The new technology has the potential to dramatically increase the driving range of electric vehicles and eventually transform highway travel, according to the researchers. A wireless charging system would address a major drawback of plug-in electric cars – their limited driving range. The all-electric Nissan Leaf, for example, gets less than 100 miles on a single charge, and the battery takes several hours to fully recharge. A charge-as-you-drive system would overcome these limitations. You could potentially drive for an unlimited amount of time without having to recharge.

The wireless power transfer is based on a technology called magnetic resonance coupling. Two copper coils are tuned to resonate at the same natural frequency – like two wine glasses that vibrate when a specific note is sung. The coils are placed a few feet apart. One coil is connected to an electric current, which generates a magnetic field that causes the second coil to resonate. This magnetic resonance results in the invisible transfer of electric energy through the air from the first coil to the receiving coil. Wireless power transfer will only occur if the two resonators are in tune. Objects tuned at different frequencies will not be affected, including humans.

In 2007, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used magnetic resonance to light a 60-watt bulb. The experiment demonstrated that power could be transferred between two stationary coils about six feet apart, even when humans and other obstacles are placed in between.

The MIT researchers wondered if their system could be modified to charge a car moving at highway speeds. The car battery would provide an additional boost for acceleration or uphill driving.

Here’s how the system would work: A series of coils connected to an electric current would be embedded in the highway. Receiving coils attached to the bottom of the car would resonate as the vehicle speeds along, creating magnetic fields that continuously transfer electricity to charge the battery.
To determine the most efficient way to transmit 10 kilowatts of power to a real car, the Stanford team created computer models of systems with metal plates added to the basic coil design.

Ting’s rate plans are highly customizable, allowing you to choose how many minutes you think you’ll use, how many texts, and how much data. Moreover, the plans increase in fairly small increments, so going over and getting bumped up shouldn’t break the bank. For example, if you have the 500 minute plan and go over, getting bumped up to the 1000 minute plan will only cost you $9. Depending on how much you go over, that could be a pretty significant savings over the overage fees charged by some mobile carriers.

Ting uses Sprint’s wireless network, so their phone lineup is much like Sprint’s. They have a decent selection of Android-based smartphones, two basic feature phones, and four wireless data devices available.

If you’re thinking about switching, Ting provides a helpful savings calculator to show you how much you could save by switching. Just plug in how much you pay for which services, and Ting will tell you how much you could save by switching. Head on over to Ting’s website and check it out, then let us know what you think in the comments.

AT&T has already upped their service in anticipation of the 150,000 Super Bowl attendees that will swarm Indianapolis this Sunday. Now, Verizon has released a statement announcing that its making improvements to their 4G LTE network as well as making wi-fi available for all wireless users.

The statement notes that this will be the first Super Bowl where 4G LTE technology is available for users of smartphones and tablets, which the wireless companies expect fans to use with near-compulsive rates while watching the game. Verizon, who is the official wireless provider of the NFL, has also enhanced its network at more than 30 venues in Indianpolis so that customers will hopefully not encounter any connectivity issues while trying to multitask with social media before, during, and after the game.

The nice thing about the wi-fi enhancement is that it’s going to be available to everyone – not just Verizon customers (Wink, wink, AT&T subscribers and remember who took care of you at the Super Bowl). I imagine there will be so much wireless activity arising from Indianapolis this weekend that you’ll probably be able to see the city glowing from space.

All of this effort by wireless companies to ensure that there is as little drag as possible with connecting people and/or websites produces in me a question of obsolescence: remember when people went to sporting events and… I dunno, just watched the game? How boring, y’know?

Anyways, I picked up on the general cause-and-effect: lots of people concentrated into one area means that my AT&T service will become unusable. Popular sporting events accentuate this. Neat.

