Resonant development
Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner (pictured) delivered a Tomorrow's World style keynote at IDF yesterday, giving an Intel view of how our use of technology might look in 50 years time.
He kicked-off with an ominous prediction, evoking a Terminator or Matrix-like future in which humans are rendered obsolete by the superior ability of machines to think.
"There is speculation that we may be approaching an inflection point where the rate of technology advancements is accelerating at an exponential rate, and machines could even overtake humans in their ability to reason, in the not so distant future," said Rattner.
In the meantime, however, we're still calling the shots and one technology that we'd definitely find useful would be the ability to power a device without plugging it in. This is the application of Wireless Resonant Energy Link (WREL), which Intel researchers have been working on.
It's based on technology demonstrated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) boffins a year ago, called WiTricity, and judging by the fact that Intel is using more or less the same demonstration as MIT did - remotely powering a 60W light bulb - things haven't progressed a whole lot in that time.
Nonetheless, the thought of never having to plug in your mobile device, be it a phone, laptop, or something in between, is a very appealing one. Just as were aspiring to a time when we take constant connectivity for granted, maybe one day we'll never have to think about wires, plugs, rechargers, etc.
