charging

Stanford researches may have solved the problem of range anxiety by wireless charging technology that could one day create an electric highway.

Wireless recharging already is used by some electric vehicle charging stations to fill up batteries without cords or plugging into an outlet. MIT helped pioneer this technology and spun it off into a wireless charging startup, WiTricity. However, Stanford researchers improved on this concept and devised a way to transmit 10 kilowatts of electric power across a 6.5-foot distance with minimal energy loss. By overcoming transmitting electricity across a significant distance, researchers will make it possible to … Read more

Carry a bag with you everywhere you go just to carry every device and required charger? Find yourself traveling and constantly looking for an outlet to charge your phone or tablet? You may want to consider a Powerbag.

Powerbag is just what the name says: a bag that provides power to charge all of your gadgets while you're on the go. Whether a backpack or messenger bag, the bags have a battery built-in along with charging cables that allow you to charge your devices on the go, with no need for an outlet. There is even an extra USB … Read more

As more and more people turn to e-books and tablets for their reading needs, there are stacks of books gathering dust on shelves, or even worse, being tossed into the trash (for shame!). Thankfully, one California couple is out to rescue these neglected and unappreciated treasures.

Richard and Brenna Neeley from Cerritos, Calif., take old and vintage books, as well as some new ones, and convert them into charging docks for iOS devices. Each dock is handmade to order and features a power cord (wall adapter not included) threaded through the book, with a slot on the front cover to dock your iPhone or iPod. … Read more

Everything charges via USB nowadays: Kindles, iPods, Bluetooth headsets, smartphones...shall I go on?

In a perfect world, your home's AC outlets would have USB ports alongside their three-prong sockets. That way, you could dispense with all those bulky power plugs and just plug each device's USB cable right into the wall.

Until home builders get the memo, here's the next best thing: Lowe's has the RCA USB Wall Plate Charger for $14.99, plus sales tax where applicable. If you don't have a Lowe's store near you, you'll be on the hook … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Wireless charging pads are available now for a selection of smartphones and small devices, but the technology--anchored by the Wireless Power Consortium's (WPC) "Qi" standard"--is about to get a lot bigger.

Here at CES 2012, Fulton Innovation--a founding member of the WPC--has been showing off its eCoupled wireless power system, which can charge a phone or device that isn't physically touching the charging surface. Fulton director Bret Lewis demonstrated the technology for me charging a phone in a cluttered purse, as well as through a thick wood tabletop. Lewis says that a recent breakthrough also allows for a charge to even be delivered to a device through certain types of metal cases.… Read more

Apple's iTunes Match service is running up cell-data charges for some unsuspecting iPad users.

For $25 a year, iTunes Match stores your iTunes library on Apple's iCloud servers and makes them available on any PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and other iOS devices. CNET blogger Lance Whitney describes the iTunes Match service in a December 28, 2011, post; Apple provides an iTunes Match FAQ.

When I signed up for the iTunes Match service, it took several hours to upload via a cable-modem connection about 5,500 MP3s that were stored in the iTunes Library on a Windows … Read more

The cable for charging and transferring data from iPhones, iPods and iPads could soon undergo another major shift, switching to technology that could speed up both tasks.

In a freshly published patent application, picked up by Patently Apple this morning, Apple details a new type of cable that blends together increased power and faster data transfer technologies, including Thunderbolt.

While not going so far as to call out the technology by name, the patent application notes that the proposed cable could support DisplayPort and PCI Express--the two technologies that are bundled together in Thunderbolt's architecture.

Along with the faster … Read more

Buying a home charging station for your electric vehicle is now as easy as buying the latest James Patterson novel and you can find both at the same place--Amazon.com.

GE Energy today announced the GE WattStation Wall Mount is now available on Amazon.com for $1,099.

The wall-mounted EV charging station delivers a full-cycle charge to a 24 kWh battery in only 4 to 8 hours, compared to standard electrical outlet that would require 12 to 18 hours to charge an EV.

"As demand and interest in the GE WattStation continues to grow, we're excited to … Read more

GM set to make changes to the Volt in response to fires, Nissan moves ahead on wireless charging for EVs, so long Aptera, many young Americans prefer the Internet to a car, and we drive the new Camry with Entune.