News Bits: Wireless Power, Lenovo X60 Tablets at the NBA Finals, MSI Features Turbo Overclock Button

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Scientists find way to charge and power electronic devices wirelessly

Scientists have discovered how to 'beam' power across a room to light up a light bulb or power just about any other electronic device without wires. The team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was able to beam power 7 ft to light up a 60-watt light bulb. The team calls the invention 'WiTricity'.

Transfering power without cables is not a new idea; scientists have known for almost two hundred years that it is possible. Transferring power over large distances is not possible however. According to the scientists it only works up to 9 ft away. It is believed by the scientists that the technology could charge a device several yards away. The receiver and transmitter do not have to be in view of each other for this to work.

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Images courtesy dailymail.co.uk

As far as safety concerns go, the scientists said that there is little to fear - magnetic fields interact weakly with living organisms and are unlikely to cause any significant side effects.

Read More (DailyMail.co.uk)

MSI notebook features Turbo overclock button

MSI at Computex 2007 showed off their 5.7 pound GX600 gaming notebook, which features a 'Turbo' button. When plugged into AC power, pushing the Turbo button turns on Acceleration mode, which increases the processor's FSB speed by 20%. Pushing the button again returns the processor to stock clocks.

Read More (DailyTech.com)

HP number one notebook brand in Europe

According to statistics from IDC, HP surpassed Acer in Q1 to become the number one notebook brand in Europe. HP shipped 1.38 million notebooks in Europe in Q1, a 53% on-year increase, compared to Acer's 1.23 million. HP also beat Lenovo to number one in Asia as well.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)

ThinkPads power NBA statistis and media

Behind the scenes at the NBA Championships, staticians use Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet PCs to log hundreds of game statistics. Michael Gliedman, the NBA's CIO, says that “There are more reporters and higher viewership. We need technology that’s going to withstand this and Lenovo does the trick.” When asked about how the Lenovo X60s improves the statician's jobs, he said &quot;We have had touch-screens in the past, but until now it was always third party. The statisticians like the experience much better.”

Referees also make good use of the ThinkPads, working with the NBA's Precision Timing System to log events, such as whistle blows. The NBA hopes that the new technologies improve the fan's viewing experiences.

Read More (Notebooks.com)

 

I'm liking the turbo overclock button...

(and the wirless power, too )

 

MSI sorta has this reputation of... well, subpar quality. I don't want to think about of how overclocking would affect the life of this lappy.
But things that look great about it are 1) 8600GT, 2) 5.7lb, 3) separate numpad.

 

I wonder how many years before the first case of some horrible tumor or deformed babies from that wireless power transmission setup

 

thats what i was thinking. there was a recent study that said all the wifi we have these days is terrible for infant brains...how nice. Of course, all this stuff is ALWAYS SAFE...sure a tumor or two is not significant...

 

I like the looks of the MSI. Say, is there a non-turbo version of this?

 

That MSI is really sweet! 5.7lbs, 8600GT, instant overclock, and a separate numpad!

Wireless power seems cool (and deletes half the cables I have) but I wonder about health implications....

 

I third that wireless power is dangerous things!

 

hehe maybe later on, stuff can just absorb temperature in the air to gain power.

 

I would definitely guess that msi laptop uses a desktop cpu.

This is the same thing as the asus c90, which overclocks the cpu

Msi and asus are very similar companies whos primary business was desktop motherboards and now have to bridge into laptops.
It makes sense they are trying the same thing.

 

oh wait belay that.

check this out!!!

msis new machine uses a merom chip in a santa rosa motherboard.

So its a 667 chip, and then the turbo turns it to 800 mhz.

This is a mod people did on the old pm machines.

If its done there it probably can be done in almost any santa rosa notbook.

A 7200 becomes a 2.6 ghz chip. Watch for nerds to do this to any santa rosa notebook.

 

Are you sure ?

 

I wonder the same thing about cell phones , air pollution and big Macs .

