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Wireless Power Group Sees Standard Within 6 Months
alphadogg writes "The group developing a standard for wireless charging expects to complete its first specification within six months, opening the door for makers of cell phones, digital cameras and other devices to bring compatible products to market. Wireless charging lets consumers place gadgets on a mat that plugs into a wall outlet, and have the devices recharge automatically without needing to plug in each one. Apart from the gee-whiz factor, it's supposed to make life more convenient by letting people walk into their home or office, toss their gadgets onto a mat to recharge and forget about them."
Charging mats will recognize when a device is fully charged and then consume a trickle of energy in standby mode
Okay thats interesting. We all use wireless (inductive) power in other places and while, yeah, the cheap plugpack segment is mostly switchmode now I wonder if there are places where the efficency of transformers could be improved with a digital back channel which says send me this much power.
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And how do I charge it when I'm somewhere else?
Oh. Use a plug-in charger? Um... So, what's the point here?
How about standardizing on a USB charging interface?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
This will be a huge boon to me.. One of my hobbies is underwater photography, and as anyone who does that will testify, you always have a nervous moment when you immerse the camera and housing at the start of a dive..
This is because you have to seal the camera in a housing, sealed by a multitude of o-rings, each of which need to be cleaned and re-greased every time you open the housing. When you put the o-rings back in place, you have to look carefully for a hair, or a speck of grit or dirt, or anything that could compromise the seal in any way. If you mess up (even a single hair can cause a seal failure), you'll have a lovely view of rising water in your camera housing, and you camera will be so much junk (and you may kill the electronics in the housing too, which is expensive as well!)..
This can really put a crimp in a holiday (no more photography for you! And you did have it insured, didn't you??)..
There are really only two common reasons to crack a housing open.. To take the memory card out and back it up, and to recharge the camera/strobe batteries after a dive..
As you need to recharge after most dives, nobody's really bothered much with wireless data transmission, but if you can wirelessly recharge, it's simple to add wireless data transfer too, so you'll not have to crack the case 'till you want to change the lens (which isn't too common most of the time) or strip it for cleaning (you could probably get away with once or twice a holiday, if that).. Much safer!
How efficient are these matts? Last I heard they were only 50% efficient. Does that mean that if I leave this thing plugged in all the time, it's "waisting" energy?
The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains
Times cell phone has been stolen at all: 0
Seriously, it lives in your pocket, or on your belt. How many times have you had your wallet stolen? Maybe you have an issue with keeping track of your personal belongings. I've never heard of any of my friends (mostly BB and iPhone users, fairly desirable phones, unlockable and use SIM cards) with stolen phones. Usually it's death by toilet, sidewalk or frustration (wall).
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If the public is already afraid of living near power lines (100yds away), what makes these manufacturers think that having a bunch of 'wireless power pads' is going to be any different? Or is this a case of a rabid chihuahua is no threat due to its size?
the fact that this process inevitably will cost more energy than plugging the device is seems unimportant...
Privacy is terrorism.