As mobile devices get more powerful and wearables start getting traction, the bottleneck of delivering a great user experience lies not on the processor anymore but on batteries. While other companies are sweating over the next battery revolution, Apple is reported to be taking a more muted approach and focusing on improving charging methods instead.
Electric cars are gaining traction among consumers, but the issue of charging while on the go is still one that needs addressed on a larger level. Hevo Power has taken to the topic, looking to add a charging option for EV drivers in New York in the form of circular manhole-disguised units. If all goes as planned, they will be available next year.
This week it's been announced that the high-powered Formula racing circuit known as the FIA Formula E Championship will be working with Qualcomm as their official charging technology provider. This racing series is one made unique by featuring only Formula cars powered exclusively by electric energy. Qualcomm's part in this will be providing their own Halo Electric Vehicle Charging technology to the pits for all vehicles in the circuit to utilize.
If you've ever wondered if plugging your smartphone in to one power outlet was charging it up to full power faster than another, there's a tiny device made by a fellow named David Toledo that'll get you thinking. What you're seeing here is a sort of half-way point between a USB port and your USB-based power cord. What the Practical Meter will do is show you a number of lights depending on how fast your device is powering up. With this information, you'll be able to find the most optimized power source and charge your device up as fast as possible.
Electric vehicles are pretty great since you don't need to hit the gas station and drop $50-$60 on a tank of gas every week (depending on how much you drive, of course), but charging times for electric vehicles are the trade-off to not paying for gas. For some EVs, it take all night to completely charge a dead car battery, but Tesla is aiming for much faster times than that.
It's been awhile since we last heard about Griffin's PowerDock 5 charging station -- back in January at CES, in fact. However, the company finally launched the new product today and is touting it as a central place to charge all of your mobile devices, including tablets, complete with five charging bays with their own USB port.
You might think the only way malware could ever get onto your phone is if you installed an app or some piece of software that was infested with malicious code, but it turns out that modified wall chargers can be used to hack phones as well. Researchers say they've built a custom iPhone wall charger that can install malware when connected to a device.
With a gasoline-powered car, refueling is as simple as pulling into a gas station and waiting a few minutes for the gas take to be refilled. Things are a bit trickier with electric vehicles, however, which require charging stations rather than gas stations. Tesla has been rolling out it SuperCharger network over many months, having added six in California back in October, for example. At tonight's D11 conference, Musk made an announcement early: Tesla's SuperCharger network will be tripled.
The researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed new microbatteries that are extremely small in size, but pack a huge amount of power. Not only do they pack a huge punch, but they recharge "1,000 times faster than competing technologies", according to the research team. The team wanted to find a solution to the dilemma that afflicts current power sources, where power sources can either have a lot of power, or have a lot of energy, not both at the same time.
Apple's new Smart Cover for the iPad has a lot of potential, and it seems the company thinks so as well. Case in point: Apple just applied for a patent that would see the Smart Cover being used as a wireless charger to charge up the iPad when the Smart Cover is closed. Both the iPad and Smart Cover would have induction coils to make the wireless charging possible.
With the introduction of their full 2013 (and beyond) lineup of processors for the mobile universe, Qualcomm had made it clear that they're here not only to stay, but to bring on feature boosts like Quick Charge 2.0. With this second iteration of the feature many only discovered existed just about a week ago, you'll be charging up to 75% faster than the competition. This means that if you've got your phone (with Quick Charge 2.0 technology inside), and your friend has their phone, and you're both charging your devices at the same time, you'll be going up to 75% faster than he or she - off to the races!
In an effort to bolster the city's friendliness towards electric vehicles, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling for 10,000 charging stations all across the city by 2019. Bloomberg mentioned the goal during his last State of the City address today, and he's asking the city council to require landlords to make at least 20% of new parking spaces equipped for electric vehicles.