Article
A US start-up says it has the answer to one of the biggest problems in mobile phones: battery life. After three years of keeping its technology under close guard, Powercast was ‘launched’ at CES 2007 to get consumer and manufacturer attention. Powercast is a radio frequency that is transmitted over a small area, and its energy is “harvested” – wirelessly – to give power to small devices like cell phones. While it’s presented as wireless power, Powercast isn’t just a replacement for a universal charger. Instead, it’s meant to either continuously charge a battery or replace the need for them altogether. Questions remain about the effectiveness of the technolology, and health/environmental concerns, but emerging market applications are clear.