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Wireless Power Consortium Pushes for "Qi" Standard
The Wireless Power Consortium (comprised of Samsung, Sanyo, Olympus, Philips, Texas Instruments, and others) has started a push towards a wireless charging standard under the moniker "Qi" (pronounced "chee"). "Members of the Wireless Power Consortium are reviewing version 0.95 of its technical specification which defines a proposed standard for charging devices, using up to 5Watts power, delivered by electromagnetic induction. The spec could evolve into a standard — and will be demonstrated by multiple vendors on September 15th to 16th. ... It is less ambitious than the system demonstrated this summer by Witricity, which operates at a distance of a few meters, using resonance, which the company claims has green benefits through replacing disposable batteries."
I am very familiar with qi, since the Fourth Edition Scrabble Dictionary made it the most life saving play at the end of the game when fate deals you a Q.
My work here is dung.
The first thing I thought of was Star Trek
...for those that don't want to read the article but may wish to discuss it intelligently in person.
I can say [REDACTED] anytime I want!
When I'll be bale to forget about any power cable and contact-less docking power charger, please!
We need the real wireless charger!
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
I am sure that the engineers are competent at all of these companies. And are concerned about safety.
But, what ARE the health concerns about pumping so much energy out, even if over such a short range?
This is definitely a step in the right direction. I know it's really frustrating looking for a non-standard plug for my phone. I'm sure the days of searching for the right power adapter are limited.
The end of civilization as we know it?
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
we won't have to raise our arms in the air for 4 weeks while goku charges his spirit bombs
Kind of like the corruption of the Elves into Orcs in LOTR, the idea of charging the air with yet more EM pollution and calling it "Qi" makes a sick mockery of the real thing.
And there's a frickin' pyramid with an eye ball on the dollar bill.
We're being laughed at even as we are mutilated and enslaved.
Cue the conceited, ill-informed rationalizations.
-FL
Maybe they could make stations (running Android) that do big blasts of that Qi charges for big devices, electric cars, etc. I propose to put them under the moniker "Kame Hame Ha".
But how efficient would this be vs a wall wart?
-l
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I forsee Witricity adapters and a slew of 3rd party knock-off components for home and travel that allow us to bathe ourselves in a continuous blanket of electromagnetic radiation 24 hours a day. I think some independant studies should be conducted to see the prolonged effects of real-world impact of this convenience. We are no longer happy with the two-hours it takes to recharge a day's worth of mobile device use, we have to charge it wirelessly while it's in use performing wireless tasks. If breaking the grip of proprietary adapter plugs is the point of contention, move the industry to a standard docking cradle, like walkie-talkies. Put the electronic toys down and go do something else. The upside of course would be the eventual decline of questions like, "can I borrow your charger?".
Maybe I just don't understand their plan, but this seems like it would be close to a useless technology. It seems like it would be more expensive to develop and implement than a standard power cable, and you would have to set your device onto the power mat. Does it really take that much effort to grab the cable and plug it in? Also, in the case of cell phones, you wouldn't be able to use the cell phone while it's charging like most cell phones allow you to do currently. Win = Power cord.
Now, the other technology that was mentioned in the article uses electromagnetic fields. This seems like it would be incredibly inefficient as you would be beaming energy to nothing in particular in hopes that something was using it. With this technology, you wouldn't have to leave your mobile device on a mat, but you would still need to be within 2m of the source. It still seems like a traditional power cord wins.
Now, I know that Slashdot is all about advancing technology, but how do they get over these hurdles? It seems like developing a universal wired charging station would be more advantageous in the short run. What am I missing?
But then I realized the cable was blue, so I only gave it one star. I hate blue.
For many years we've had wireless charging for electric tooth-brush, and a lot of diferent plugs on chargers for mobile phones.
Now that EU will force a standard plug for charging mobile phones, we are going to move away from plugs :)
This is potentially a good thing. How many different charging devices do you have at the moment? I've got one for AAA and AA batteries, one for my phone, one for my iPod, one for my wife's phone, one for my DSLR, one for my camcorder, one for my...