AT&T, it turns out, has made some moves recently that suggest they may actually be aware of negative correlation between sports fans and cellphone service quality. You see, the Super Bowl is next weekend on February 5 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and as many as 150,000 people may descend upon this mid-sized city to partake in this most commercialized bacchanal in the world. AT&T, it turns out, has made a “significant investment in permanent and temporary wireless network enhancements” in order to make sure that people subscribed to the wireless provider’s unsatisfying service will be able to use their phones for purposes other than as a pocket weight.

Residents of Indianapolis, despite the impending suffering that hosting the Super Bowl entails, seem okay with the fact that AT&T is upping the quality of their service.

“We appreciate that AT&T is making this substantial investment in Indianapolis, both for the big game and for AT&T’s many customers who live here,” said Scott Miller, president, Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. “Technology is vital to the way we live and work every day, and investments like the one AT&T is making help our business community and local economy continue to thrive.”

AT&T’s made several improvements to the area’s wireless coverage in anticipation of the Super Bowl. First, they launched an AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Zone, the company’s seventh major-market hotzone, serving parts of downtown Indianapolis. The new hotzone will provide fast and reliable Wi-Fi near many popular locations along Capitol Avenue, Meridian and Pennsylvania Streets as well as East and West Georgia streets near the center of town, which consistently see high customer traffic and mobile data use.

AT&T has also launched an expanded Distributed Antenna System at Lucas Oil Stadium, where the game will be played, and has expanded its 4G LTE network to its DAS for media accommodations and has plans to enhance or install DAS systems in a number of other venues before the big game. Further preparations for the game include deploying nine Cells on Wheels (is that like Meals on Wheels for phones?) to support the stadium, the downtown area, practice facilities and other places where large crowds are expected to accommodate increased wireless network demands from high concentrations of smartphone users (it kind of is!).

“We’re excited to provide significant network improvements,” Brian Ducharme, Vice President and General Manager of AT&T Indiana and Michigan said. “They will enhance the network experience for our customers in Indianapolis before, during and after the game.”

So good job, Indianapolis. You win better cellular service from AT&T because you’ve invited the bloated beast known as the Super Bowl into your home. Now if only AT&T could extend the same courtesy to some of us lucky enough to avoid the slavering mobs that will invade your Super Bowl-hosting city. Hope it’s worth it to you.

“I was not surprised by that decision given what had happened prior to the time that the application was withdrawn,” said the Congressman.

He went on to explain that the merger would have brought an “improvement that we desperately need.” If you remember, one of the goals of the merger was to bring high-speed broadband connections to 97 percent of the U.S. in 6 years, which would have nearly fulfilled President Obama’s broadband plan. Since the deal fell threw, Congressman Boucher told us that, in order for the President’s goal to still be met, the government would have to step in with an investment.

“In this era of concern about deficit spending, finding those investments is going to be very difficult,” he said.

As for AT&T, Congressman Boucher told us that he thinks the company will still try to meet the goals it set with the merger in mind, but that it would take a lot longer than 6 years to fulfill them. Through T-Mobile, AT&T would have saved significantly in its effort to enable 4G, but now, it needs to come up with the monies on its own.

“My guess is AT&T, at this point, is going to focus on strengthening its network in its core areas building out its 4th generation technology on an incremental basis of market-by-market, as it is an opportunity for that investment to realize the highest rate of return,” the Congressman explains. “Instead of it happening within 6 years on a nationwide basis, undoubtedly without the merger having occurred, that may now take a somewhat longer period of time.”

Some reports have indicated that AT&T has been talking with several owners of 700 MHz licenses and is in the process of acquiring them as part of its backup plan in case the T-Mobile deal fell threw. This may very well be true since the company is in need of more spectrum.

The Congressman is also optimistic about T-Mobile saying it is in a “very strong position to be a viable competitor.” However, he did say that it would have challenges with deploying 4G.

“The challenge that T-Mobile faces is acquiring the capital that is necessary to deploy 4th generation technology across its network,” he pointed out.

While AT&T did have to pay T-Mobile $4 billion ($3 billion in cash and $1 billion in spectrum rights), the Congressman said that T-Mobile would still need considerably more financing. What’s more is that T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, had said, prior to the merger, that it wanted to exit the U.S. market and was not going to invest in it further. If this is still the case, T-Mobile could have a tough road ahead.

