ChargingMat
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Apple's AirPower wireless-charging mat is still MIA
Apple unveiled its AirPower wireless-charging mat at its iPhone event last year, promising a way for those with multiple Apple devices to be able to wirelessly charge them all at the same time. The company showed how an iPhone, an Apple Watch and a set of AirPods could all be tossed onto the mat to charge simultaneously, noting that AirPower would be available sometime in 2018. But a year later we still don't have it, and today as Apple showed off its latest round of iPhones and the Apple Watch Series 4, there was not a single mention of AirPower. And the device has largely disappeared from the company's website.
A year without Apple's wireless-charging mat
At Apple's iPhone event last year, the company announced its AirPower charging mat -- a device that promised a way to wirelessly charge your iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods all at the same time. But 12 months later, Apple still hasn't delivered on that promise, and we've been left twiddling our thumbs and charging our Apple devices with cords like schmucks. Today you'll be able to follow our liveblog to see if our wait is finally over, but in the meantime, here are a few instances over the past year where the lack of AirPower was both glaring and egregious.
Flexible wireless charging sheet could eventually turn your skinny jeans into power pants (video)
If you haven't already heard, wireless charging is all the rage -- cars, cameras, and, of course, cellphones have all benefited from the burgeoning technology. Now a team of researchers at Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) are showing off a 2D power transmission system that could turn your pockets into wireless charging stations. According to its creators, "When a 2.4GHz high frequency signal is transmitted through the sheet, it becomes a wireless conductive object." Electromagnetic waves are captured in the sheet and can be concentrated in particular areas, allowing for individual activation of multiple devices, and thus increasing efficiency -- systems like Qi currently require a dedicated transmitter per device. The NICT says the power it provides is still relatively weak -- about 1W -- but it has plans to eventually bring the technology to soft fabrics. So maybe that Snuggie charging station you've been dreaming of isn't so impractical after all.
