The frequently accurate site 9to5Mac is reporting that the forthcoming Apple Watch will be powerful but its battery will be hard-pressed to last a day. Estimates like this are tough, because it's not at all obvious how people will actually use the watch. Apple, the report says, is wringing 2.5 hours out of the watch in heavy application use, and about 3 hours if the watch … [Read more...]
uBeam Wireless Charging Gets NYTimes Ink
The NYTimes is carrying a story today about a wireless charging startup called uBeam, which claims to be able to send power and data to portable devices using ultrasound. uBeam's promise is that portable (and by inclusion wearable) devices could have ever-smaller batteries because they would be able to suck power out of the air in rooms or facilities equipped with uBeam's … [Read more...]
Wireless Charging for Implantable Tech
Contactless power charging is something that lots of tech types are working on; the benefits of being able to recharge a device without plugging it in are obvious. But for medical implantables, the challenges are greater. For one thing, the device that requires power may be some distance from a reasonable power source. Stanford University has produced research that promises … [Read more...]
Fraunhofer Explores Self-Powering Flexible Wearables
Batteries are turning out to be one of the less-tractable problems for wearable tech, but the research company that invented the MP3 format is working on technology might help gear power itself. Germany's Fraunhofer Institute is heading a consortium that's building a flexible wearable energy harvester called MATFLEXEND. The idea is that as the harvester flexes, its … [Read more...]