WiTricity

[Sgt Badass]

So, if mobile phones and WiFi cause people to have funny turns, this wireless electricity is surely going to turn people to mush!!!

[Admin]

See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6725955.stm

It's interesting but you're right it would be yet another reason to start scaremongering.

Now might be a good time to buy shares in Alcan. ;) ;D

[huw-l]

The chaps at Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070607-remote-laptop-power-up-not-anytime-soon.html) don't think it will be possible to make this into a reliable product because of the very precise tuning of the send and recieve coils.

[Corpse Cruncher]

There are always going to be some people who are susceptible to these kinds of phenomena. Going into panic overdrive and scaring people is what is needing to be resolved.

[Cuddles]

The chaps at Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070607-remote-laptop-power-up-not-anytime-soon.html) don't think it will be possible to make this into a reliable product because of the very precise tuning of the send and recieve coils.

I think the product itself could probably be made practical, but it will never actually be used for the same reasons sending information down power lines isn't. It would create far too much interference with everything around it for it to be any use in a real world setting.

[Matt]

I think the product itself could probably be made practical, but it will never actually be used for the same reasons sending information down power lines isn't. It would create far too much interference with everything around it for it to be any use in a real world setting.

I'm sitting in my office. My ADSL router is four rooms down the hall too much attenuation for simple wireless. The bits I type are being sent along my domestic power supply. Recently one of the units I used fried and I had no hesitation in buying another.

http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-pl-14pe.htm

Don't knock it til you've tried it. ;)

[Cuddles]

I'm sitting in my office. My ADSL router is four rooms down the hall too much attenuation for simple wireless. The bits I type are being sent along my domestic power supply. Recently one of the units I used fried and I had no hesitation in buying another.

http://www.solwise.co.uk/net-powerline-pl-14pe.htm

Don't knock it til you've tried it. ;)

Yes, the technology works fine in small amounts. The problem is, any electric signal gives off radiation, and power lines are much higher power than normal data lines, so they give off a lot more. Used on low power, internal lines there is some potential, although there is very little to recomend it over dedicated data cables. Used as a general transmission system throughout the country is simply impossible because all the power lines would be blasting out radio waves. Quite aside from the big mess of interference this is a huge security risk since any data can be intercepted at any point along its journey.