Future Desks to Charge Gadgets Wirelessly

IronMan writes "Future desks may allow us to charge our phones, iPods, PDAs and other gadgets wirelessly. Office equipment maker Herman Miller is one of the first companies to license the eCoupled inductive coupling technology from Fulton Innovation, Engadget reports. The desk will allows wireless transfer of energy through a magnetic field. Motorola is working together with eCoupled, but still is not sure when the first consumer devices with this technology will appear on the market. From the article: 'Of course, cordless charging isn't an entirely new concept, with HP recently showing off some of its own ideas for juiced-up furniture, and Splashpower talking up its charge-on-contact system for a few years now. We guess we'll just have to wait and see if this new power-happy desk becomes the same status symbol for the Web 2.0 crowd that Herman Miller's Aeron chair was back in Web 1.0 days -- assuming we haven't moved on to Web 3.0 by the time the desk actually comes out, that is.'"

Health concerns

[rossdee]

Is anyone worried about what the effects might be on the person sitting at the desk? Long term exposure to magnetic radiation may cause cancer...

Old technology

[NineNine]

I've been charging my dog's "invisible fence" collar this way for years. Actually, with that technology, it doesn't even have to touch. It just has to get close to the charger (within an inch or two). Works great. My dog's zapper collar is 100% sealed shut, making it 100% waterproof.

Wireless mouse

[Bacon Bits]

The first thing to come into my mind is a wireless mouse that gets power through the mouse pad. Wouldn't even need batteries, probably. Just capacitors.

Re:Health concerns

[Normal Dan]

I think the health concerns have more to do with a lack of understanding magnetism than a lack of understanding proofs of a negative. People have a natural fear of the unknown. We don't yet understand magnetism and if/how our own bodies use it. Think about in the past, people were afraid if they sailed too far they would fall off the edge of the earth. They had no proof of this, but they also had no understanding of the way the world worked. Although I admit magnetism is a bit different, the natural fear of the unknown is there.

And your laptops HD for that matter.

[aix tom]

And I don't really see a benefit in having to place your device on a certain spot on the desk to recharge it over having to place it in some charging device.

The charging device is even more practical, since it's more portable.

Re:Wireless mouse

[FooAtWFU]

Well, it's not EXACTLY the same, but if you get a Wacom graphics tablet, they include a mouse that only works on the tablet... it doesn't have a power supply at all, though, batteries or otherwise, and neither does the pen...