MIT's Tesla 'Girls': testing out theories (and how not to rm)

With apologies to OMD, it's IT Blogwatch, in which MIT uncovers research into wireless recharging. Not to mention a lesson in how not to delete files...

Robert L. Mitchell's been patient, heaven knows:

How many times have you tossed your cell phone on the counter or dresser at the end of a long day but forgotten to plug it in? As you wake up the next morning and realize that the phone's battery is on its last legs, it dawns on you that the charger was sitting just a few feet away. Why couldn't they make a system smart enough to make that "last-mile" connection? At the American Institute of Physics's Industrial Physics Forum in San Francisco yesterday three MIT [researchers] proposed a technology that could do just that.

Jacqui Cheng was writing in her diary:

Their plan is based around physics that have been around since the 19th century, and computer simulations of the system indicate that it would work. Other wireless power systems include Nikola Tesla's long-range wireless energy experiment, the Wardenclyffe Tower ... MIT's team hopes to improve upon these existing systems with their own solution, a type of longer-range induction, based on the resonance of an electromagnetic field.
...
Assistant Professor Marin Soljacic ... graduate student Aristeidis Karalis and Professor John Joannopoulos ... designed an emitter to make use of long-lived resonances with "non-radiative" objects. This keeps the energy close to the antenna until another object with a similar resonance comes within range -- no broadcasting into space is necessary ... can transfer energy to other devices within 3 to 5 meters of the emitter ... laptops, cell phones, and other battery-powered devices that need constant recharging would be able to recharge themselves. Soljacic theorizes that one emitter in every room of the house would be enough to power most household devices in your home.

Dressed to kill, Thomas Ricker's killing me:

We all know and love our WiFi laptops, 3G and DECT phones, and wireless TVs, keyboards, and mice. Thing is, that freedom is always interrupted by the need to re-tether and juice-up the rechargeables. So someone, somewhere must be seeking the Holy Grail of wireless power right?
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[The researchers] investigated a special class of non-radiative objects with long-lived resonances ... allowing, in theory, for a simple copper antenna with a long-lived resonance to transfer energy to say, a laptop antenna resonating at the same frequency up to about 5-meters away -- any unused energy is simply reabsorbed. Hmmm, "reabsorbed" you say, into what?

Techdirt's Joe's learnt the rules and how it goes:

This is firmly at the theoretical stages. Consider how long it's taking for fuel cell powered mobile devices to take off. We can safely say that this will take much, much longer, if it ever comes about.

deadweight seems to care and so it goes:

The radio signals could possibly end up on the other side of the world. People talk over 1,000s of miles with very low power all the time. Thousands or millions of these things would essentially ruin 6.4 MHz +/- for any kind of communication.

But heaven knows Fantastic Lad's recipe:

It's amazing how [Tesla] the man who is largely responsible for the use of AC power in our society, (Edison tried to champion DC because AC with all it's complex maths was too difficult to understand!), and the radio, (Marconi basically just used Tesla's insights to deliver a viable product for the war effort in WWI), goes unheralded.
...
His discovery of the radio was sparked by an incident where he was instantly aware that his mother who was in another country at the time, had just experienced a severe trauma. This experience is what caused him to think along the lines of sympathetic resonance. The science book people of today don't like guys who talk about such things. Again, it's about withholding freeing knowledge from the populace so that they are more easily controlled.

[That's enough Tesla Girls lyrics -Ed.]

Buffer overflow:

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Previously in IT Blogwatch

• Zune: sex & war & rock'n'roll (and BOOM!)
• Java is free, as in GPL (and feline noun verbage)
• Nasty Wi-Fi 'sploit from MoKB (and golf POV aid)
• Zune spoons UMG goons (and the Joe Board)
• Skype brandishes better beta (and mad ninja pirate)
• Older posts

And finally... It Must Have Been Using Those Files

Richi Jennings is an independent technology and marketing consultant, specializing in email, blogging, Linux, and computer security. A 20 year, cross-functional IT veteran, he is also an analyst at Ferris Research. Contact Richi at blogwatch@richij.com. (And when I walk I don't touch the ground.)