End of the line for adapters?

A new industry initiative could cut down our need to lug around multiple power adapters - surely the single biggest irritation in computing.

PCW has been pointing out for years that the technology exist for smart power supplies with whatever a device wants. But the idea has never gained momentum, perhaps because vendors are making too much money from existing adapters.

The new initiative, launched in Hong Kong last month, would do away with the plugs altogether and deliver power wirelessly. This is alredy done by any adapter that transfered by wireles induction between the primary and secondary windings.

In the system proposed by the new Wireless Power Consortium (WPC), the primary and secondary would be separated respectively into the source and the device drawing power. There are eight companies in the WPC: National Semiconductor, Philips, Logitech, Convenient Power, Fulton Innovation and Shenzhen Sang Fei Consumer Communications.

Proprietary wireless charging devices are already available. The WPC aims to create a standard to allow any compliant device to be charged by any compliant source.

"This is a crucial moment in the development of wireless power," said Menno Treffer, senior director of standardisation at Philips and chairman of the WPC.

The standard relates only to power transmission across a short distance and is not about to do away with adapters. It will deliver only 5W, so is suitable for only low-drain devices. However, the WPC intends to move on to a higher power spec.

Pack Your life on to a 2-terabyte SD card

Memory firms plan to make a barely imaginable 2TB of storage available on SD card or Memory Stick. The move would enable the use of compact HD video cameran, as well as 'life recorders' that capture everything you say and do.

The SD Association announced a new SDXC (for Extended Capacity) specification at CES that will be published in the next few weeks. No timescale was given for reaching 2TB capacity but first implementation are likely to hold less.

Read/right speed are expected to hit 104Mbits/sec this year but the SDXC roadmap goes to three times as fast.

Sandisk and Sony announced a joint effort to create a Memory Stick Pro capable of storing up to 2TB, in a device measuring just 31x2x1.66mm, with a maximum transfer rate of 320Mbits/sec.

Windows 7 lifts CES gloom

Microsoft chose the massive Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to launch the first public trial of Vista successor Windows 7. Chairman Steve Ballmer announced during has keynote that a beta version would be posted at www.microsoft.com/windows-7.

Microsoft is capping the number of downloads, so you may already be too late to get a copy. The new code has been generally well received.

It certainly look good in demos. The most obvious difference is in the revamped Taskbar, which uses the icons much better than Vista, and menus without forcing you to maximise. The icon are larger too, to facilitate finger control on touchscreens; Windows 7 also support multi-touch gestures, briingin iPhone-style control to suitable platforms.

Windows 7 is said to run on box than can run Vista - including Atom-powered netboooks. Ballmer also announced the availability of a new version of Windows Live, Microsoft's significant for beta tester as Windows 7 loses the current form of Vista's Calendar, Mail, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, and Contact.

Istead you are invited you to download versions which can be used standalone or act as client for Live versions that can be used from any browser. Microsoft gives you 25GB of online storage too.

some manufacturers may opt to pre-load the clients - Dell says it will. This Opt-in is persumably to avoid reviving accustions of monopoly abuse, using Window to lock people into Microsoft services.

The usual caveats about using beta code apply: don't install over a missing-critical system and back everything up. Windows 7 uses the Vista kernel and so should present few compatibility problems. But is reasonably stable.

Lucky number 7 for Windows

After all the dismal retail and business news over the past few weeks, it's been good to see at least the semblance of song cheer coming out of the annual Consumer Eletronics Shows (CES) in Las Vegas. This show run at the begining of january and while visitor numbers were being predicted to be down on last year, there was still plenty of glitz and hype to be found on products ranging from web-enabled TV's to 3D desktop scanners.

One of the first big stories was Microsoft's announcement of an initial public beta for Windows 7. By the time you read this, the beta download will problably have been stoppped, as we understand that Microsoft intends to limit the number of downloads.

It now looks as though Microsoft intends to launch Windows 7 before the end of 2009, perhaps in an increasingly precarious state. I'm not even going to attempt to make any predictions that far ahead - with intel issuing profit warnings and several top tech companies laying off staff. It's certainly going to be a rough this year.

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