iamcal.com Since May 2000

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• Hello!

i like the pace of the new mac powerbooks:

SPECint_rate2000 was 6.7 now 30.3
SPECfp_rate2000 was 4.9 now 25.6

clever:

"The power adapter is magnetically held in. When the cord gets yanked [eg by getting tangled in foot of someone walking away] it just pulls right off.

Thats not clever. Cutting said foot and cauterising the wound in one smooth motion would be perfect.

:D

I'd be more impressed if they'd made systems that no longer needed power cords at all. Not even to charge up. :) But yeah the magnet thing is cool.

Can you send power without wires/frying people's feet?

Yeah. lightning strikes every 3 minutes.

(course not, you tosser)

brock, you fool: lightning doesn't strike people's feet.

Fuck off Brock. You're an engineer? What about the shitting sun? What about wind? They'd work depending on where you are but are still valid options. You could even probably set up some sort of in-house windbased power transfer system. It'd suit Alfie's needs but would probably be a little power sapping and annoying. Like himself. ;)

Some sort of Trevor Baylis-like windup system is in some laptops now, I think I read.

shitting sun?

Thank goodness ... I thought that was going to be something disgusting.

It isnt? *doesnt click*

We can't transmit power, no. We can harness power through energy that is already transmitted, but the idea of a cordless power source like Alfie was alluding to is fantasy.

Solar powered items and wind items are all very well, but they only transmit energy. They do not transmit power. It would still need to be converted. That is the same as saying that if you float a battery over on a balloon for changing over, then you have cordless energy transmission. You don't.

And I particularly liked the wind power and Alfie being a lot of hot, inefficient and annoying air. I've no idea why it struck me as so funny, of course...

;)

Bah! Semantics. My downfall. This is why I dont form opinions.

*climbs back on the fence*

>> Thank goodness ... I thought that was going to be something disgusting.
> It isn't? *doesn't click*

goats.un:




EDIT: holy crap that's big. sorry, here's a near facsimile (see source for original pic in the alt tag)

"uhhhnnnn... nnnnnnn...! *squeeewurrrrttt*"

Your CD is on fire, matey boy.

"but the idea of a cordless power source like Alfie was alluding to is fantasy"

But the pen (no internal power source) on my graphics tablet doesn't need to touch the tablet in order to work. The tablet recognises the button clicks and the movement as long as its within range of the tablets loop (works about 2 inches away from the tablet and then stops.)

Or is it me moving the pen through the field what gives it power? so technically the power is coming from me and the tablet. Still no wires though.

But if it works for my tablet pen isn't there a way to put everything to do with a pc inside that big loop? Probably including the people at the desk

Would that hurt them? I mean I really hurt in the morning when I fall asleep at my desk.

"they only transmit energy. They do not transmit power"

My original (genuine) query/idle pondering was perhaps misphrased.

rather than:
"Can you send power without wires/frying people's feet?"

I was aiming for:
"All these new wireless things are lovely as far as it goes. But even if you have a wireless printer, wireless camera and wireless god know what, you still have a silly number of power leads snaking from an average pc. Can't we get rid of them as well?"

Which is a slightly more rambling question, but probably better explains what I was pondering.

My HID access card works by "transmitted power". There is a coil of wire inside the plastic card that is in a loop. When the card comes within proximity of the card reader it picks up the magnetic field that is coming from the card reader. It works like a generator to power a circuit within the plastic card to transmit the proper signal to the card reader to unlock the door.

I guess that's how my pen works. Cool.

I found this charming article/book from 1905: www.tfcbooks.com/tesla/wire...
written by Nikola Tesla, he of the coils.

"Your letter has vivified the memory of our beginning friendship, of the first imperfect attempts and undeserved successes, of kindnesses and misunderstandings"

the next page is entitled:

THE TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY WITHOUT WIRES AS A MEANS FOR FURTHERING PEACE

:D

But there is no transmitted power, it is only a reflected signal from an induced resistance, isn't it?

Well, that's what I'm asking. I didn't ask the question in order to start some sort of very clever argument on the subject (or the semantics of the phrasing of the question). I asked in a spirit of curiousity. I mean I know we can't get rid of all the wires and stuff otherwise we would have done years ago. I was only hoping someone could give me a bit of background as to why.

