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Recharging through thin air

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First there was one-click buying. Next up, we could have one-plug charging.  Intel’s just-announced solution to the “oops, I forgot my phone charger” problem is to pass a charge through an Ultrabook outfitted with an Integrated Device Technology chip –  over the air. No strings, or wires, attached. CNET reports:

The creatively dubbed Wireless Charging Technology by Intel (WCT) is pretty simple. Just put your juice-impaired gadget within about an inch or so of a WCT-enabled Ultrabook with WCT detection software running. The laptop will couple with the mobile device and begin transferring energy wirelessly, as if conducted by the ghostly hand of Nikola Tesla himself.


Intel hopes to have Ultrabooks with IDC on the shelves in early 2013. It says that after an hour of charging, a your once-useless phone should be able to carry you through an afternoon. Not exactly quick, but at least you can use the thing.