Charge your gadgets through the air?
A startup company, aptly named Powercast, seems to think it’s possible. This technology, sure to give you brain cancer will allow users to charge cell phones and other devices by broadcasting electricity through the ultimate high-tech pipeline: Air. It’s based around the conversion of radio waves to DC electricity, which is broadcasted at a distance of up to 3 feet from the transmission base, which plugs directly into a wall socket, and costs around $5 to manufacture. It sounds like a number of companies are far less skeptical than I am, as Powercast has over 100 corporations signed up as early adopters, and electronics giant Philips is planning on releasing a Powercast compatible device in the very near future. If successful, this could prove to be an exciting way of un-tethering from that nasty mess of power cords hidden under your desk.
[Via CNN.com]
Considering that Nikola Tesla demonstrated this in the late 1800s, and others had developed similar technology before an after that, it is not that surprising. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_energy_transfer
Analog radio is basically a form of wireless power transmission.
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Listen to our interview with Powercast here:
http://mca.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=178325
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Our company (not related to Powercast) has developed the ability to do this with DC and also AC power. Some large corporations showed interest but were initially reluctant due to worries of field strength. However, we recently had an independent test against part 18 of FCC regulations. The results absolved previous issues.
If any large corporation is interested seeing a demonstration of lighting an incandescent light bulb (AC Power) from 3-5 ft away (being powered through the air), feel free to contact demos@bluedomaintechnologies.com
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An artist in England did an installation a few years ago of fluorescent bulbs (invented by Nikola Tesla also, actually) planted underneath, and lit up by, the overhead high-voltage power lines:
http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/exclusive/2004/pylon_ambience/index.html
(I swear I’m not obsessed with Tesla, but it’s pretty interesting that this 100-year old technology is coming to market!)
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