AT News: Wireless USB Primer

by Kristopher Kubicki on 3/1/2004 3:16 AM EST
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  • scavio - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link

    Don't you have to pay royalty fees (something like $2 per port ) for firewire? I believe that has a lot to do with its popularity, as even $4-$6 is a lot in a low profit margin sector. USB doesn't have that disadvantage. Intel was actually supportive of firewire for high speed devices, but that may have been before USB2.

    I think the one that will win out of bluetooth/wireless USB is the one that actually works well. I've had nothing but troubles with bluetooth.
  • Xelloss - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link

    [quote]Broadcasting power without killing us is quite possible, using focussed light, like laser, on a modified solar cell. The only disadvantage of this technology is that it requires you to place the cell in the beam and to prevent obstruction.[/quote]

    Well, that, and that it would be terribly energy inefficient, and pretty much require line-of-sight by definition. I've thought about this before: the real problem comes in that you need a prohibitive amount of energy just to make a beam that goes anywhere at all, let alone one that's any good as a power source.

    Anyways, I can see some limited applications... it does more or less fill the same product-space as bluetooth. But as far as making my tangle of wires go away, I'm not going to hold my breath.

    Oh, and as to why USB has beaten out Firewire, and why this will probably beat out Bluetooth... Intel doesn't control either of those two. And having Intel behind a standard = instant market penetration, because if they want it, they can just build it into their chipsets. Yes, firewire is pretty readily available these days, but it's been an uphill battle pretty much the whole way. Pretty much how bluetooth's been as well, though in that case there may be some other factors holding it back as well.
  • Shalmanese - Tuesday, March 2, 2004 - link

    It would be relatively simple to adapt inductive power to a laptop simply by having more power conversion points on the laptop. I could fit easily 20 mobile phone sized contact points on my laptop so its only 2- 3 W per contact point.
  • Anemone - Monday, March 1, 2004 - link

    USB is kind of the pits. The cpu useage is horribly high, and only gets worse the higher bandwidth you use. I use usb devices but sparingly, VERY sparingly, because of this. Having seen comparisons to 1394, and how favorably 1394 compares I'm kind of surprised that people haven't caught on faster. But I suppose the common person favors simplicity over efficiency or simply doesn't use their machine for all it can do and thus don't mind. Whatever the reason I'm loathe to get any excitement going over further usb expansions because I think they screwed up the first couple of versions pretty badly.

    $.02
  • T8000 - Monday, March 1, 2004 - link

    Broadcasting power without killing us is quite possible, using focussed light, like laser, on a modified solar cell. The only disadvantage of this technology is that it requires you to place the cell in the beam and to prevent obstruction.

    With something like 10 Watts per half inch diameter, it would provide sufficient power, while it would only be hot if you keep your finger in the beam until it shuts down, because no powered device is detected when you block it.

    And the device would need a small battery to provide sign in power.
  • KristopherKubicki - Monday, March 1, 2004 - link

    Fixed.
  • Phiro - Monday, March 1, 2004 - link

    Editors, pls fix:

    "If someone manages to broadcast power without killing us, a truly wireless environment may never be possible. "

    You mean, "Until someone manages..."

  • riffst3r - Monday, March 1, 2004 - link

    induction base power is the closest thing we have to "wireless power". but its mostly used it low power devices, like cell phones, and electric tooth brushes.

    mjz, a great application of WUSB would be for wireless input peripherals. imagine a wireless mouse or keyboard, or even a remote wonder that doesn't have a base station that connects to your computer. or even syncronising your pda or mp3 player without plugging it in.

    i'm all for it. it's like bluetooth that doesn't suck.
  • Shalmanese - Monday, March 1, 2004 - link

    Whatever happened to the induction power device that was previewed a while back. It was basically a pad which would power any apporpirate device you placed on top of it and they said commercial production for mobile phones was already starting to ramp up...
  • shiftomnimega - Monday, March 1, 2004 - link

    I believe the point is to get rid of the clutter of the wires.
  • mjz5 - Monday, March 1, 2004 - link

    true! what's the point of having a wireless hard drive, you still going to have to bend over your desk to plug in the power. While you back there, why not also just plug you usb cable. Plus, all computers come with a front USB ports, is it really all that hard?

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