They're designing it for charging pads: you just put your {mobile,pda,ipod,laptop} on the pad and the wireless power charges them without plugging anything in. House metering continues as normal.
I suspect widespread adoption of wireless mains would have to wait for something closer to a post-scarcity economy, where the provision of power is a right, and it is too cheap to meter.
I'm not holding my breath.
But now you mention it, I'm envisioning a Wireless Power Protocol, where you have a WPP (Wireless Power Point) broadcasting power to your house, and your appliances can be moved around anywhere in range (and within the power capacity of the local broadcast point) without trailing wires... but in builtup areas you might want to set up a password protocol (somehow) so that you don't get leechers in the next house over using your power without paying. Unless you want to set up a free local service out of the goodness of your heart...
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-22 07:40 am (UTC)I suspect widespread adoption of wireless mains would have to wait for something closer to a post-scarcity economy, where the provision of power is a right, and it is too cheap to meter.
I'm not holding my breath.
But now you mention it, I'm envisioning a Wireless Power Protocol, where you have a WPP (Wireless Power Point) broadcasting power to your house, and your appliances can be moved around anywhere in range (and within the power capacity of the local broadcast point) without trailing wires... but in builtup areas you might want to set up a password protocol (somehow) so that you don't get leechers in the next house over using your power without paying. Unless you want to set up a free local service out of the goodness of your heart...