Wireless Powered Ipods?

[steddie]

Hi,

Has anyone heard of wireless powered Ipods, apperently Apple has taken out a patent for a peice of software which powers Ipod wirelessly, anyone heard of it?

[acme.mail.order]

A piece of software won't do it, fundamental forces of nature and all that. They could put a coil in the iPod and a matching dock - it would be wireless in the sense that there are no direct mechanical connections but it won't power it from across the room, you'd have to set the iPod directly on top of the dock. Hardly new technology - inductance has been well known for a couple of centuries.

[steddie]

Do you the new version of wireless power will take off?

[Craig R. Arko]

Do you the new version of wireless power will take off?

What are you talking about? Maybe you can provide a link to a reference.

[ThreeDee]

It's currently impossible to transfer electricity without wires. MIT is currently researching (http://web.mit.edu/isn/newsandevents/wireless_power.html) wireless electricity. They have only succeeded under some highly-controlled conditions in a lab. I have no idea how they would be able to fit all the equipment necessary to accomplish this into an iPod. Plus the current range is only about 3-4 feet. Anything more than that would require more power, which could harm you.

If it was currently feasible, electronics wouldn't need to be recharged or use batteries, as they could get their power wirelessly from somewhere else.

Currently, you can connect online and purchase songs from the iTunes Store via Wi-Fi.

Perhaps in the future this technology will be available to the general public, but no such thing exists now.

The latest patent from Apple shows a new design interface, but nothing about "wireless transmission of electricity":
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/09/20/apple_patent_hints_at_future_safari_navigational_interface.html

Oh, and where did you hear this

[kel101]

unless he means something like ultra wideband ie the ipods can be synced wirelessly not powered but data would be transfered wirelessly, something much more realistic.

[wdympcf]

It's currently impossible to transfer electricity without wires.

You can easily transfer electricity without wires - it's called arcing (or in extreme cases - lightning)!

[EatsWithFingers]

It's currently impossible to transfer electricity without wires.
Not quite true. See the following two BBC News articles:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6129460.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2861987.stm

May be closer than we think...