Is RCA's Airnergy Snake Oil? 271
Posted
by
kdawson
from the deepness-in-the-sky dept.
from the deepness-in-the-sky dept.
Ben Newman writes "Of all the tech that's come out of CES this week, nothing has gotten the blogosphere more excited then the RCA Airnergy. A lot of people love the thought of an ever-recharging cell phone, and the Airnergy promises to constantly charge its internal battery through 2.4GHz wireless signals. Neat idea, but as some commenters have pointed out the energy just isn't there to make this work — BOTECs for a full charge range from 100 days to 32 years. Plus, don't let the RCA brand fool you into thinking this must be from a legitimate company: RCA hasn't existed as anything more then a licensed brand name for a couple of decades. So what do Slashdotters think — real deal or 21st century hokum?"
RCA (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, when I am confronted with an RCA TV, the first thing I think is, "a legitimate company produced this."
Ask Slashdot: Ten Minutes Hate? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sure we can look forward to a vigorous debate, where both sides bring up excellent points. I certainly cannot say where the slashdot community will land on this question, and the article certainly doesn't give any hints! Thanks, Ben, for your valuable question, and I hope you find the answers both challenging and enlightening.
Re:Remote Charging (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Back of the envelope... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Not so useful now, but has potential (Score:5, Funny)
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
it's not snakeoil! (Score:4, Funny)
Obviously, you put this thing in the microwave, set it to High, and let it charge for 30 minutes.
(Please let it cool down before removing it from the oven.)
Some thoughts. (Score:1, Funny)
There are IMHO two caveats;
Your 'phone needs to be in standby, since when talking, you'll be using far more energy than the cell can provide.
Any active users will suffer reduced signal-strength due to all the passive users re-charging their 'phones. This power has to come from somewhere and that place will be the cell transmitter. Given enough 'phones re-charging and you won't be able to make/receive a call because your 'phone won't be able to hear the cell due to all the other 'phones sucking all the signal from it...
Just a thought.
C:\>
Tesla? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yeah, tens of meters from a 50mW power source.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tesla? (Score:3, Funny)
Kid to mother: Mommy, why doesn't it ever snow over by Mister Dragon's house? And why are the trees always green in the winter? How come I feel warmer when I stand on his sidewalk?
Re:RCA (Score:3, Funny)
Re:back to basics (Score:5, Funny)
I'll get more energy with a hand-crank generator...
... depending on which picture is in front of you.
Re:Back of the envelope... (Score:4, Funny)
I notice you switched units in your surface area calculation. Do you, by any chance, work on spacecraft going to Mars?
Re:Yeah, tens of meters from a 50mW power source.. (Score:5, Funny)