Monday, February 19, 2007
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Netgear Skype WiFi Phone
One of the most dominant themes in technology recently has been the centrality of the computer. Rather than just being used for word processing and browsing the internet, the computer has become the tool we use to listen to music, watch movies, play video games, and much more. Of all these, the segment where this is best demonstrated is in communications. Not only has email become most people's preferred means of communicating, but the computer, through VOIP, has started to replace the telephone.
Wireless
The conventional telephone line, or land line, is almost totally obsolete at this point because the task can be handled more ably by a broadband connection. Services like Vonage work well, but another option is Skype, the Ebay-owned communications service that not only offers free person-to-person internet chat, but also allows users to dial any traditional phone number (SkypeOut) and even get a phone number of their own (SkypeIn).
The SPH101 Skype WiFi Phone is a basic device- it is a wireless mobile phone that allows you to connect to Skype in order to send and receive calls. In addition to being used as one would a normal phone, it can be used for free Skype communications, which is a like instant messaging though you can talk rather than type.
The goal of this product is to separate Skype from the computer. After all, if you are willing to pay a few dollars a month Skype can be a full-fledged phone service but there is no reason why you should have to be stuck at your computer the whole time- a phone like this one is how you get the most out of Skype.
Wireless
The conventional telephone line, or land line, is almost totally obsolete at this point because the task can be handled more ably by a broadband connection. Services like Vonage work well, but another option is Skype, the Ebay-owned communications service that not only offers free person-to-person internet chat, but also allows users to dial any traditional phone number (SkypeOut) and even get a phone number of their own (SkypeIn).
The SPH101 Skype WiFi Phone is a basic device- it is a wireless mobile phone that allows you to connect to Skype in order to send and receive calls. In addition to being used as one would a normal phone, it can be used for free Skype communications, which is a like instant messaging though you can talk rather than type.
The goal of this product is to separate Skype from the computer. After all, if you are willing to pay a few dollars a month Skype can be a full-fledged phone service but there is no reason why you should have to be stuck at your computer the whole time- a phone like this one is how you get the most out of Skype.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
New Technology Allows Wireless Recharging
In the future, we might recharge electronics the same way many people now surf the web: wirelessly.
Marin Soljacic, a researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, often forgets to recharge his cell phone. At times he is awakened by that last breath of electronic power that comes through as an unpleasant beep before the phone goes into sleep land itself.
“So, one night, at 3 a.m., it occurred to me: Wouldn't it be great if this thing charged itself?" Soljacic said.
The idea of wireless energy transfer is not a new one. Researchers have known that wires don’t always need to be in contact for electric power to get transferred.
Electric motors and power transformers contain coils that transmit energy to each other by the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction. This phenomenon was discovered by English scientist Michael Faraday, who found out that a changing magnetic field induces a current in a nearby circuit.
So, a current running in an emitting coil induces another current in a receiving coil; the two coils are in close proximity, but they do not touch.
Scientists then discovered electromagnetic radiation in the form of radio waves.
Radio waves, and microwaves, could be used to transfer energy, and then get picked up with antennas. But these types of energy transfer are not very safe or efficient because the waves spread in all directions and so most of the energy is lost to the surrounding.
Soljacic and colleagues, however, suggest using a power transmitter to fill the space with a “non-radiative” electromagnetic field.
A “non-radiative” electromagnetic field is a state of electric and magnetic fields which are localized someplace on the device and in the source, said John Joannopoulos, a researcher from MIT. “Localized means that electromagnetic fields will die off as you go away from the device or the source.”
The energy could then be picked up by especially designed gadgets. What's not picked up by the receiver is then reabsorbed by the emitter.
It’s not dangerous at all, Joannopoulos told LiveScience.
The technology will initially have a short range at first, the researchers expect. A laptop could be recharged within a few yards of the power source.
The work was detailed today at the 2006 American Institute of Physics Industrial Physics Forum (IPF), in San Francisco, CA.
Marin Soljacic, a researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, often forgets to recharge his cell phone. At times he is awakened by that last breath of electronic power that comes through as an unpleasant beep before the phone goes into sleep land itself.
“So, one night, at 3 a.m., it occurred to me: Wouldn't it be great if this thing charged itself?" Soljacic said.
The idea of wireless energy transfer is not a new one. Researchers have known that wires don’t always need to be in contact for electric power to get transferred.
Electric motors and power transformers contain coils that transmit energy to each other by the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction. This phenomenon was discovered by English scientist Michael Faraday, who found out that a changing magnetic field induces a current in a nearby circuit.
So, a current running in an emitting coil induces another current in a receiving coil; the two coils are in close proximity, but they do not touch.
Scientists then discovered electromagnetic radiation in the form of radio waves.
Radio waves, and microwaves, could be used to transfer energy, and then get picked up with antennas. But these types of energy transfer are not very safe or efficient because the waves spread in all directions and so most of the energy is lost to the surrounding.
Soljacic and colleagues, however, suggest using a power transmitter to fill the space with a “non-radiative” electromagnetic field.
A “non-radiative” electromagnetic field is a state of electric and magnetic fields which are localized someplace on the device and in the source, said John Joannopoulos, a researcher from MIT. “Localized means that electromagnetic fields will die off as you go away from the device or the source.”
The energy could then be picked up by especially designed gadgets. What's not picked up by the receiver is then reabsorbed by the emitter.
It’s not dangerous at all, Joannopoulos told LiveScience.
The technology will initially have a short range at first, the researchers expect. A laptop could be recharged within a few yards of the power source.
The work was detailed today at the 2006 American Institute of Physics Industrial Physics Forum (IPF), in San Francisco, CA.
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