Harnessing electricity from air breakthrough

[Puremallace]

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34401616

So this seems very cool and could be a game changer

Free energy from the air. It sounds like a fantasy but that is what the entrepreneur and former science minister Lord Drayson has just unveiled at London's Royal Institution.

He claims that a technology called Freevolt can be the power source for the "internet of things", allowing low energy devices from wearables to sensors to operate without being plugged in.

The technology involves harvesting radio frequency energy from existing wireless and broadcast networks, from 4G to digital television. Lord Drayson says it's a world first: "It doesn't require any extra infrastructure, it doesn't require us to transmit any extra energy, it's recycling the energy which isn't being used at the moment."

The technology was demonstrated in the lecture theatre at the Royal Institution, where Michael Faraday worked on electromagnetism in the 19th Century. Lord Drayson first showed how much radio frequency energy was in the room, and then used his Freevolt system to power a loudspeaker.

He also demonstrated the first product to use the energy system, a personal air pollution monitor called the CleanSpace tag. It has been created by Drayson Technologies as part of a drive to improve air quality in cities and give individuals some insights into the extent of pollution. A battery in the device is continually recharged by a Freevolt energy harvester.

[Kujako]

It's just RF energy. There have been scams for that since radio was invented.

[ComputerNerd]

A good idea, but not a new one.
I read about this quite a while ago, described as Ambient Backscatter.
Been done before, with sensors for temperature etc.

[Puremallace]

A good idea, but not a new one.
I read about this quite a while ago, described as Ambient Backscatter.
Been done before, with sensors for temperature etc.

I think it needs to be taken seriously now given the limitations on Lithium Io batteries. Cell phones.. smart watches... tablets are all becoming critical pieces of technology as PC's are basically being phased out.

[apples]

I think it needs to be taken seriously now given the limitations on Lithium Io batteries. Cell phones.. smart watches... tablets are all becoming critical pieces of technology as PC's are basically being phased out.

says PCs are being phased out

names 3 PCs as evidence

kek

[Puremallace]

says PCs are being phased out

names 3 PCs as evidence

kek

BY all means go invest in HP I will invest in Apple. Lets see who wins. Anyways this looks viable. Sure as hell not in the UK as they will try and kill this technology but I bet there are some interested us companies.

[haxartus]

RFID chips gain energy from the reader, this is already implemented.

[Yvaelle]

BY all means go invest in HP I will invest in Apple. Lets see who wins. Anyways this looks viable. Sure as hell not in the UK as they will try and kill this technology but I bet there are some interested us companies.

The point being made is that smart phones are personal computers, they're just smaller now. Smart watches and ipads are also personal computers - again - they're just smaller now.

What you mean, regarding Desktop PCs, is only half-true - as people have mentioned - such devices will always have a niche where people need more power than can be jammed into a phone or a tablet. So today tablets tend to play graphically shitty old PC games like Baldur's Gate from the 90's (not to say it is a shit-game, obviously). In some years I'll be playing Shadows of Mordor on an iPhone 9, but I'll still have a desktop where I'll play in photo-realistic VR environments.

Go some years beyond that, and my phone will have photorealistic VR, but my dedicated source box will host VR with smells and touch and tactile feedback: and you won't be able to just jam an SPU (Smell Processing Unit) into every phone - it's going to require some space.

Go some years beyond that, and every iPhone 14 will have an onboard SPU, but my HCAR (HiveCore Artificial Reality) will still be needed to jack my brain directly into the global Hive-consciousness - or just to host the server-farm of super-computer quantum chips that serve as my augmented intelligence: my secondary brain.

Not everyone will have or need a box in their office full of computer bits, but to pretend like a phone can fit all the technology we will ever need - is to pretend that technology will stop advancing: it won't - and it won't be miniaturized until years after what the initial architecture looks like - first adopters will always have 'Desktops'.

[Rugaru78]

BY all means go invest in HP I will invest in Apple. Lets see who wins.

Your reply to apples is strange. What does Apple vs HP, or other any other computer company, have to do with apples post? I do not think they were targeting Apple with their comment just because smartphones, tablets and smart watches were mentioned. You do know that PC means Personal Computer? And Apple computers are still a Personal Computer by definition.

[Gheld]

There's 3 great promises that if you ignore them in a capitalistic society you will never get ripped off (The 3 F's of defensive consumerism)

-Fast and/or Easy.
-Free.
-For a limited time only.

[haxartus]

as PC's are basically being phased out.

People who actually work have to do it on something.

[Ghostpanther]

I agree... this is a really good breakdown. Also, I cannot wait for the bolded part.

Lol! I sure can. Talk about a good way to brainwash someone even more than can be done in other ways.

[twiddler]

I'm lost so someone please explain to me--don't RF chargers already exist? Why is electricity from 'air', particularly at this point in time, a breakthrough?

Edit: Nevermind. Found some other articles. Not really about "harnessing electricity from air breakthrough" as a breakthrough and more so recycling RF. Okay.

[Armbre]

Yea sounds gimmicky power/energy will never be free or easy to harness, just remember the quote "in order for me to live today something has to die"

[Hablion]

Didn't Tesla work on something towards this back in his day?

[Yvaelle]

Didn't Tesla work on something towards this back in his day?

Yep, and he said he almost had it solved - but never published that part of his work. It could have easily been exactly this - people assume it was hype - but given it was Tesla talking and he didn't really bullshit any of his other claims, I'm tempted to believe he might have been a century ahead here.

[Kujako]

Yep, and he said he almost had it solved - but never published that part of his work. It could have easily been exactly this - people assume it was hype - but given it was Tesla talking and he didn't really bullshit any of his other claims, I'm tempted to believe he might have been a century ahead here.

So you believe he had a working "death ray"?

[Puremallace]

People who actually work have to do it on something.

I am typing this from work with two screens and a labtop hooked up them. Monitors will still exist but there are already doctors in my hospital who do everything from tablets.

[haxartus]

I am typing this from work with two screens and a labtop hooked up them.

So ? You think you're the center of the Universe or what ? I don't get it.

[Kujako]

So ? You think you're the center of the Universe or what ?

Better question is what he thinks the software running on the doctors tablets connects to... or how a tablet isn't a "PC". First tablet I had was a 386SX 25Mhz running Windows 3.11 for pens.