Apple's Interest in WiTricity Wireless Charging

[iStudentUK]

And to the UK poster speaking highly of EU red tape and governments
carefulness, didn't the UK have BSE = Mad cows disease with the government initially doing NOTHING!?

No system is perfect, but we can't refuse to make any progress through fear of a very small chance that something may go wrong. Life has risks, we work to minimise them, and on the whole developed countries have a very good record and high standards.

Moreover, in this particular instance it's mostly ignorance that is causing people to panic over wireless electricity. This particular example of it is very promising. You don't need to have a PhD to see that, just a basic understanding of the concepts involved. Unfortunately, many people seem to lack that. I guess that's why millions still use homeopathy or refuse vaccinations!

 

[RichBoi99]

History repeats its self

As long as it doesnt hurt us, im down with this.

 

[HowieR32]

Whilst you are right to call out Man4allsea on his comments there is a difference between electromagnetic radiation and magnetic fields.

Very strong magnetic fields can be dangerous, as can very high frequency electromagnetic radiation. However, WiTricity operates at 10MHz (very low) and has a magnetic field strength of 0.1uT (very low). Medical X-rays operate in the petahertz region and MRI machines (or NMR machines as they should be called!) use a magnetic filed of over 1T. To compare WiTricity to the magnetic exposure in medicine is madness.




No. The magnetic field isn't even remotely strong enough.

Cheers mate,

Your distinction to the differences are only academic. Fundamentally they are linked and are the same; only being that one describes the interactions between matter, and the other describing it how it travels through space in the form of energy.

But you are probably a bit behind the times; the two theories were 'unified' in the 19th century by Faraday, Maxwell, et al.

Just remember one thing about it. Neither can exist without the other. A magnetic field is created by an electric current. Or maybe the other way around? Hmmm... I think I forget...

 

[Rocketman]

Hmmm. I told you so?

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/635404/

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/3357317/

And another interesting blast from the past . . .

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/3336461/

Check the posting dates on these.

Rocketman

 

[Powerbooky]

Everything is safe until they discover otherwise, so it is very hard to say. However, magnetic fields are not likely to cause any harm due to the fact that the earth is a giant electromagnet. I think it's safe.

The earth has a very very poor magnetic field. A kitchen magnet is way more powerful. An MRI scanner is more than a million times stronger. And this device exists for about 40 years now, and sofar there's been no evidence of (serious) damage to the human body due to strong magnetic field. With the only expectance of "the missile-effect"; lose ferromagnetic objects (like watches, parts of a pen) that are attracted to the center of the scanner's magnet, and there have been incidences of injury and even death.

Anyway... regardless if the technology is life shortening or not, I don't see it becoming a great product. A table charger yes, but powering a room? The energy loss over just a few feet distance is just too big. And even if it were acceptable, and you could have a transmitter cover a room or even the whole apartment, you can't prevent the neighbors charging their stuff using your power-transmitter. Unless someone invents how to "encrypt" magnetic energy?

 

[MSlaw]

Funny how all this comes the day after Tesla's birthday.

 

[iPhysicist]

The idea of exposing people all over to magnetic fields is about the dumbest idea I ever heard of.
The idea the because we can't observe the effect, that it doesn't exist, is also stupid.
I am a physician who frequently works with high magnetic fields, that are tuned to the body, we induce currents in people. you can feel it. This is not proven safe, and needs many decades of research to prove it won't hurt us, specifically unborn children whose rapidly dividing cells are particularly susceptible to all sorts of perturbations.
We should learn to live with the petty inconveniences of hiding wires.

This is true! But it always depends on the dose you are exposed to. Some MRTs work with such high dose you have to increase and decrease it very very slowly because you really could harm (even kill) your patient. It is not harmless at all, but considered safe because of the safety mechanisms build in.

BUT MRT is high dose in little time and this WiTricity is (whatever dose) every time.

 

[mikelegacy]

I don't think there's a chance in hell Apple is teaming with WiTricity unless they can get that range from 1 meter to 3-4 meters and unless they can condense that base station into something that can plug into a normal 110V output.

Something the size of the Airport Base Stations would be nice.

You know if Apple really wants to do this, they have so much money laying around, they can obvious fund the entire research themselves and do it all in house.

 

[cyberlocke]

You are exposed to magnetic fields every day.

Actually, the other guy has a point. There's a big difference in stationary magnetic fields (which the earth produces) and an oscillating field generated by AC power. This is more true for babies, both in and out of the womb. Studies have linked the use of electric blankets by pregnant mothers(again, alternating current and oscillating magnetic fields) to leukemia in the children. Granted we're exposed to this sort of thing any time we sit next to our computers, but using it to send power . . . ? I'd definitely like some more research first.