Since the future of T-Mobile is still in question, there have been some speculations about whether or not AT&T will make another attempt at buying the company. Congressman Boucher told us that, at this point, it seemed that the companies were headed in two different directions.

Sprint has also been mentioned as a potential buyer of T-Mobile, but the Congressman thinks such a merger would face the same scrutiny that the AT&T/T-Mobile did.

“I think it’s gonna be very difficult for any of the major carriers to purchase T-Mobile, given the position of the Department of Justice and the FCC,” he said.

Speaking of major carriers, he said it would be “impossible” for Verizon to make such a purchase. If a carrier were to purchase it, the Congressman thinks it would have to be smaller than T-Mobile.

Another possibility would be to sell T-Mobile in parts, which is not what Congressman Boucher considers to be a good decision.

“This is a world where business dominates,” he said. “I think Deutsche Telekom will make its decision very carefully based upon the relative value of the business offers that are made.”

In terms of the mobile industry as a whole, Congressman Boucher told us that the merger not going through was negative for mobile, consumers, and the economy.

“The long term impact is that we don’t get the deployment of 4th generation technology to 97 percent of the American public within the next half decade,” he said. “I think that’s the major negative impact.”

“Wireless technology was the answer,” he added. “We were going to bring broadband to the broadband have-nots – I’m not sure what the answer is now.”

What do you think the next steps will be not only for AT&T and T-Mobile, but also the mobile industry? Please share your thoughts.

The LinkCast system promises to radically simplify the experience of connecting devices to TVs, and to eliminate the bundles of cords sticking out of the back of so many of our entertainment systems. The video signal is transmitted in resolutions up to 1080p with latency of less than a millisecond. The LinkCast system will be available in February. The basic system – Base Station and System Expander – costs $299.99. Additional System Expanders will sell for $119.

Geekbeat.tv caught up with Atlona at CES and got a demonstration of the system. Check out the video below and let us know what you think in the comments.

[Source: Atlona Press Release]

Fuelled by new smartphones, apps and services consumer demand for mobile data is accelerating beyond expectations, finds a new report from Arieso. Following a similar study in 2010, Arieso’s new analysis reveals that so-called ‘extreme’ users are becoming even more extreme, with 1% of subscribers now consuming HALF of all downloaded data. One thing is clear: the capacity issues plaguing mobile operators around the world will worsen in 2012.

In case you need a face to sneer at when your wireless provider passes the cost onto you, just look around for the nearest person with an iPhone 4S in hand because they are the hungry, hungry hippos of data usage. The report “finds that users of the iPhone 4S demand three times as much data as iPhone 3G users and twice as much as iPhone 4 users, who were identified as the most demanding in the 2010 study.”

So back to those climbing wireless bills you may see sometime later this year. It’s Econ 101, really: more demand necessitates more supply and that’s gotta come from somewhere; at least it does if the suppliers wanna keep their demanders happy and satiated. In terms of the cell phone business, that supply will come either from developing more sophisticated technology capable of bearing the heavy data load or by annexing more wireless spectrum from the existing market.

“The introduction of increasingly sophisticated devices, coupled with growing consumer demand, is creating unrelenting pressure on mobile networks. The capacity crunch is still a very real threat for mobile operators, and it looks set to only get harder in 2012,” commented Dr. Michael Flanagan, CTO, Arieso and study author. “The mobile industry needs new investment and new approaches to boost network performance and manage the customer experience”.

This elucidates more of the backstory perhaps as to why AT&T and Verizon spent 2011 trying to broaden their shares of the wireless market. Maybe if AT&T takes another stab at acquiring T-Mobile later this year, they’ll be able to rely on data like this to make their case to the FCC so as to patch up the leaky parts of their argument. At any rate, without some kind of solution in the very near future, Flanagan says that “operators risk delivering a sub-par quality of experience to customers” and that “it’s critical that operators redouble their efforts to limit the impact of this inevitable squeeze.”

