quickstart THE BEGINNING OF THE MAGAZINE, WHERE ARTICLES ARE SMALL
i.867.quickstart THE BEGINNING OF THE MAGAZINE, WHERE ARTICLES ARE SMALL
When You Care Enough to Send the
Very Best
The Scoop on Eneloop
Save the world with Sanyo’s new rechargeablesS
anyo aims to change our dim impression of
rechargeable batteries in the near future,
with a new battery that outdoes its peers right
off the shelf—you don’t need to charge them
before use!
Although based on the same nickel metal
hydride formulation used in today’s recharge-
ables, Eneloop batteries lose only about 20
percent of their charge after a year of non-use,
while a traditional nickel metal hydride battery
would have lost most of its charge, and a nickel
cadmium battery would be completely tapped
out. Eneloops are rated for approximately 1,
recharge cycles, and most of their raw materi-
als can be recycled as well.
Eneloop batteries are already available in
Japan, and should reach the U.S. in early 2006, at
a cost of approximately $10 for two AA batteries.Free with
Every Sony CD:
Malware!- Sony distributes hundreds of
CDs, by various artists, with digital-
rights management applied to the
disc, to the horror of musicians and
fans alike. - The DRM installs a “rootkit” (a tool
that installs itself in such a way that
it’s hidden from the OS) on Windows
PCs. The rootkit makes any fi le pre-
fi xed with $sys$ completely invisible
to your system—something hackers
can easily exploit. - Thomas Hesse, president of Sony
BMG’s Global Digital Business,
responds to the furor with unas-
sailable logic: “Most people, I think,
don’t even know what a rootkit is, so
why should they care about it?” - Mark Russinovich publishes evi-
dence that Sony’s DRM notifi es the
company each time the protected
CD is played (www.sysinternals.
com/blog/). - Sony releases a patch that does
not remove the rootkit, only the
cloaking component. - Facing mounting criticism and
word that hackers were exploiting its
rootkit software, Sony suspends use
of the software until further notice,
and recalls affected discs.
We recently received an unusually large package from China in the form
of a wooden palette. On top of the palette were four boxes—three of
which contained nothing more than air. When we opened the fourth box,
we found... a single hard drive. Thanks, (manufacturer’s name redacted)!T
hanks to technologies like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,
and cellular telephony, more networks and
consumer electronics are going wireless. It’s great
to be liberated from cumbersome wires and cables,
enjoying the freedom to communicate from almost
anywhere. Wouldn’t it be even better if our wireless
gizmos could be powered wirelessly?
Think of it: no more power cords, wall warts,
batteries, or chargers. It’s an age-old dream.
Electronics pioneer Nikola Tesla experimented with
wireless power transmission in the 1800s. Today,
RFID chips power themselves using energy beamed
from their wireless readers. I have a science-fiction
novel from the 1930s that envisions airliners in
1980 powered by “wireless ray.”
Unfortunately, 1980 has come and gone with-
out wireless electric airplanes. The problem with
wireless power transmission is that beaming that
much energy through the air would cook anything
in its path. So researchers are working on another
approach that also intrigued Tesla: ambient power
generation. The idea is to generate power where it’s
needed by exploiting environmental energy sources.
Solar cells are the best-known example of this
technology. The most interesting research, how-
ever, taps other ambient energy sources, such as
background vibrations, temperature changes, and
human motion. The blanket term for this technology
is “energy harvesting” or “parasitic power.”
For instance, a company called EnOcean makes
self-powered wireless network nodes for indus-
trial applications. One clever device is a wireless
light switch. Flipping the switch uses your finger’s
kinetic energy to generate a tiny surge of electrici-
ty—just enough to power a tiny radio that transmits
an on-or-off signal to the light bulb. The bulb still
needs line power, but the switches are wireless and
can be located anywhere and moved anytime.
Other power harvesters generate electricity
by absorbing vibrations from factory equipment,
vehicles, or ships, or by leveraging temperature
changes in the air or water. The University of
Pennsylvania invented a backpack that generates a
surprising amount of power from the wearer’s nor-
mal gait. Others are working on power-generating
shoes and solar-cell clothing.
Power harvesting won’t keep your hungry
notebook computer running without batteries any
time soon. But smaller devices like MP3 players,
wireless headsets, remote sensors, and even
cellphones could be powered this way—and it’s
not science fiction any more.Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazine
and is now an analyst for Microprocessor Report.Wireless
PowerTOM
HALFHILLFAST FORWARD
JANUARY 2006 MA XIMUMPC 11