 

[RWinOR]

I see potential here. Very interesting idea for the future.

 

[Rich Gibson]

Curious that Apple would try to create a patent which uses a concept already invented by someone else. Not surprising though, they are edging ever closer to restraint of trade with the Nortel deal; it's only a matter of time. Look to the EU to nail them first.

Tricity would be stupid to get in bed with them when they could license this to every manufacturer of portable electronic devices around the world. I suspect they've already been approached by others and warned not to make an exclusive deal.

Rich

 

[eah2119]

I dont like the idea of having something like this always using power. That would make your power bill jump like crazy. That would be awesome to have on under your desk, so when i set my trusty MBP and Droid (that's right, a Droid) they would charge. I could turn the unit on and off as needed to save power.

That's why it'll only turn on when there's a device in the room, or change strength depending on the number of devices.

 

[JohnDoe98]

Cancer city.

I'll ignore this.

Not to mention a ridiculous drain on resources and the planet.

Forget it.

The japs are exploring the possibility of launching something into space that absorbs the energy from the sun and through a similar tech, beams it down to their entire city. So no drain on any resources within the planet. Electricity would be free!

 

[DavidLeblond]

That's why it'll only turn on when there's a device in the room, or change strength depending on the number of devices.

I'll still have to be burning power to detect a device in the room.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)



Everything is safe until they discover otherwise, so it is very hard to say. However, magnetic fields are not likely to cause any harm due to the fact that the earth is a giant electromagnet. I think it's safe.

Strong Ignorance.

 

[JohnDoe98]

Curious that Apple would try to create a patent which uses a concept already invented by someone else. Not surprising though, they are edging ever closer to restraint of trade with the Nortel deal; it's only a matter of time. Look to the EU to nail them first.

Tricity would be stupid to get in bed with them when they could license this to every manufacturer of portable electronic devices around the world. I suspect they've already been approached by others and warned not to make an exclusive deal.

Rich

Witricity isn't the only company developing this kind of Tech. Apple may be researching and patenting their own implementations. Intel is also working on wireless power. There is a youtube video where Intel proved that they can distribute power wirelessly. So, to sum up. There are likely thousands of companies working on this, Witricity is only the most popular one.

 

[gorgeousninja]

I don't think there's a chance in hell Apple is teaming with WiTricity unless they can get that range from 1 meter to 3-4 meters and unless they can condense that base station into something that can plug into a normal 110V output.

Something the size of the Airport Base Stations would be nice.

You know if Apple really wants to do this, they have so much money laying around, they can obvious fund the entire research themselves and do it all in house.

It's great to have a such an experts opinion on this, thanks....but,.....
If they were going to do it all in-house they would need to hire a whole new bunch of engineers to, you know, actually work out how to do it, then they'd need to design and manufacture it, oh, and they'd properly need to get some more patent lawyers on the case as well ... So taking it that all into account (ie actually thinking in the real world rather than just demanding a spec wish-list) is probably a lot more expensive, and would take a whole lot longer than just partnering with WiTrcity.

 

[fxtech]

Uh-oh. Looks like my tumor's going to get bigger. Oh well.

Your very own iTumor! You should be happy about it.

 

[Optheduim]

saayyy whhhaaaattt??

Are you freaking kidding me? That's pretty nifty. I never had one of those charge pads they sell at best buy because they are so bulky. I didn't really believe they worked anyway. That's really nifty. Hopefully something in the next 50 years they implement this to our homes and all of our technology. (IF IT IS SAFE OF COURSE)

**Also, feel free to call me an ignorant republican non going green jerk (ur the smelly hippie I'm not), but if this is possible... would it be possible to use earth's magnetic field to power virtually everything on it and make all the hippies happy???

 

[Rivix]

That stuff can't be good for your brain.

 

[Digitalclips]

error in post

 

[NT1440]

Awful lot of armchair physicists that don't even bother to watch the TED videos in this thread.....

 

[SeattleMoose]

Great...Another EM Field In The House

but of course it's "safe".....ad nauseum.

Of course there will be plenty of guinea pigs for this experiment.

 

[ljmac]

I dont like the idea of having something like this always using power. That would make your power bill jump like crazy. That would be awesome to have on under your desk, so when i set my trusty MBP and Droid (that's right, a Droid) they would charge. I could turn the unit on and off as needed to save power.

And what about power efficiency, will this take more power then the direct charging?

 

[NT1440]

but of course it's "safe".....ad nauseum.

Of course there will be plenty of guinea pigs for this experiment.

We spend every second of every single day in the middle of an EM field. This one isn't any stronger than that as well.


Seriously, guys, watch the TED video or read a little.