If the impending “capacity crunch” problem isn’t addressed, you should start learning some anger-management breathing exercises immediately because soon you’ll likely be waiting longer than usual to stream those podcasts you’re so fond of.

Today in a press release, T-Mobile COO Jim Alling made it clear that the wireless provider is steadfast in offering outstanding service to their customers and highlighted a few of ways in which they’re going to prove it:

Great Value. We’re offering our best plan ever – 2 lines for $49.99 each that includes voice, text and data (including 2GB at full-speed) on each line with a new 2-year agreement. We also now offer a Monthly4G no annual contract plan that gives you unlimited talk, text, and web (including 100MB at full-speed) for $50.

America’s Largest 4G Network – now faster than ever. Whether you need driving instructions that are fast enough to keep up with your car, or want to stream a full-length movie uninterrupted, our 4G network delivers. We have expanded our 4G coverage to more than 200 million people in 208 markets and doubled speeds for nearly 180 million Americans in 163 markets.

Humorously enough, that last factoid must feel like a cream pie in the face to AT&T, who had cited their need for spectrum as one of the primary reasons for acquiring T-Mobile. Oh well.

And the sales of the iPhone 4S have been good for all carriers that offer the device – AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, who made the iPhone 4S their first ever Apple product. But the iPhone 4S performs differently on each network. And according to a study by Metrico Wireless, there are advantages to owning the iPhone 4S on both Verizon and AT&T.

First up, in terms of data speed for the iPhone 4S, AT&T dominates. They maxed out at 6047 Kbps and had a mean rate of 3210 Kbps. Second place went to Verizon, but they weren’t really even close. They maxed out at 2371 Kbps and had a mean rate of 1071 Kbps. Sprint finished in last place:

So, after scoring one for AT&T in terms of data speed, let’s score one for Verizon when it comes to reliability. Metrico tested call failure rates and found that Verizon was the best, with only a 2.1% failure rate. AT&T placed second with 2.8% and Sprint brought up the rear again with 3.7%.

Metrico downloaded 21,000 pages, made over 6,000 calls and performed 8,000 speed tests to come up with this data.

Do you have an iPhone 4S? If so, what network do you use? Do these findings hold true to your personal experience? Let us know in the comments.

An associate professor of aeronautics and her students at MIT have developed a system for controlling small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with your basic iPhone. Professor Missy Cummings and her class teamed up with Boeing’s research and development center in Seattle to pilot a small UAV with a few twists and turns of an Apple smartphone.

And it’s not your typical remote controlled plane. During the test, the controller was in Seattle while the UAV was buzzing around a football field at MIT campus – about 2,500 miles apart. Here’s how it works, according to Cummings –

“We’ve set the system up so that the iPhone connects into the cell network through a Wi-Fi hotspot capability, and on the other end, the vehicle is hooked up to a ground station that’s also hooked into a wireless hotspot. So the vehicle and the iPhone are then communicating over the internet, and this allows us to send whatever commands we want.”

The iPhone controls the UAV in two ways. First, the “pilot” can set location points on a map, and direct the plane to fly to that spot. Or, in a more awesome video game-like fashion, the pilot can use a built in camera to fly the plane manually, simply by tilting the iPhone to signal the desired direction. Check it out in action:

One of the goals of the project is to create a system that is easy to learn. This system is so intuitive, it can be mastered in a matter of minutes.

Cummings, who directs the Humans and Automation Lab at MIT, focuses her research on how to make control systems that are easy for people to learn and use. In principle, she says, the control system she and her team have created for smartphones could be used to control any aircraft, even a jumbo jet. In practice, it could easily replace the control systems not only for military drones, but for UAVs used by emergency personnel: for example, to track the progress of a forest fire in a remote area from a safe distance.

What do you think about the possibility of an iPhone piloting a jet? Let us know in the comments.