Splashpower Boasts Wireless Power 246
Sullivan writes "Maccentral is running a story on a startup called Splashpower that hopes to be able to wirelessly recharge all of our handheld devices. They have a working prototype that already recharges an iPod Mini and a cell phone. Now we can look forward to yet another way to get brain cancer."
Oooh, saves me a whole 2 seconds! (Score:3, Insightful)
Wireless Mouse Pad (Score:5, Insightful)
Wait a second... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Oooh, saves me a whole 2 seconds! (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't this just inductive power? (Score:2, Insightful)
It's not "wireless" as the devices have to be pretty much touching the pad.
For things like mp3 players and cellphones, it's really useless unless you're completely lazy or hate charging wires with a passion.
No chance of brain cancer here, really.
Re:Wait a second... (Score:3, Insightful)
Not sure I am keen on the potential healh affects though.
Re:Oooh, saves me a whole 2 seconds! (Score:2, Insightful)
---John Holmes...
Neat-O, but gimmicky (Score:4, Insightful)
My cell phone, my beard trimmer, and my toothbrush already recharge wirelessly... sure, I have to place them in their cradles and line up the contacts, but it's still approximately the same.
What is being offered here is a universal charger system. The rest of it is bells and whistles. What Splashpower needs to do is get the device producers to incorporate the hardware necessary for this, and to get hotels etc. to install the pads.
This is problematic, as stated in the article. Device-makers won't install the charging coil unless the infrastructure for charging is in place; establishments won't purchase the charging pads unless a sufficient amount of devices have the coil installed. There's just no ROI for a hotel chain to install these in their rooms and suites, and no reason for an end-user to purchase an enabled device if chargers aren't available.
Nice idea, but don't buy stock.
Re:Did they get ahold of Tesla's research? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Isn't this just inductive power? (Score:2, Insightful)
That's me exactly. I absolutely hate having a power cord for my phone floating around in my car. I would love a pad built into the small holding tray (or whatever it could be called) that's in my center console. I already take my cell phone and PDA out of my pocket and place them there anyway, why not add effortless recharging to it?
Re:Oooh, saves me a whole 2 seconds! (Score:3, Insightful)
You are assuming that one pad will charge every device. It would be very possible to make a "standard" DC port for every device. Chargers would be universal and easy to use. Heck USB is very close right now.
The problem is none of the companies want it. They all make good money off of selling extra chargers.
Re:Wireless Mouse Pad (Score:3, Insightful)
universal adapter VS. charge pad (Score:3, Insightful)
How many of you read this first thought you could recharge remotely, say within 100 feet of this device? Now THAT would be convenient.
Re:Nice, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Most small electric devices operate off of DC power, so no matter what, you have to have an adapter to convert AC power to DC. Since you have to have the adapter anyway, it doesn't really matter what DC voltage you go with, so you pick whatever's going to be cheapest for the situation. Consequently, we have all sorts of DC power requirements.
What might help the situation is for someone to come up with a standard for power outlets that use a standardized DC voltage in addition to AC. Or maybe a handful of voltages. Different contacts could provide your DC voltage(s), in conjunction with your AC voltage.
Device manufacturers could then target those standardized voltages and spend less money on adapters.
Re:I love my new ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Did they get ahold of Tesla's research? (Score:3, Insightful)
Splashpower is terrific! (Score:4, Insightful)
Splashpads are quite interesting in that they are active devices. When you drop something onto the pad, there's some communication that goes on between the pad and the device. The pad delivers power to the right place on the pad to recharge that device, and only that place. You don't have to orientate the device correctly, and there's no contact made. You can have multiple devces recharging at once.
If you drop your keys onto the pad then they won't electrocute you when you pick them up. And they won't heat up. If you drop electronics that's not enabled onto the pad, then it won't get electrocuted either.
There is a chicken-and-egg problem. On the other hand, I would not be at all surprised to see at least one cell-phone manufacturer adopting their system, and the first step in widespread adoption is to get individual manufacturers to commit to it. They also have the advantage that past a certain penetration point it becomes a de facto standard.
There are several other competing companies. In my opinion the Splashpower system is one of the best and most likely to succeed providing they can move past initial adoption.
Re braincancer. Deeply, deeply unlikely. Worry about the X-rays emitted from your CRT first.
Re:Oooh, saves me a whole 2 seconds! (Score:1, Insightful)
What we really need is more powerful USB charging. The USB standard has the comnumer clout to make manufacturers support it, and a lot of devices can charge now from USB power, but my cell phone, for instance, takes forever.
Re:Oooh, saves me a whole 2 seconds! (Score:3, Insightful)
-cell phone
-PSP
-digital camera
-laptop
-iPod
-GameBoy Advanced
-her own cell phone
-her own notebook (yes, I realize this part is overkill, but _you_ try telling a 16 year old girl she needs to leave it at home)
In my bedroom I have a rats next of courds to serve the same function.
I agree, if it was just a cell phone I wouldn't pay the $250. But if all my devices had this built in it would be a pretty nice sized hassle removed from my life.
TW