Next Little Thing 2010
Wireless electricity. Invisible speakers. A mind-reading headset. See what’s coming in 2010.
Cambridge, Mass.
Marin Soljačić couldn’t sleep. The problem was his wife’s Nokia cell phone. The tyrannical device beeped on the bedside table when it needed to be plugged in. It could not be disabled.
Instead of taking a hammer to the phone, Soljačić marveled at the fact that this device, and billions of others like it, was sitting a few feet away from all the electricity it could ever need. Why couldn’t it receive power wirelessly, just as laptops get Wi-Fi?
A physics professor, Soljačić dug into the problem and learned that if you could get two magnetic fields to resonate — to sing the same note, in effect — they could transfer an electric current. With two large magnetic coils, he found a way to throw 60 watts across a room, powering a lightbulb. MIT, his employer, quickly patented the technology and encouraged Soljačićto start a company.
WiTricity’s 15 employees are hard at work proving that Soljačić’s magnetic coils can power almost any electrical device. Most of the company’s potential customers have one major question: safety.
“There’s a real perceptual problem,” says CEO Eric Giler. “People think we’re putting electricity in the air, and that’s called lightning, and they know to stay away from that.”
In fact, the coils turn electricity into magnetic fields, then back into electricity. Magnetic fields interact weakly with humans; as far as the fields are concerned, we are no different from air. Giler makes a point of standing between the coils whenever he demonstrates the technology.
At the Nikkei electronics conference in Tokyo in October, he was able to power a 1,000-watt klieg light from across the room — a far cry from that 60-watt lightbulb in Soljačić’s first experiment. “We’re going up the power curve,” he says. -Chris Taylor
Michael Moore: An Open Letter To President Obama
Posted by: Illmatic 2 hours ago | 167 Views
Dear President Obama,
Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.
It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That’s the way General Washington insisted it must be. That’s what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. “You’re fired!,” said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in’ hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).
So now you feel backed into a corner. 30 years ago this past Thursday (Thanksgiving) the Soviet generals had a cool idea — “Let’s invade Afghanistan!” Well, that turned out to be the final nail in the USSR coffin.
There’s a reason they don’t call Afghanistan the “Garden State” (though they probably should, seeing how the corrupt President Karzai, whom we back, has his brother in the heroin trade raising poppies). Afghanistan’s nickname is the “Graveyard of Empires.” If you don’t believe it, give the British a call. I’d have you call Genghis Khan but I lost his number. I do have Gorbachev’s number though. It’s + 41 22 789 1662. I’m sure he could give you an earful about the historic blunder you’re about to commit.
With our economic collapse still in full swing and our precious young men and women being sacrificed on the altar of arrogance and greed, the breakdown of this great civilization we call America will head, full throttle, into oblivion if you become the “war president.” Empires never think the end is near, until the end is here. Empires think that more evil will force the heathens to toe the line — and yet it never works. The heathens usually tear them to shreds.
Adidas “Kicks” It With Star Wars
BY Zachary WilsonMon Nov 23, 2009 at 6:36 PM
The “I Sense Something, a Presence I’ve Not Felt Since…” Sneakers
In these Vader-branded kicks, you’ll be ready to rush in against any foe. Wear them too long, and the odor becomes more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
The “Only Imperial Stormtroopers Are So Precise” Sneakers
No one will ever ask, “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” again. On the other hand, these accessories may not be acceptable if you’re looking to join the 501st Legion.
The “You Don’t Know the Power of the Dark Side” Hoodie
The respiratory machine front flap is impressive. Most impressive.
The “Do or Do Not–There is No Try” Sneakers
The only pro-Rebel apparel of the bunch, these shoes will nonetheless draw you in like a tractor beam.
