My guess is that that when they realise that it's a complete fail for consumer phone charging they will try to sell/license the patent portfolio and any manufacturing IP for niche applications.
Of course it could be that they're just trying to throw as many patent applications out there as possible to give some credibility that they've actually achieved something useful.
My guess is that that when they realise that it's a complete fail for consumer phone charging they will try to sell/license the patent portfolio and any manufacturing IP for niche applications.
Of course it could be that they're just trying to throw as many patent applications out there as possible to give some credibility that they've actually achieved something useful.
Both.
I guess that was plan B she was referring to.
Data over ultrasound is a no brainer and not even difficult to do, of course the optimal resonant frequency will be affected and you end up with the too many features but master of none.
I guess in the VC world it probably helps them continue research and funding so it's just a way to fail without failing because now it can do even more than anticipated.
If they did an ultrasound wireless data only that will probably will be a good thing in densely populated areas, but of course that means that the device won't be using wifi so less power requirements on the phone since wifi being on will make their task impossible. With spread spectrum tech it wouldn't be that hard to get a decent data link over ultrasound without your vacuum cleaner interfering.
But I think of this announcement as in buying time because the original premise won't work as advertised.
So lets get rid off the wifi since it needs too much power and won't make ubeam feasible.
Edit: so their solution seems to be to cut off all the radios so they might have a chance to trickle charge a device that is using a few mAs, of course that would be for a barebone phone that doesn't have a power consuming GPU, but I guess now they are going to demonstrate that they can make this thing work on a very power efficient dumb phone that no one will use anyways, but it will look like they did achieve their goal by changing the parameters of the device
If my telephone wants to reply back to the sender with ultrasone signals while it's in my pants,
won't that render me impotent after a few days?
I am now calling this and Batteroo the 'Claims' industry. These people are chewing up $millions on 'claims' that are pulled directly from the anus.
It should be noted that while an iPhone charger provides 5W of power, 5W is not needed to charge a phone in all cases. Looking at the specs for the iPhone 6, we have a 6.9 Wh battery that has a life of up to 14 h while talking on the phone, 50 h while playing music, and 250 h on standby. This means that, while 5 W would be required to breakeven while talking, only 138 mW would be needed while playing music and 27.6 mW would be needed when the phone is on standby, so 1.07 W is hardly "almost useless" in general, and I would argue that even appreciably extending the battery life of your device while you're out and about is an accomplishment worthy of merit.
The idea that a system which consumes hundreds of watts of power to deliver kinda sorta maybe 1 W to your phone sometimes if it's Tuesday and you ate a sesame seed bagel that morning untoasted with cream cheese on the side and you paid with a debit card and the cashier was a green-eyed brunette with a peg leg and a chinchilla named Steve who can recite the periodic table backwards but only if it's greater than 50 degrees Fahrenheit outside could possibly gain widespread commercial use is far more contrived than this paragraph will ever be. It's wasteful, it's stupid, and it's completely undeserving of the recognition uBeam has gained.
And get this, now Perry is saying she wants to use this system to transmit secure data.........
So now you're telling me you want to introduce a whole host of systemic and algorithmic problems that I suspect your current team has no idea how to address all so I can transmit data TO A PERSON THAT HAS TO ALREADY BE IN THE SAME ROOM WITH ME AT A DATARATE THAT IS SLOWER THAN THE INTERNET CONNECTION ON MY OLD FLIP PHONE???
Oooo let me see now, bandwidth. Hmm, Bandwidth. What sort of bandwidth does she think she'll achieve using ultrasonic?
Power line comms uses the lines as a very ( really really in this case, and incredibly so) lossy differential transmission line, and even though almost all of the 5W or so of transmitted power is radiated as RF noise , the frequency used is very much higher than the 50/60Hz the lines are intended for.
Sending data using ultrasonics means either using FSK, AM or some form of QAM to send it, using the base frequency as a carrier. With that QAM 256 is around the best, you could get up to ( asterisk, only for the absolutely best case condition under controlled conditions with no reflections and no obstructions with a short direct path) 256 bits for every cycle of the 40kHz carrier. Best case 1.2MB/s with no error correction, no interbit pauses and absolutely no return path acknowledgement ( shared spectrum and such inconveniences of a broadcast medium), along with a very high probability of having audible subharmonics that are going to be incredibly annoying. Add to that any form of error correction ,forward error correction or spread spectrum dithering to reduce audible subharmonics and a return signal path and plain bluetooth is starting to look very good in comparison.
along with a very high probability of having audible subharmonics that are going to be incredibly annoying.
In short, I can't see the point
Never, never, never give up (if you believe in what you’re doing and if you’re not breaking the laws of physics).
There will always be unknown unknowns. Plan for them.
Every company needs a strong culture and if somebody isn’t a good fit with your culture, it’s best to part ways no matter how smart or successful they are.
Sometimes “reinventing the wheel” is actually a great thing to do.
Make sure there are never any single points of failure in a system and/or organization.
Skillset + belief in/passion for the mission + tenacity have been the 3 most important things in evaluating a candidate.
Always keep some cards in your back pocket. You never know when you’ll need them.
Always be honest and always act with integrity. Check your ego at the door and only do what’s best for the company.
As CEO, you’re a big part of the package. Your hires need to believe in you as much as they believe in the company. I hire many people twice my age with 2-3x my experience. Before I bring them on, I make this difference quite clear: “I’m 26 years old and this is my first real job. I’m your boss, and that’s not going to change.” If they can’t handle that, it ain’t gonna work.
When you hire people who have infinitely more experience than you do, your job changes to empowering and embracing those people.
If it smells like a fish, looks like a fish, and tastes like a fish, it’s probably a fish. Background checks are very useful.
As CEO, it’s your fault if something goes wrong in your company. Either you didn’t plan well, or you didn’t hire well. Putting the blame on anyone but yourself is pointless. Do what you need to do to fix it.
Don’t get excited until it’s signed.
People aren’t robots. Touch the heart.
When you’re trying to get a company off the ground, your life is your company. Sure it’s a marathon, but it’s also a sprint. You’ll probably lose friends, you’ll probably lose some social skills, you’ll probably gain weight, and you’ll definitely lose sleep. 90% of startups fail, and no matter how difficult the startup, they’re life consuming. This is why you should only start a company that solves a meaningful problem, because when shit hits the fan (and it always does), the only way to keep your company from crumbling is your tenacity and passion.
We live in an era of clicks. Journalistic integrity ain’t what it used to be.
Stay above the fray. There’s a lot of really stupid people on the internet.
along with a very high probability of having audible subharmonics that are going to be incredibly annoying.
That was my immediate first thought.
Which large speaker manufacturer was it that was experimenting with non linear mixing in the ear of ultrasonic energies to make a tweeter that would have an incredible frequency response? These guys might be annoyed at this blatant patent infringement from uBeam.
Never, never, never give up (if you believe in what you’re doing and if you’re not breaking the laws of physics).
It should be noted that while an iPhone charger provides 5W of power, 5W is not needed to charge a phone in all cases. Looking at the specs for the iPhone 6, we have a 6.9 Wh battery that has a life of up to 14 h while talking on the phone, 50 h while playing music, and 250 h on standby. This means that, while 5 W would be required to breakeven while talking, only 138 mW would be needed while playing music and 27.6 mW would be needed when the phone is on standby, so 1.07 W is hardly "almost useless" in general, and I would argue that even appreciably extending the battery life of your device while you're out and about is an accomplishment worthy of merit.
Phone chargers usually don't work like that. You can't just give it a few hundred mW of available power and expect it to start charging.