Breakthrough brings wireless power

The days of wires powering electronic devices could soon be at an end, with the development of a new system that will allow laptops, mobile phones and televisions to be left unplugged in the home while being recharged, reports Times Online.

The new technology exploits a recent breakthrough in physics, according to the US company WiTricity. It has shown that it can send electricity 'wirelessly' through the air and can switch on a light bulb or keep a computer running.

The system has the potential to do away with mountains of disposable batteries and miles of wiring. “There is something like 40 billion disposable batteries built every year for power that, generally speaking, is used within a few inches or feet of where there is very inexpensive power,” Eric Giler, chief executive of WiTricity, said at the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford this week.

A new generation of monitoring and data-gathering technologies could radically change the way people plan and drive their journeys, writes ComputerWeekly.

They should deliver more accurate information on traffic densities to help drivers avoid jams, as well as real-time advice on journey times and fuel consumption based on the way people accelerate and brake.

In-car monitors could even help especially safe drivers benefit from reduced insurance premiums, by demonstrating to insurance companies that they are at lower risk of accidents.

Nintendo is yet again enjoying a bumper sales success with the latest Wii MotionPlus game, Wii Sports Resort, yet a group of scientists have announced the next major breakthrough in motion sensing technology, states TechRadar.

Nano-electro-mechanical systems (Nems) is being pitched as the eventual successor to the micro-electro motion-sensing technology used by Nintendo in Wii MotionPlus.

The latest Nems breakthrough comes courtesy of researchers at TU Delft in The Netherlands, who "have succeeded in measuring the influence of a single electron on a vibrating carbon nanotube".