Apple in a newly-published patent application shows a couple of possible docks that would allow an iPhone (a tablet is mentioned too) to be docked in either horizontal or vertical orientation – “or in some treatments, any orientation,” hrmpf.com reports.
hrmpf.com reports that Apple’s patent application “suggests that a charging and data transfer method that uses induction. Inductive charging doesn’t need physical contact just for the devices to be in close proximity. This is an attractive idea because non of the connections need to be physical and can be hidden within the housing. I have not seen reports on how the iPhone is charged but inductive charging would be a great boon- imagine tossing your phone onto a horizontal mat next to your bed and having it happily charging and syncing (and slowly frying your brain!). Bring it on!”
Full article with illustrations here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Adam W” for the heads up.]
If you own an electric toothbrush, there’s a good chance that it uses inductive charging. However, such transfers of energy from one point to another through ordinary electromagnetic radiation is typically very inefficient. The waves tend to spread in all directions, so most of the energy is lost to the environment. This is why induction charging takes longer and is used for low power devices like toothbrushes and not iPods. Then last November, Marin Soljacic, an assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Physics and Research Laboratory of Electronics, made a breakthrough. Read more about it here.
toothbrushes use the (ineffecient) inductive charging so that all the electrical elements can be sealed off–which is a good thing in a bathroom environment with all the water around!
So it’s less that toothbrushes are low power (which they are) than that the elements need to be sealed.
Just FYI, anyone who cares
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The GM EV1 used inductive charging.
And nobody has really said anything about data transfer through induction. Trying to sink 4-8 Gb of music would probably take a looooooooong time…
>”And nobody has really said anything about data transfer through induction. Trying to sink 4-8 Gb of music would probably take a looooooooong time…”
Inductive coupling does not have any reduction in bandwidth, i.e. speed but rather with energy levels. You can pass data extrememly fast with inductive coupling.
Nikola Tesla is smiling,
There’s another report on this that illustrates a tablet on a swing arm base like the former iMac. Check it out.
http://www.macnn.com/blogs/?p=264
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This is certainly the way to go in the long term. Probably won’t see it for a few more years. Look how long the iPhone took to develop.
B-sabre said: And nobody has really said anything about data transfer through induction. Trying to sink 4-8 Gb of music would probably take a looooooooong time…
That is certainly true. Which is why God invented BlueTooth and 802.11n! Data transfer over the same frequency as power conversion? Sure, but at the same time? That’s at least a bit of a stretch.
DLMeyer – the Voice of G.L.Horton’s Stage Page
soo…
inductive charging, bluetooth updating/headsets…
waterproof iphone?
MDN word: “anything” is possible
And, the opinionators© at MDN are experts at the efficiency of electrical transmission now?
http://www.splashpower.com/