MIT Dudes Develop Mind-Boggling Wireless Electricity

Now those eggheads at MIT have done something truly magic, figuring out a way to send power seven feet away, and look ma, no wires. Their trick uses resonant coupling, turning electricity into magnetic energy resonating at a certain frequency that proved to have that old black magic.

For some reason, 10MHz is that certain magic number. Resonating a coil at that frequency on one side of the room, it sends its magneto-goodness over to the other side where there's another coil that also resonates at that same 10MHz frequency. Yeah, for some strange reason, this magnetic energy is able to jump across a 7-foot space, but only at that specific 10MHz frequency. Cool.

There must be a catch to this.

[snoop_dizzle]

this is some crazy stuff

[Systematrix]

Using your wireless controller and your wireless headset on your wireless ethernet enabled Xbox 360 that is receiving power wirelessly. All they have to do now is come up with a way to transfer the video and audio wirelessly and we're all set!

[closedxxx]

There was a write up last week about the "Wireless Home Theater" where all HD audio and video is streamed from the source wirelessly to a receiver that attaches to the back of the television via HDMI or component. They say that the receiver is small enough to mount behind the television, or in the wall for an ultra clean setup.
THe technology is still a year or more away from being available at retail, but it's on the way.

[Loopy]

It's been more than a decade that wireless A/V transmitter exists, and works nicely. They are using 900Mhz and 2.4 Ghz Band.
So, nothing new here.

[ironwolf]

invented a way to transmit electricity over long distances about 90 years ago.

Nothing like taking cedit for someone elses discovery.

[Systematrix]

I added the pic of Tesla for the story, good catch ;)

[Kleptic]

yeah I was going say that...Tesla was going for AC transmission back at the beginning of the 20th century...and there are hundreds of myths about whether or not he may have done it; being that he became such a shut-in...

[_insane_cobra]

Tesla has been working on it, but whether he really achieved it is still a mystery.

The interesting thing is that one of the scientists from the MIT team is also from Croatia, just like Tesla was.

[DJ]

Insane stuff.

[closedxxx]

IN a tech magazine last month I read about an adapter that can be plugged in and left on your desk that allows you to set your cell phone within a certain range, and it will charge wirelessly.

[Systematrix]

You can't stop the technology train.

[progx]

.

[Diselage]

oh those crazy MIT people's, maybe someday we'll figure out that voodoo that they do.

[neogeo]

So I can trip and fall over my game setup and hit my head on the way down, knocking myself out, all the while sparking a fire. YES!

[Rybnik]

I think part of why this will catch on now and didn't 90 years ago when Tesla invented it...is because people realize better why this is possible and there is lots of widespread understanding about how this stuff works. Tesla was so far ahead of his time, that many people thought he was somehow connected with dark forces and whatnot...People were afraid of the crazy technology he was developing and were seriously skeptical of its long term viability...
Perhaps if we had been more embracive of Tesla's insane forward thinking, we would already have flying cars and be running on a sustainable economy (He had viable plans for both of these)! Honestly, Tesla is one of the most overlooked visionaries of the 20th century.