Batteries are the one part of your wearable device that still seem old school. Although we’ve seen improvements in size and endurance, the chemistry and physics of batteries are just plain hard. A lot of scientists are investigating the alternative of energy harvesting or scavenging; that is, producing usable energy from natural sources, such wind, sun, or human … [Read more...]
MWC: IKEA Embraces Wireless Charging
We don't know if you'll have to put it together yourself, but IKEA -- the Swedish furniture giant -- will be building Qi-standard wireless charging spots into bedside tables, lamps, and desks starting in April. The company will make the Wireless Charging collection, part of its Home Smart initiative, will be first be available in Europe and North America, and will roll out … [Read more...]
The Search for a New Battery
Software is easy, hardware is hard, and batteries are damned near impossible. There's no Moore's Law for batteries. That's why whispers of improvements in battery tech are so interesting and important. We bet you've never heard the name John Bannister Goodenough, although your life without his work would be a whole lot different without him. Goodenough invented the LiIon … [Read more...]
Sketchy Reports of a Foldable Battery from Korean Company Jenax
There's a company in Busan, South Korea, called Jenax; its main business seems to be stainless steel thread used to make firefighters' turn-out gear. At a wearables conference in Japan last week, Jenax showed what media reports say is a foldable Li-Ion battery that can bend 1 million times in its lifecycle. Not all the details as they are being reported add up. Some reports … [Read more...]
A Flexible Battery, But You Can’t Buy It
We've written about curved batteries, which are pretty cool. But Samsung is now showing flexible batteries, which not only bend, but can be bent repeatedly. The claim is that you can bend it around a cup and it will work just fine. The implications for wearables should be clear: batteries that can conform to whatever shape they need to, and that can flex along with your body … [Read more...]
Panasonic Intros Pin-Sized Battery for Wearables
Don't count on driving your phone with it, but Panasonic is introducing a tiny battery that produces 13mAh at 3.75 volts. The LiIon CG-320 battery is 20 mm long and 3.5 mm in diameter -- about 1/20 of the size of a AAA cell. An iPhone 6 battery holds 1800 mAh; a Jawbone Up24 requires 32mAh. Panasonic says they're developing other, slightly larger, batteries with a capacity … [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...]
2014 Predictions in Wearables: More of the Same, But Get Ready for an Explosive 2015
At the end of each year, tech journalists are usually called upon to predict the year ahead. Having been in the predictions business as a strategic analyst and a journo, I try to keep in mind two maxims: "If you're going to make predictions, make a lot of them. People remember the hits and forget the misses." -- unknown, but possibly economist Milton Friedman "The future is … [Read more...]
Batteries Woven Into Fabric
The authoritative magazine IEEE Spectrum is carrying a report about Korean scientists who have succeeded in weaving Li-Ion batteries into fabric, and charging them with solar cells similarly woven: They came up with a fabric-based battery comprising a nickel-coated polyester yarn as the current collector, polyurethane as a binder holding materials together, and a polyurethane … [Read more...]
Battery Tech: FLCB
We may be late on this, but we're hearing about a new flexible battery technology -- Lithium-Ceramic -- from a Taiwanese company ProLogium (be warned that the page likes to pop up lots of dialogs welcoming you). The batteries, called FLCB, are flexible and can apparently be made credit-card thin, as this video illustrates: ProLogium also has posted a video showing how … [Read more...]