Wireless Power Tech

Two words that do not go together, "wireless" and "power." But it might be possible. The previous post before this about universal cell phone chargers got me thinking: what if we don't need chargers at all? Before you think I'm crazy, hear me out.

The Palm Pre was able to achieve a version of this by removing the tethered aspect of the equation with their "Touchstone." You simply place the Palm Pre phone on the charging device and it starts charging without the need to connect a wire or insert the phone into a slot of some sort. It does this through a technology called inductive coupling which is much more popular in electric toothbrushes to keep out water and moisture. The way this works, in a nutshell, is that when the rate of current changes in one wire, it induces another wire that is similarly configured to have a charge.

There are already plans by some furniture makers to make the surface areas of their furniture compatible with inductive coupling technology and manufacturers are slowly getting on the wireless power bandwagon and creating flat surfaces that can be used as charging stations. Minor modifications are necessary to current devices for this to work but the potential for wireless power is huge. Check this out to get a sense of what I mean:



Imagine sitting at home and your TV, your cell phone, light bulbs, and anything else that needs power is not tethered to anything. There are current theories that state this to be a possibility perhaps with microwaves beamed down from space. But more of that after a break, besides, I wouldn't want to "overload" your brain.

The Bad Man Notice: The Palm brand and Palm Pre product was merely used as an example of the current use of the mentioned technology and in no way do I endorse nor am affiliated with the above mentioned products.

Phone Charger Tech

When you go on vacation, a business trip, a getaway, a sleepover, a weekend visit, etc., the one thing you never forget (or try not to for that matter) is your cell phone charger. It is one of the first few things you pack and in the event of forgetting said charging device, you simply consider yourself royally screwed. For what are you to do without your cell phone? You slowly see that battery meter dwindling down: 3 squares, full charge...2 squares, half charge....1 square, its only a matter of time; and finally your phone turns off. It's almost poetic.

Its about time that phone companies come out with a universal charger and that's exactly what a new UN body recently approved. A charger that can work on any kind of phone, anywhere. Well, almost anywhere. The plug will have to be region specific but the connector (what goes into your phone) does not. The report calls for the use of micro usb, a somewhat recent addition to the family of usb connectors.

Jacked from: mobileburn.com

The jack on the left is a regular mini usb that is currently used often for charging various devices from cell phones to digital cameras. The jack on the right is micro usb. It is smaller to fit well with the new, sleeker devices coming out and can also help reduce power consumption. If that happens on a worldwide scale, then we're looking at a major reduction in CO2 emissions. Around the tune of 13.6 million tons, according to msnbc.com.

When will all this happen? When will this revolution occur? Hopefully in the next few years. We might not see anything different for another five years but we are slowly moving towards the goal of a universal charger for everything and hopefully one day, you won't even have to plug in your device to charge it. What if it could just lie there on any surface and get charged much like how you receive a wireless signal with a router. If only it were that simple...but, until then, happy charging!

Vision Tech Part 2

This is part 2 of the post about vision and the human eye. In the previous post, I talked about how there was new technology that is slowly helping blind people see, to an extent. Even though the vision is limited to light and dark and, with training, people utilizing the technology can make out the difference between certain things, there is still a long way to go before reaching the final goal of restoring one's vision. Almost like the holy grail of vision for scientists and doctors in this particular area of study.

Two years ago, a team of scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz were able to create an advanced chip that could be implanted into the retina and send tiny electrical impulses that are in a certain code to the retinal Ganglion cells which can only be understand by those particular cells. The Ganglion cells would then send those signals through the optic nerve to the brain where they would be processed as normal vision. By using microchip detectors that line supercolliders to detect minute atomic level particles; and modelling the retinal chip with them, scientists were able to send more precise electrical impulses and help generate a better image than before.

Image taken from: MIT Technology Review. Electrodes are located on the golden circle in the center.

The impairment (no pun intended) of this technology is that it still relies on a host of other devices to help it function. Besides the micro chip implanted in the eye, there is a separate processor that gets a video feed from a tiny video camera mounted in the middle of a pair of glasses and converts that to a code which is decoded as electrical impulses by the microchip. The technology is called an artificial retina and is being manufactured and tested commercially by a company called Second Sight.

With improvements being made every year, it seems like there is a correlation between the quality of the image sent through electrical impulses and the amount of electrodes on the microchip. Such technology could become mainstream within the next decade.

Vision Tech Part 1

Heard of the golden years? Yeah, I don't want to go through them either but imagine you had to do that with no eyesight. Imagine not being able to see the pizza guy that you want to pick a fight with for being a minute late or sitting on the porch and reading the paper or whatever people do when they get older.

Hopefully, by the time this current generation of "Millenials" hits the golden years, there will be something as simple as taking a pill to cure blindness. Until that happens, there is still new research that is worth being hopeful about. It is loosely called the artificial retina and is making its rounds in the scientific community as being able to help people restore some aspects of their vision.

Image Source: The New York Times (click to enlarge)

By implanting electrodes into the retina and connecting them to the optic nerve, the brain can receive images from a miniature camera mounted on glasses and can decipher between light and dark. We're not talking about high definition here but if someone can make out the markings on a sidewalk or recognize faces, then its a huge step towards enabling people to use their eyes again.

However, as with any new technology, there are certain limitations. As a person goes blind, the part of the brain that processes vision does not get used anymore. Technology might be able to help people regain their vision but people will still have to go through intensive rehabilitation programs to retrain the part of the brain that is responsible for vision. Although, this would be considered a small price to pay for the possibility of being able to see again.

Geothermal Tech

Our constant thirst for more energy is drying up the earth's oil wells and coal deposits. There is however a new push for green alternatives has led to many ventures culminating with the construction of solar and wind turbine fields (For more information on 'Green Technology' and 'Lifestyle,' check out Experience's Green blogs in the right hand column). At present, they provide about 2% of the country's energy supply and although one can argue that it is a start--it is not efficient by any standards.

Another technology being touted is geothermal and although it has existed in the past, there was never a big push for it mainly because of a lack of locations around the planet where it was feasible. For geothermal energy to be effective and more importantly efficient, water needs to be pumped down into rocks that will heat it up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. That was the old way of using geothermal energy. A new method, utilizing nano technology has been proposed and is currently in the testing phase that could prove to be very promising. (For more information on Nano Technology, refer to this post)

Illustration of different types of nano particles and structures. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Besides water, other substances were tested to see if they would be able to retain heat and be successfully pumped into and out of the rocks and one of the more promising substances was gasoline. However, the main problem with gasoline is that it turns into a vapor relatively easily at normal temperatures. To alleviate this issue, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as considering using nano technology for the heat transfer. Some nano particles are capable of holding over 30% of their weight in another compound at higher temperatures and pressures. Couple those particles with gas and you can heat it to the general temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit which is much more abundant in geothermal areas and you have a process that is in theory, not only efficient but also capable of providing at current estimates, 10% of our consumption in as little as three years.

The technology in principle is quite simple but as easy as it sounds, it somehow never ends up that way. Regardless it will be interesting to see how this technology develops and it is just another leg up for nano material to save the day...or produce more power for that matter.