Video: Powermat's wireless charging lineup in action
By Paul Miller 
posted January 11th 2009 9:01PM
posted January 11th 2009 9:01PM
posted January 11th 2009 9:01PM
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Interesting. It would be nice to put on my bed (yes, I sleep with my electronics charging right next to me. Some people have a dog or a cat, I have my cell phone, Zune, and Wind).
Unfortunately, I hate things that ruin the form factor (so some sort of clip on thing wouldnt be for me) and plugging in an adapter kind of defeats the purpose.
Not to mention this is totally going to cost $150+ and I am not willing to drop that kind of coin on something thats not really going to convenience me all that much.
Am I the only one that is thinking of brain cancer after watching the video?
Now all you people have got to do is to increase the distance between the mat and the coil.
Research Research Research!!!
yeah, that when this will go in my wishlist!
So buy this product to fund said research! ;)
If you messed around with the mat, you could probably burn a few iphones.
So, this DOES have its use.
this would be awesome if it was built into a desk and then ur laptop had a battery with this tech in it... then u could just set ur lappie down and ur phone and all ur other gadgets and u'd be set!
This is worse than the time I took a job as Uma Thurman's eye wrangler.
If your child can swallow something that big then you have a much different problem, or a potential goldmine. Have you considered calling Guinness?
In any case, he/she would have to walk /awfully/ close to the mat, like say right over it at the proper alignment and angle. I don't think it would be a problem.
remind me of startrek how they used to transfer power wirelessly to other ships and technology
There is a reason these aren't on the market yet. I think this is more a demo of a technology than something that will work in practice. I think the obvious hope is that devices will integrate this capability directly into the battery, but everybody will always have "that one device" probably an Apple device, that wont have built in support. That is what the Power Disk is for. Look at it this way, you have 4 devices with built in support for this, but you still have that one stubborn device that doesn't do it. Suddenly, the idea of the power disk makes sense. Why plug in another charger when you can just use a powerdisk. Thats how I see it anyways. But yeah, for the technology to be adopted and be proven, it has to be integrated into devices. However, devices wont integrate it in masses until the technology has been proven and adopted. The Powerdisks are a necacarry thing to get through that "proving" stage.
this cannot fly without a standard.
see wirelesspowerconsortium.com
Well, if the future of the tech is to be believed, this should be integrated into cell batteries. So, the tech could potentially become small enough to swallow. But yeah, the proximity thing would make it a null issue. However, if your baby is swallowing batteries, you have much bigger fish to fry.
how does this change the user experience
I am just wondering about how this works!
any1 got any idea about how I can find about how this works!!
what I should "search/google" =)
thanks in advance
Search for transformers, inductive coils... or electric toothbrushes. This is pretty straightforward technology, as old as the power grid. Go to howstuffworks.com and search for wireless power.
How energy efficient is this type of technology? How much electricity is lost due to being converted to a magnetic field and then back to electricity?
WHenever "wireless" energy is sent over the air, even under the best circumstances, only 90% will reach the end product, usually its around 70-80%. He didnt talk about how much it was charging anything, it was trickle charging all the devices, which wouldve taken ages, and a lot of the energy was going to waste.
Othewise good idea, but marketers wont ever address the negatives when they try to sell you an idea.
I thought the stuff demonstrated by Fulton Power was more impressive, because they have started to sign up OEMs to work with them. Their charging station was more carousel-shaped than a flat mat, but it's all just coils in an enclosure so any form factor is feasible. Fulton showed multiple handsets with a coil integrated into each device so you don't have any of this power disc business, which essentially has PowerMat just relocating an outlet onto your desk. This video clearly makes this thing look like a power strip, with maybe a few less cords but... meh. The only way this wireless charging makes sense is when integrated receivers are built into the devices being charged. The problem is, as evidenced by the devices in Fulton's booth, the receiving coils are at least as big as the batteries in the devices themselves, so an iPhone gets a fatty bulge on its backside. Fulton's argument was that hotel rooms, airports, etc., could have charging stations out and about and you could just drop devices on it.
In my opinion, this stuff is niche at best unless you really have an overwhelming number of things to charge. How this really differs from something like an iGo charger with a splitter and a few tips is beyond me, since that option would have one wall plug, a few short wires and tips. Looking at the "high quality" case the PowerMat guy showed, an iGo set to charge three separate devices would easily fit in less space than that, be more efficient, and be less likely to have devices bumped off and not charged when tilted at "almost any angle."
This is something I would consider buying... (please be cheap, oh please, oh please, oh please)
I heard they are really using microwaves for short wave penetration, and it does popcorn, too, but that is just a rumor.
I am not sure if it will become popular.
1. the charging spot is still fixed.
2. the mat still needs to be plugged in, it's just the same old ordinary plug-in charger with different platform.
3. would customer spend extra $$$?
I like the concept, but I really don't think its all too useful. Only the devices you can directly set on it are cool, using the little powerpod are whatever is just dumb.
I see a huge flaw that would be a problem for me all the time. My battery's die all the time and I usually like to use them as they are charging, I don;t see how you could use you phone wile its charging if you have to set it on the thing. Also how are you going to sit comfortably and play you PSP or use you laptop with those short wires. I suppose you could extend it somehow, but still every time he explained something I was like "and why would I want that?"
And also, I can see myself pulling the power deals off the surface constantly while trying to use whatever I'm charging. The weight of a USB cable hanging off a table might just do that by itself.
well that goes along with my comment i don't think the magnets could be to strong cuz if they were it would probably cuz some problems with the device being used but if it could be stronger with out it causing harm that would be pretty coo like puttin your keys on a hook you could put your powerplug on a wall and then stick like your phone on it and let it stay via the magnet connection
Wow, looks like some pretty good stuff on the horizon!
www.privacy.es.tc
I'm glad some people are seeing through this useless technology.
1. wastes power
2. is not really wireless
3. certainly not revolutionary
Looking into this more, while I agree this particular implementation of the technology is useless Fulton Power seems to have a better one. Additionally theirs might actually have enough products that use it to become practical. For one thing it actually is wireless charging, for another Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor are working to improve it and make it cheaper.
Logitech, Phillips, Olympus, and Sanyo are members and may well create devices to work with it.
Really, just having TI's vote of confidence is huge..they're not as well known as some today but they invented the integrated circuit AND the microprocessor. Fulton (and Convenient Power) seem to have a lot of what they need on the engineering side and the CE side to make this become standard.
I just hope that more companies jump onboard with this "Wireless Power Consortium" so the idea isn't destroyed by incompatibility issues. I'm excited.
Obviously a fake. There must be batteries in those "power disc" things. LoL
j/k j/k
But hey, could be...