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Ikea Unveils Furniture That Charges Your Smartphone Wirelessly

Posted by samzenpus on from the power-up dept.

pbahra writes Swedish furniture maker Ikea unveiled a new range of furniture that it says can wirelessly charge some mobile devices. The Swedish furniture giant made the announcement on Sunday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Ikea's introduction of wireless charging functionality on some of its new furniture heats up the battle for a global wireless charging standard, of which there are currently three, all struggling to become the global leader.

10 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory by ArcadeMan · · Score: 3, Funny

    http://xkcd.com/927/

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    1. Re:Obligatory by jrumney · · Score: 2

      Are there really 3 struggling to become the global leader though? From what I can see, there's Qi, which is widely supported by devices, and there's a couple of competing standards which don't want to die, occasionally announcing agreements with restaurant/cafe chains to put their unused charging devices into stores.

    2. Re:Obligatory by bickerdyke · · Score: 2

      Others are just plain unoriginal observations. The one you linked to is a good example of this.

      That's why you can quote them on so many occasions.

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    3. Re:Obligatory by silentcoder · · Score: 3, Insightful

      On the other hand, a hacker who actually gave her child a SQL injection as legal name... now that's some funny shit right there !

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  2. Re:Obligatory, #2: Laws of Physics by slashdoter · · Score: 5, Informative

    Translation #3, you don't know about the QI charging standard.

    It has a command channel for the device to let the charger know it should be charged.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_%28inductive_power_standard%29

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  3. Re:Wasteful? by Bartles · · Score: 3, Informative

    In the Qi system, the transformer isn't energized unless a compatible device is present.

  4. HEADLINE: IKEA MAKES ELECTRIC CHAIR by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 2, Funny

    Alabama and Oklahoma have orgasm.

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  5. Re:I strongly disagree. by rHBa · · Score: 2

    Who would EVER put an expensive phone flat on a table???

    No, I always balance mine on its edge. That's assuming there aren't any kids running around, otherwise I leave it on the floor. Idiot.

  6. Re: Let me guess the name of the line by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 2

    You get what you pay for with IKEA. In fact, if you compare their stuff to similarly priced stuff you get a lot more than you pay for.

    You can buy real wood furniture from them and it lasts far longer. It's not even that much more expensive. Especially if you cheat and glue the pieces in addition to screwing them together with the included stuff. The main disadvantage to gluing is that you can't take it apart to move it but you can't do that too often anyway.

    Old IKEA furniture can often have a new lease on life if you take it apart and glue it back together with a polyurethane based glue (often called filling glue). Cheap and relatively easy. Note: take lots of pictures while taking it apart. Those pictures in reverse are your manual (since the original manual is probably lost).

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  7. Re:I strongly disagree. by itzly · · Score: 2

    I leave mine in the aquarium, safely out of reach from the kids.