I don't need long-range wireless power, like some developments are working on -- whilst this would be quite cool, it's very inefficient at this stage. Wireless charging of all these devices would however be a great benefit to reduce clutter and waste. If all the devices are compatible with the one spec of charger, then should I lose my phone charger, it doesn't matter as it's compatible with the charger I've got. I've had to replace one of the phone chargers not that long ago too as SonyEricsson have quite a delicate clip on the plug -- if this clip breaks, then the plug won't stay attached and the device doesn't charge.
I already enjoy the benefits of wireless charging with my electric toothbrush - it sits in a base that charges it back up. There are no electrical contacts or plugs to get wet and gunky with toothpaste residue, it's just a smooth plastic ring that the toothbrush sits in and away it goes.
To have a pad that I could place any of my devices on to recharge would be incredibly convenient. I truly hope that enough manufactures adopt this standard to make it a possibility. Unfortunately with standards, the great thing about them is that there are so many to chose from.
Specialist Mac support for creative pros, Melbourne
Let's hope wireless power doesn't break the magnetic compass in some of the new devices...
I see the EU being first in a lot of consumer areas. Their own version of Windows, devices that are released in Europe before the US and now a standard mobile phone adapter. I'd be curious to know why in the land where consumers are king, products are often bloated, stripped down and late.
Since the word Qi is already used to describe something rather different, it is a pretty idiotic name for this idea. It merely accords with the co-opting of all sorts of Eastern concepts for marketing Western stuffs, in the footsteps of 'Zen' which nowadays stands for just about anything you'd want in a product.
Anyway, I'd love to replace the back cover of my Android phone with a thin wireless power receiver...
If it is pronounced "chee" why not spell it "chee?"
Why must we bind ourselves to a transliteration table that winds up producing words that are pronounced nothing like how they are spelled, and further bastardize the English language?
It's dumb. Nothing good comes of it.
Not exactly a new idea. Tesla did it about 100 years ago.
...and generating AC electricity!
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
My understanding is that this system is based on work by Nikola Tesla who discovered that it was possible to magnetically transmit power using resonance. By this meaning alternating pulses through a tuned coil on both sides at a tuned frequency. The vibrational energy of a guitar string transmits quite efficiently to adjacent strings on a guitar, it stands to reason that, if like in the example of a low resistance wired coil vibrating at a frequency tuned to the length and width of the coil, the loss of energy in transmission would be much lower if the receiver coil was tuned to resonate at the same frequency or a close harmonic (1 or 2 octaves). The only thing that I am unsure of is this theoretical negation of resistance, which I understand is what the whole idea is based on.
As far as safety goes, it would be quite safe. It is magnetism below a certain frequency and the only thing that might get damaged is inadvertently tuned circuits in electronics and possibly it may damage magnetic media that find themselves in the flux lines directly between receiver and transmitter. I believe the way to limit the distance that can be used is purely about current. Conversely the circuit is limited in capacity by this, putting too many loaded receiver circuits in its range will result in an overall diminution of power transfer to all of the devices.
Will Nintendo adopt it? Because I want a Qi Wii. And assemble it in Finland so the factory's website will be QiWii.fi
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
While 5 watts isn't much, I just can't see that many people being willing to become a Qigong master just so they can run an AP from their own natural energy. It takes decades of study to reach that level.
Most people these days are far too busy multitasking to even think about the focused mental effort required.
I'd be curious to know why in the land where consumers are king, products are often bloated, stripped down and late.
American consumers are king like cattle are king on the feedlot.
Hmmm, I wonder how many companies will start making small adapters that plug into your old phone/pda/etc's power plug so they work with this new interface...
Seems kinda overkill to me.
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
Just because it has a name that is not intuitively pronounceable. Idiots.
Chuck
... QiQiQi ^_^
A black hole is where God divided by 0
The best direction to go for a standard recharging interface is probably just to use USB, which is (ahem) universally available and already widely used for this task.