But in this case, rather than:
"it is only a reflected signal from an induced resistance, isn't it?"
I'd prefer answers/discusion on the:
"remember than thing with the electric motor/bulb/coil of wire and magnet that you did in science at school. That's wot that is." level.
Else I shall get lost. :)

"But there is no transmitted power, it is only a reflected signal from an induced resistance, isn't it?"

*jumps off fence to attend to Brock's doubt*

Nope

*jumps back up*

This is how science history is made, people. Watch and learn.

You can 'transmit' power via a magnetic coil, just like in remote 'smart' cards (like Jeff said).
I used to work for a company that made things like that (do you know that it all started off as microchipping for pet identification? But anyway...).

You can, in theory, create as much power as you like with the old coil/magnetic field trick (and the process has a name which escapes me) but it has drawbacks.

For instance, at work the clever people were theorising on putting an automatic recognition chip in a car that is powered in the same way as the ones in cards, for barrier entry, etc.
They figured that allowing for the big metal box the chip was in (ie. the car), and the distance that the car might feasibly be away from the reader, the magnetic field needed would be enough to tear panels of the car off.

So, as you can see, not an ideal solution.
Especailly when you start to think about magnetic fields and hard drives in the same utility...

There is no fence Sul, cos this isn't an argument!


(awaits inevitable "oh no it isn't, oh yes it is" pantomime style argument)

The problem with any transmission is that you get losses. That is why the further you get away from a radio transmitter, the signal gets weaker. And the problem with induced currents is that the losses in transmission are very big. Sufficiently big that it is prohibitively expensive (in terms of power required for gain) to be viable.

Electrical current produces magnetism. In the same way, magnetism produces a voltage in something else. But the magnetism isn't equal to to the voltage by a long way. So doing the same thing backwards is never going to be worthwhile.

Any nearer?

cool.

And in language I can understand. Thank you kindly.

By the way, I wrote all that whilst sitting on the bog.

Ah, the wonders of wireless =]

I ARE TEH HAVE THE IDEAL SOLUTION!!!!!1111oneoneonewaystreet

Hamster in a wheel connected to a generator, innit?

OK, so are you saying that a magnetic field can power another object and thus, as long as it's in field (and I suppose out of it if it charges a secondary source) that it can work independent of "plug in charge" power source?

If so I think that Shark in "Lost" is a cool robot.

Yeah, but only low voltages are feasible.

Don't be dropping spoilers on Lost!
I've got the series on DVD - and I haven't even watched one yet =/

Then watch it you cunt. I've been resisting talking about it on here for ages with fear of a googletastic assault.

(Watch it, you cunt)
Fuck you, funny man.
I have better things to do, like post in blog forums at quarter to twelve!
So there!

Sul? Funny?

Only to look at.

That hurts. That really hurts because my large nose is typing my mid letters.

Oh god. I've just realised it. You think I'm jewish. You racist fucks.

AP's jewish. Take your Nazi anger out on him. I've just a big nose. :'(

interestingly(?) "only low voltages are feasible" is not quite right. i just threw out a whole bunch of internal Tube advices from and for the engineers. they routinely warn off people using certain types of equipment in certain maintenance areas because other work in the same station will be throwing so much induced current it's not safe.

on a much lower current basis, this heavily shielded monitor (lacie electronblue22IV) spends maybe an hour a day in total being jangled near-unreadably by building works 50-100m away. (i can FEEL me mutating...)

"not feasible" is heavily current-technology dependent ;) it was quite valid to say in 1900 that powered flight was not feasible. the engines needed to move on a bit. similarly, flickr was not feasible a decade ago. the cost of bandwidth had to drop a bit.

Salt - er... What?

Sul - If you don't like Jewish people, you're racist? Jewish isn't a race (or do they all come from Jerusalam?)...

The jews are a race, I think, but also a religion. The race is called the semites, hence anti-semitism.

Only partly making this up, may well be wrong, but can't be arsed to jfgi and see if I'm talking shit

Wouldn't laser qualify as wireless power transmission, or doesn't it count because all the energy is lost?

grim… - eh?

CONSPIRACY!!!!


yesterday apple announced first shipping macs with intel chips

yesterday apple share price closed at 8086...

Hah! Good god, please tell me that's true.

FACT

finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aapl

That's brillyunt

Hahaa. I just saw the engadget picture of Paul Otellini (Intel CEO) walking onto the Macworld stage in a clean-room suit. Cool.