Ever since we began using electricity to power the world in the late 19th century, we have brought the world closer together and really launched the fast paced progress that we are all familiar with and like.
Then came the widespread use of telephones and televisions and the world grew even closer. All these technologies also brought with them an unimaginable amount of wires, unfortunately which was a negligible trade off for the sheer amount of benefits we were getting.
At the same time, we were also developing wireless technologies like radio communication. Of course that comes without the hassle of wires everywhere. Over the last century we have seen a number of advancements in the IT field which have led to all the devices that we use today.
The world has been shifting more and more towards wireless technology, which in my opinion, is the way it should be. Any technology should be refined to its simplest and most convenient form and wireless certainly qualifies for both.
But there are still a ways to go from the simplest to the really complex things we are habituated of using today. Let me talk about some of these today.
Music is something we all like to listen on an almost daily basis. Technological progress has now allowed to enjoy really high quality music in very small form factors, i.e. earphones/headphones.
It has been many, many years now since the inception of earphones but even after such a long time, they have remained mostly wired. As we all know, that’s a huge hassle, because of all the tangling and what not.
There have been many wireless ones over the years but as usual, battery problems and audio quality have not been at par with what people are habituated with.
But ever since Apple removed the headphone jack in iPhone 7 a little over a year ago, it seems like the entire industry is looking more seriously to offer high quality wireless headphones and more players in this market should drive the prices down making this area too, mostly wireless!
Thanks to the development of portable devices like laptops, phones and tablets, we enjoy the convenience that people in the 20th century could only have dreamed of.
But all that portability comes at a cost and that is to have them charged again and again. Battery technology hasn’t improved that much, unfortunately over the years and so we keep having to charge our devices regularly.
Even though we have “induction charging” which is being marketed as “wireless charging”, there are still wires involved ultimately. But not for long if some companies like Energous have their way.
They are developing true, long distance wireless charging which works like wifi. We would all be able to charge our devices on the go in the very near future.
I have read about this concept several times over the past few years and many companies seem to be pursuing this ultimate wireless dream where we can beam electricity directly to multiple household/office appliances.
It would be similar to wireless charging but here, instead of having outlets on walls where we connect wires to power our TVs or toasters or refrigerator, there would be a central electricity transmitter which would send wireless electricity to all the devices.
This would greatly cut down the use of wires and would be the ultimate simplicity. There are concerns about the safety of such a technology but if they can find a way to do it without harming humans, I think this could be world changing.
We are nowhere near such a tech and I think this is decades into the future, if ever it will become a reality. But technology has a way of surprising so maybe this will become possible too!