The thing that interests me is the model they are using. The major players are coming to an agreement on a standard before releasing products. The pattern over the last couple of decades has been for every major player to develop their own proprietary system and then try to force the market to their standard. This more open model is at the root of most successful technologies. Take a look at the TV industry. There was one common standard. Any company with the expertise could build a TV that would work with all commercial TV broadcasts, and broadcasters could send to any manufacturer's TV's. If TV had been invented in the 1990's, I could only watch Sony broadcasts on my Sony TV. The modern PC is another example. The IBM-PC was an inferior design, but it was an open standard; anyone could make parts and software for an IBM-PC. This technology might be boring, environmentally evil, and make us all sterile, but I am still glad to see the way this is being released.
Why don't we just use lazers. Big-ass lazer that tracks your phone around the room beaming energy into it.
Why, it could even be powerful enough to go through a pants pocket, or your leg!
I'm fairly certain that the connector on my iphone will crap out way before the phone itself does, I wish there was a magsafe power port either as a usable subset of the connector or a seperate charging port.
As often as an iPhone needs to be charged, I don't see the edged connector lasting very long.
TV industry only worked that way because the spec was the signal being broadcast, and that was regulated at the federal level. Anything else the TV manufacturers did within their product was between them and the consumer. If they showed the picture poorly, consumers bought a competing product.
This model is actually pretty standard. Sure, sometimes an innovation is all one company (Betamax, Compact Disc, satellite radio) with the others playing follow-the-leader afterwards. But it seems like most times it's a consortium of industry players -- occasionally you get two different groups working on the same concept, as in Bluray vs HD-DVD, but it seems like most new technologies are hammered into a single standard long before products actually reach consumers. Consider: WiFi, HDMI, SATA, ATSC.
Why make adapters when they can just force you to buy new products?
Isn't that always the way?
I am pretty sure that's CocaCola Classic, no?
Of just batteries that work with the interface.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
I'd be curious to know why in the land where consumers are king, products are often bloated, stripped down and late.
I'd say you would think that because you've likely never lived in a place without an overabundance of inexpensively made goods and amazingly high living standards. Seriously, just shop around, and you can find quality if that's what you're looking for, or you can find cheap and disposable, and just about everything in-between. We have an incredible wealth of options in the market (except for the occasional government sponsored monopoly, like cable).
Honestly, I'm trying to figure out why you think we have it so bad here in the US. Seriously, you're jealous of the EU version of Windows? Or was that a joke that I missed?
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
``I see the EU being first in a lot of consumer areas. Their own version of Windows, devices that are released in Europe before the US and now a standard mobile phone adapter. I'd be curious to know why in the land where consumers are king, products are often bloated, stripped down and late.''
Hmm, I don't think the EU is first for all of those. Standard mobile phone adapter, didn't China have that first? New devices are usually released in Japan, Taiwain, or Hong Kong before they come to the EU.
As for the EU (think "without Microsoft Internet Explorer") version of Windows, I'm still waiting to see how that plays out. But I think you're right that the EU had it first.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
...kudasai I came for the chobits references, was disappointed...
Been (or being, at least) done.
I can't find the site in question, but they had about half a dozen adapters to go with their charging plate.
Pricy though. (~$80?)
Nokola Tesla, was responsible for this technology because he had vision far beyond what most people could ever dream of having, here is his biography!
I wish we could try to find more of these types of people and invest in giving them access to certain technologies which as most people know if what makes them great. Most inventors usually look at some technology and think, why not do it this way, or if we try to change this over here, we might get better results.
The problem is finding these men (as most know it is the men that invent...) and making education of the technologies availabel, seeing as many sometimes come from an impoverished background. I guess you could call it the international think tank project, but it would definitely result in some new and fresh ideas!!
Any risks regarding those of us with pacemakers? (I know this is /., but forgive me as I ask an honest question.)