Btw it was also said somewhere that the efficiency is only 40-45% .

 

click on the picture that shows the cpu id screen.

It uses a t7200

This is the gimmick going on.





Reading through the posts killernotebooks.com makes a very good point, how is intel going to warranty its t7200 running at 2.6 ghz?
Even though this concept is as old as intel I dont think Ive ever seen a notebook for sale like this before.

 

heh, our first 486DX desktop had a "turbo" button, and a little screen too. It would either run at 25 or 33MHz

 

REAL WEAK..It's always too good to be tru..MSI s***s and will continue to s***..I just wish it was possible to OC the cpu's..the GPU is quite easy...

 

"Turbo overclock" button? lol

Kudos to HP. Really on the ball lately. Just the right balance of features and style. At uni many a student seems to have HP and Acer. Can't say I have seen a Dell around...

 

hm, wireless transfer of electricity is something nikola tesla worked with...

 

I read about the wireless power in Pop Sci a month or so ago, I think it is very fascinating, and the prospects of getting rid of wire clutter is great!

Turbo OC button is sweet. I think that is a grand idea.

 

I'm totally with you, dietcoke, but I am also quite certain that other people other than us have thought about this.

I am sure that FCC and interest groups will pummel the new technology to the ground unless they show it is safe for use.

 

I, for one, will be glad to have wireless power. Those high-voltage lines you install in your ceiling give off a calming "buzzzzzz". That and the lead shielding around my desktop's plutonium PSW is starting to fade. On the plus side, no more need to buy green LEDs to light up the night!

 

The MSI GX600 has to be one of the best looking notebooks I've seen in my life! and I love the numpad!

 

Looks like a really bad 80s t-shirt to me, with those dragons and flames...

I rather take that girly looking 17" MSI next to it.

 

In the CPU-Z pics, notice that its actually a T7300 (in the Specifications part).

As for looks, just cover it with Carbon Fiber Vinyl

 

Some people think that high voltage powerlines contribute to cancer, than what can wireless power do?

 

The wireless power is ingenious and indeed could be very useful. I just think it'd waste a lot of power though, as the transmittion device needs to be running all the time. Only then would it be useful. But it is not really "energy efficient" and a bit impractical, although a very clever idea

Power used in homes is only 230, or 110V, and powerlines transmit power at 132kV. Quite a big difference...

 

I am also thinking about electrical pollution, how will we beam different voltages?

132kV is way high, but 110V-240V through the air has to have a similar impact.

 

Just with my very elementary E&M knowledge, isn't there no waste until the circuit is closed (ie, a device accepts a charge and gets charged)? Wireless power would mean that something always runs (like wi-fi) so I'd imagine that it would be less efficient than wired power, but maybe not that much so?
Someone jump in here and shed some light on how inefficient wi-fi power might be.

Absolutely. Which means that we can expect small time wireless power in the beginning, then slowly it will be ramped up as tests are done on it....maybe we'll never see an industrial strength wi-fi powerline ever.

 

Power lines are now able to transmit 765K voltage lines, and that's in the US. China has several lines that are in excess of 1M (mega-volt), and several US companies are currently testing 1.1MV and higher lines for future use. Try transmitting that much power wirelessly, and see if anything actually works around it! I don't want to drive by a power-wi-fi-line and fine my laptop doesn't work later on!

In theory, you could set the different power levels to different frequencies and put a bandpass filter into each PSU, but I'd still think a high enough voltage would fry things. Not to mention the E&M power concentration for a power line would kind of scare me...

 

Would be awsome to get rid of all the power cables, but I doubt it'll be possible for a while. I read somewhere that only ~20% of the electricity is actually sent to the device. So thats gonna be a HUGE electricity bill....But they're trying to better the technology so less electricity is lost.

I wonder tho how would static electricity work in such an environment that's drenched by electricity haha.

 

Cool article about Lenovo and the NBA. Reffs and statisics would ofcourse be the ones using those. Lenovo doesn't seem blingy enough for players. xD!