is a new world and here we are still life. --
    1. Re:Interoperable wireless power by BiggerIsBetter · · Score: 1

      Dunno about Tesla, but ThinkGeek already has this for sale.

      --
      Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
    2. Re:Interoperable wireless power by compro01 · · Score: 1

      that's an old april fool's joke. try hitting the "add to cart" button.

      don't feel too stupid. i got fooled by it too.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    3. Re:Interoperable wireless power by rtilghman · · Score: 1


      That's called "microwaves"

      -rt

  11. I thought tesla already did all this?? by FictionPimp · · Score: 3, Funny

    I thought tesla already perfected wireless power and the US government covered it all up. Didn't he once drive a electric car using a wireless power source he made from a few bucks in parts from a radio shop?

    1. Re:I thought tesla already did all this?? by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      He also made a teleportation machine for The Great Danton.

      Coincidently, if God heard about Teslas' machine, would he sue for Copyright infrengement?

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    2. Re:I thought tesla already did all this?? by Yvanhoe · · Score: 1

      A radio shop...

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
    3. Re:I thought tesla already did all this?? by wattrlz · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wasn't that a duplication machine that The Great Danton modified to operate as such?

    4. Re:I thought tesla already did all this?? by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      If we continue this conversation, we'll be moddedd off-topic and lose karma.

      However, yes. Hence, Copyright infringement.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    5. Re:I thought tesla already did all this?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dammit, if I had any mod points I'd mod the whole conversation up.

    6. Re:I thought tesla already did all this?? by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There is a claim that Tesla drove an electric car powered only by a small device that he made from simple parts purchased from a retail store, yes.

      However, there is no verification of this claim (like many of the other claims of Tesla's supposedly-amazing inventions.)

      While there is a great tendency to credit these claims (I have it too) there is no supporting evidence except one supposed-eyewitness account. The best I would say is that if I would believe it of anyone, I would believe it of Tesla, who saw the design for efficiently producing AC fully-formed in his head while reciting (or was it listening to?) a poem.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    7. Re:I thought tesla already did all this?? by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      It's ok... I guess the sense-of-humour Dyson has been past these parts already.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    8. Re:I thought tesla already did all this?? by A_Non_Moose · · Score: 1

      I thought tesla already perfected wireless power and the US government covered it all up. Yeah, but when it comes to wireless power, lightning (and gov't coverups) never strikes twice.

      Didn't he once drive a electric car using a wireless power source he made from a few bucks in parts from a radio shop? Ok, now you're telling me the flux capacitor is real?
      --
      Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
    9. Re:I thought tesla already did all this?? by FictionPimp · · Score: 1

      My attempts at being fun on slashdot always fail apparently.

  12. Ummm by sm62704 · · Score: 1

    Holy dipshit, batman, wirelesss power? Is this Tesla or PT Barnum? I'd REALLY feel foolish if I actually R this FA, is there some Rube Goldberg explanation of how, exactly, "wireless power" would work?

    I think perhaps you're either a little over a month late or almost a week late.

    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    1. Re:Ummm by liak12345 · · Score: 1

      I like that you post the Wikipedia link which explains that PT Barnum never said that.

    2. Re:Ummm by vertinox · · Score: 1
      I'd REALLY feel foolish if I actually R this FA, is there some Rube Goldberg explanation of how, exactly, "wireless power" would work?

      It does work.

      Here is a Popular Science explanation on how it does:

      http://www.popsci.com/scitech/gallery/2008-01/electricity-air

      And also from another article:

      The key to wireless power is resonance. Think of a wineglass that shatters when an opera singer hits just the right note. When the voice matches the glass's resonant frequency--the tone you hear when you tap the glass--the glass efficiently absorbs the singer's energy and cracks. Using magnetic induction and two identical copper coils that resonate at the same frequency, the MIT scientists successfully powered a 60-watt lightbulb from a power source seven feet away. The team called their invention WiTricity, short for "wireless electricity." Next up: sending the juice even farther and more efficiently.