I've been warned against getting too close to radio transmitters and other electromagnetic sources (cradling a cell phone on my left shoulder where the implant is, letting earphones dangle near my wiring, running chainsaws and other small engines/motors within arm's reach, etc.) Having a wireless power transmitter nearby sounds like a legitimate concern. Being a cyborg (literally) brings new personal meaning to the term "fatal error"...
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
I've never understood the concept of Pinyin.
In most euro-derived languages I know (and Europe being the original of that character set), "sh" pronounces the same sound, as does the letter "Q", etc. Obviously some things vary and certain characters may be added for various languages, but there are some fairly strong commonalities that Pinyin just seems to break.
so why would Pinyin use "Xi", (such as in Xiao, with "X" pronounced as 'sh'), or Qi pronounced as 'Ch'? Is there some standard for this, or did some person way back them just decide "well, we should use these symbols but pronounce them differently"
My girlfriend is Chinese, as well as many of my friends, but nobody seems to know the origin of this.
... does this mean I should fak.. err, be.. allergic to Qi too?
In a world where companies are being pressured to reduce the standby power consumption of devices, when electricity prices are rising, while "wall warts" are wasting a significant amount of power... are we sure this is a good time to trade efficiency for convenience?
Qi vs WiTricity?
VHS vs Beta or HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray? Yet to be seen.
Oh, bullshit. Real energy can be defined and quantified. It's even a standard unit.
First of all, let me very clear; When I use the word 'Energy' to describe 'chi' or whatever it is, I am not intending to attach the same measures and values as are connected with the term 'energy' as understood by classical physics. The word is used because it embraces some of the perceived characteristics of 'chi'. It's a useful word in this regard and that is all. But you knew that already, so let's move on. . .
I don't think it's a flaw in science that proponents of "energy" or "qi" can't actually define their terms.
Then you are not thinking. I explained it clearly enough the first time. . .
We're talking about a force (or group of forces) which are intimately related to thought. Why is it so difficult to believe that awareness and the intentions of the observer might be a component of its being measurable? If such a force existed, it would pose interesting problems for traditional measurement techniques; you have to grant that much even if we are being purely hypothetical.
Things we can see in the observable world tend to not care whether or not we believe in them. We would like to believe Earth is the center of the Universe, but that doesn't match our observations.
Really? This is actually one of those thousand year-old unprovable philosophical problems. You cannot prove that the world really exists beyond your own mind. Surely you are not suggesting that you have found an answer to this puzzle? But I do, of course, get your point. Reality is squishy, but it's not the sort of thing which can be manipulated whole cloth. It can, though, be manipulated. Energy, as it pertains to, say, sending messages from one mind to another over long distances, tends not to work so well when angry people are scowling and really, really wanting the phenomenon to fail. The real question is WHY they want it to fail so intensely. Perhaps you can answer that.
Furthermore, if it's defined as "life force", as cparker15 does, does this mean that if I stop believing in it, I'll die?
Actually, yes. But as with all people, your mind is an unholy mess of conflicting nonsense and multiple squabbling automatic personalities with competing prerogatives over which you have very little actual control, so I wouldn't worry too much. There are deeper parts of your mind which are in charge of most of your awareness which, luckily for you, your conscious layer has little to do with.
Actually, we know a fair amount about bias, and the placebo effect, and so on.
Nor is it entirely untestable. Get a few dozen people who believe Qi exists, and have them run the experiments, properly recorder. Then have impartial observers interpret the data.
What makes you think this has not been done? It has been, many times. While I hate to invoke the Doug Henning brigade, the Transcendental Meditation people have mountains of work studying their claims. The Washington meditation experiment with over 10,000 participants and the marked reduction in crime thing was an interesting example which springs to mind, and no doubt you will have heard of it. But you'd have to read through the information there yourself, which you won't. The rejection of this kind of research is a very concrete example of energy not working for those who don't want to see it. When presen
Not if they aren't the ones selling the product in the first place (3rd party).
Cool! Now I can steal power from my neighbors.