[NEWS] CES 2022 event launches wireless charging via WiFi

Each year CES starts off the year with a bang, with hundreds of companies showing off their latest tech advances in fields as diverse as healthcare, gaming, home tech, and automobiles. And the 2022 CES event is no exception.

South Korean tech giant, Samsung, has taken its own Eco Remote and given it a remarkable upgrade. As announced at this year’s abbreviated CES event, the SolarCell Remote control device can harvest RF energy from your router to maintain a charge. Unlike other wireless charging solutions, this new TV remote does not need to be near or in physical contact with the router. With a 40 meter range and unobstructed access to RF Energy Harvesting, this may be the first-ever solution that wirelessly charges your devices from anywhere in your home.

While this new tech sounds super cool, it serves as a reminder that RF signals from Wi-Fi routers and satellite stations surround us in our homes and offices. And while the potential effects of Wi-Fi on the human brain don’t make many headlines these days, this announcement serves as a reminder that electronically charged RF signals from Wi-Fi routers surround us in our homes and offices. Samsung plans to include the new SolarCell Remote with many of their high-end TV products this year. 

Several other big brands made splashy announcements at CES 2022, as well. Lighting manufacturer Sengled announced a smart bulb that monitors your health by reading your heart rate, body temperature, and other vital signs. Alienware revealed plans for Concept Nyx, a cloud-based gaming technology that can stream throughout your home using a central server. Faucet titan Kohler introduced PerfectFill, which helps you fill your bathtub with water at your own perfect temperature using voice commands or, of course, Kohler’s own app.

In other news

• Irish data centers are endangering the country’s power grid. Ireland has become the fastest growing home to data centers within Europe, and its 70 data centers use about 11% of the country’s electricity. Ireland’s electrical supplier Eirgrid predicts that data centers will use 30% of the country’s electrical supply by 2029. Such heavy usage could lead to power shortages and threaten Ireland’s goal of zero emissions by 2050. As quoted in Gizmodo, energy researcher Paul Deane sounded the alarm, noting that “data centers are large power users, and our power system is small, so plugging more of them into a small grid will start to have an outsized impact.” 

• Apple becomes the first US company to reach a $3 trillion valuation. Continuing on as one of biggest technology companies in the world today, Apple has hit an historical landmark, to become the first US company to reach a $3tn valuation. Apple stock value soared during the pandemic, tripling in value over the last four years. Apple previously became the world’s most valuable company when its stock hit $1trillion in 2018. The Guardian analysis predicts Microsoft will join Apple later in this year to also value at $3tn, as support post-pandemic for economic recovery boosts confidence in major technology stocks.

• AT&T and Verizon delay C-band 5G rollout. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has successfully delayed the expected January 5th rollout of 5G near to its airports. Engadget reports AT&T and Verizon will wait six months after authorities expressed concerns about potential interference with sensitive airline navigation systems which tell pilots how low they are flying to the ground. The Federal Communications Commission believes there’s no issue, and there’s enough of a buffer between the 5G spectrum frequency and airplane radar altimeters. However, the FCC did agree AT&T and Verizon needed to produce solutions which address the FAA concerns. Currently, C-band 5G delivers satellite tv to 120 million American households.

• Google CEO to testify about “Incognito Mode”. Privacy concerns continue to plague Google as CEO Sundar Pichai is called to answer claims that Google Chrome’s “Incognito Mode” continues to track users. Forbes.com reports the Californian federal court lawsuit, filed against Google in 2020, alleges the browser confuses users who think their browsing activity is private, when it is not. Judge Lucy H. Koh deposed Pichai to answer questions about this because he has “unique, personal knowledge of relevant issues relating to the Chrome browser and privacy”.

Tip of the week

New year, new sounds. Why not give your creations a boost? Check out the new release of sound recordings just entering the public domain. Sound recordings from 1923 or earlier are now free to use or use with your own original work. You could hear the original Winnie-the-Pooh recording; delve into an Ernest Hemingway classic, The Sun Also Rises; enjoy soundtracks from silent movies starring Buster Keaton and Greta Garbo; or perhaps enjoy poetry by Langston Hughes or Dorothy Parker. This fee-free, massive trove of 400,000 sound recordings is yours to explore today. The Association for Recorded Sound Collections has links to their top ten musical recordings of the period and also plan to catalog another sixty that creators might like to use. Happy listening.