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
    3. Re:Ummm by dwibby · · Score: 1

      Well, considering it uses something along the lines of magnetic induction--"inductively coupled power circuit that dynamically seeks resonance," as they put it--neither Mr. Barnum nor Mr. Goldberg are very much involved here. They have a few cool prototype they demoed at CES2008. It seems that they're aiming at battery chargers more than the power grid. You could probably also read a few of their patent if you'd like a more in depth explanation. It also sounds like it automagically handles charging multiple types of devices simultaneously.

      For what it's worth, I wouldn't mind getting rid of a bunch of mutually incompatible AC adapters for a single charging surface.

    4. Re:Ummm by sm62704 · · Score: 1

      So basically it's a transformer with the coils seven feet apart? How much power has to be supplied to the transmitting coils to light the sixty watt bulb?

      And it seems that for resonance to work, the bulb's recieving coil would have to be EXACTLY in the right spot, to at least a half wave of the power source.

      Now, if they were talking about an LCD calculator that was powered by a coil that was inducted by the house current in the walls I might swallow that, but the kind of power they're talking about?

      I'm sceptical. After all, Populat Science was talking about flying cars long before I was born, and I'm a geezer.

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    5. Re:Ummm by sm62704 · · Score: 1

      Dude, you spoiled the joke ;)

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    6. Re:Ummm by kesuki · · Score: 1

      Wireless power has been used as long as I've been alive. Granted, this has been in lighting devices, such as neon and fluorescent lights... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescent_lamp

      I mean I'm surprised that you didn't know, that like neon signs don't have a filament, and neither do fluorescent lights... haven't you ever broken one? haven't you ever looked at one up close when it was off?

      And for you lucky Plasma TV owners, didn't you ever wonder, where the wires ended, and where the pixelated happiness begins? did you think the name was just a buzz word? didn't you realize they are actually sending electricity through a gas, to make the screen glow... as the name 'plasma tv' implies?

      for a lighting device it's very efficient to send power through a noble gas, but it's very bad for transmitting power for miles and miles. In fact it was Nikola Tesla who displayed his neon lights at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.

      the crazy man who through electricity could go through air(or at least neon), was the first to display technology confirming it... and people still called him a mad scientist.

      --
      https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
    7. Re:Ummm by sm62704 · · Score: 1

      The gas is ionized by the electricity, which gets to the gas to be ionized THROUGH WIRES. Haven't you noticed that your forty inch flourescents have WIRES coming from them? No, there are no wires inside the tube, the tube contains the gas that is ionized by the electricalk current. There's no magic there.

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  13. I see patterns... by Yvanhoe · · Score: 1

    ... of vapor

    --
    The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
  14. Look at the vaporware tag.. by hansraj · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hopefully this means that interoperable wireless power is one step closer to reality.. So you mean "one step closer" in a Zeno sense?
  15. Power by wireless now, and in five years... by pandrijeczko · · Score: 1
    ...viagra by wireless.

    Log into Gmail, download the viagra attachment, stiff as a board and one happy missus.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
  16. solarama by xushi · · Score: 0

    Isn't solar power a form of wireless power that we already use? :)

  17. I Hate to be a Nazi... by Anthony+Rosequist · · Score: 1
    but how close are they to wireless spell checking?

    companies trying to comercialize the technology
  18. Do you HAVE to lose efficiency? by clonan · · Score: 1

    What about a microwave frequency laser? Low enough power that it doesn't cook things. But that should allow you to target devices and deliver a much higher efficiency.

    Any thoughts?

  19. Pfft, I've had wireless power for years by multipartmixed · · Score: 1

    Really, it's pretty bloody simple. Hook a POE adapter into a wireless ethernet bridge.

    Voila! Power over wireless ethernet.

    --

    Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
  20. Editing by StarKruzr · · Score: 1

    He can editorialize about Britishisms, but he can't correct the spelling of "commercialize?"

    --

    +++ATH0