I don't know if you guys actually have heard about this, it is pretty amazing I must say.

First, what is it? : Powercast is some kind of radio system that will send radio signals that will make your electronic devices charge by themselves.

Blah, I might not have explained it perfectly, here's the Cnet definition : After three years of keeping its technology under close guard, Powercast has come to CES 2007 to get consumer and manufacturer attention. Powercast is a radio frequency that is transmitted over a small area, and its energy is "harvested"--wirelessly--to give power to small devices like cell phones.

Second, the link : http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-12760_7-9673092-5.html?tag=txt

Third, what I think : I think this is just great, I never thought this would be possible but charging your cellphone without a wire would be simply perfect!
Although I don't expect the first models to be really wonderful, I think that within a year or so the technology will be wonderful.

Fourth, what do you guys think of this? : ....

I saw this on BBC Tech and Betanews last night I recon its pretty cool and will make a change to having battery chargers all over the place Going to be an interesting change thats for sure

notice how devices like this don't get in the news

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Originally posted by ShawnZ
notice how devices like this don't get in the news

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if i understand this corretly, if they addapt this to be able to work in long range, they could put hugh solar panels in space, then transmit the power down to teh earth, allowing for more "green-energy"

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Originally posted by NiteMare
if i understand this corretly, if they addapt this to be able to work in long range, they could put hugh solar panels in space, then transmit the power down to teh earth, allowing for more "green-energy"

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radiation?
Posted by RyLewis - January 10, 2007 6:19 AM PST

Lets face it, they are transmitting power through the air. How much power and will it be harmful to people/animals will be interesting to see. All I can envision is a microwave minus the protective walls.

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Originally posted by WDZ

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Originally posted by NiteMare
if i understand this corretly, if they addapt this to be able to work in long range, they could put hugh solar panels in space, then transmit the power down to teh earth, allowing for more "green-energy"

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That just sounds dangerous... beams of energy flying around... hitting airplanes and stuff...

Here's a comment from the CNET site...

Indeed... =|

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That's relatively not new,
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/radio/radio.html
works with the power of radio waves, nothing more.

This seems very nice!

Thats mean I can soon get rid of my 5V charger clutter away (currently have 4 plugged)!

I wonder when we will have everything computer-related wireless - internally, and externally, and other stuff...

soon. if radio waves can do what they do....

As said by others, harvesting energy out of RF signals is nothing new at all and is in fact already used in many devices (mostly by hobbyists and HAM radio people, etc) for years and years... even early 90's maybe.

Why they posted this news now seems a bit strange to me... Unless someone out there took the original news it a bit wrong and the original news was that this old technology is just being "rediscovered" and applied in "modern" devices like cell phones.

It is nothing new at all and I even remember my late grandfather (HAM radio hobbyist) making stuff with it...

It is just that this particular company has made something with this decade old technology (which many people seem to have forgotten or even didn't know/knew anymore it existed) to power new and modern devices like cell phones and mp3 players.

IMHO, news is seriously overrated, especially with "brand new technology" headlines. They didn't invented the wheel or the holy grale of power consumption. It is not more 'news' than Bridgestone making another revolutionary tire which displaces even more water than before; they too didn't invented the wheel...


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However, same kind of prinicple can be used with infrared waves which would not have the disadvantage of suffering from interference, like this low RF signal.

It also has the advantage that no external signal needs to be made first. The RF signal still needs to come from somewhere, something with power, while the IR waves just comes from the sun (exactly like solar power panels).

The IR technology consists of extremely small miniature "solar panels" (if you will call it like that) which on its own only produce a small fraction of electricity, but together will produce even more electricity than a single solar panel cell and it would be way smaller in scale.

Another advantage of the IR couterpart is that it can send not-needed energy to other appliances as each device would be equiped with a reciever and sender.

This IR technology is much more promissing than the RF technology. The only downside, at the moment, because this is brand new (unlike this RF stuff), is that it is way more expensive.

The IR counterpart of this has been made possible only now because the technology to make extremely small cells which harvest energy out of IR signals without the need of other energy (like solar cells we all know) is just new and is based (IIRC, this might be not correct) on some molecular stuff going on (hence the possible extremely small size of the "panels").

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So, although this RF wireless transfer of energy might solve the problem of cluttering of wires and stuff. It does not solve the enegry problem, since the RF signal still need to come from a special source (a normal radio signal isn't powerfull enough, the stuff they talk about with RF wireless transfer of energy requires very low RF waves).

The IR wireless transfer is actually a beafed up solar panel on stereoids if you will, no need for any special external energy source (except a small amount of light, eg: from the sun). And because it is IR, it is also easy to transfer the signal to other IR panels, which on their turn simply harvest it... Thus making it possible for devices to "share and distribute" energy as they need it.

Once that IR technology is put in practice I would call that news, as it would actually solve a lot of energy problems... But not this RF gizmo thing...

IMHO

@ cookie..

thanks for the info..

you have any idea if the IR system you're talking about is commercialized? (basically if I can buy it?)

Sounds good, though slightly worrying on the whole radiation front

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Originally posted by vaccination
Sounds good, though slightly worrying on the whole radiation front

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Originally posted by Chocolatino
but i guess it will be controled and safe to some extent.
right

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They Have to its just one of those things

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Originally posted by alby
you have any idea if the IR system you're talking about is commercialized? (basically if I can buy it?)

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Originally posted by Chocolatino

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Originally posted by vaccination
Sounds good, though slightly worrying on the whole radiation front

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yeah, but i guess it will be controled and safe to some extent. right

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
You probably catch more radiation standing in front of a TV all day long than using these RF waves.

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
You probably catch more radiation standing in front of a TV all day long than using these RF waves.

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Well Nicola Tesla was working on this before he died, if he lived to finish his research who knows what might have come out of it...

On a side note, Tesla is considered to be the genius behind the generator (well he provided the fundamental theory linking magnetism and electricity) and is said to be the forefather of modern day Electrical Engineering.

Think about it, if there was no Tesla, we would have a hard time transmitting power to homes.

[OFF TOPIC]

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Originally posted by Snaal Sevool Snr.

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Originally posted by CookieRevised
You probably catch more radiation standing in front of a TV all day long than using these RF waves.

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how about a CRT screen?
I want an LCD

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[EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC, SORRY]
So TVs have not been developed to produce less radiation than CRT monitors, even though they use the same (if not similar) technology?

Very odd...
[/EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC, SORRY]

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Originally posted by Snaal Sevool Snr.
[EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC, SORRY]
So TVs have not been developed to produce less radiation than CRT monitors, even though they use the same (if not similar) technology?

Very odd...
[/EVEN MORE OFFTOPIC, SORRY]

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yeah, it would be great not having all those power-cords hidden on the back of your pc. I've always said: "Less cable, better" and always though this technology was doable.