3 or 4 years ago my brother and I were in one of our inventive chat moods. We sent messages back and forth about the coolest inventions we could think of and then whether it would be at all possible to actually create them.  At one point one of us sent the message “wireless electricity…”. The next hour was filled with posts about how cool that would be and all the many uses. Of course neither of us thought we’d ever see the day that wireless electricity would actually be feasible.

That day has come folks. Intel just demoed a wireless electricty model that enabled them to wirelessly power a lamp on a stage. The best part is that since they are sending the power over the magnetic wave rather than the electrical wave (i.e. lightning bolts) there is no harm done to object (or people) in the path of the wave.

One analyst said by 2050 we might be able to “cut the last chord”. Can you imagine the infrustructural changes that would be needed to actually do that? 2050 sounds a long ways off but if he is talking about the world moving exclusively to wireless electricity by then, that is actually pretty fast.

The real question is, when will this be brought to the consumer level? And when will it be affordable? And when will we have to wear those old Intel dancing guy radioactive suits to use it?

Here’s the article.