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The Boston Globe reported yesterday that a research group at MIT has developed a way to transmit electricity to electric-powered devices without wires.
Borrowing from the name "WiFi" that sometimes gets applied to wireless computer networking, they've created the appalling term "WiTricity" for their new technology. Right now all they have is a proof-of-concept experiment, but they were able to power a 60-watt light bulb from a distance of 7 feet.
Nicola Tesla, of course, did the same thing a hundred years ago with his eponymous Tesla coils. Tesla dreamed of and promised a world of free electricitiy available wirelessly from massive coils and towers. He attracted the attentions and money of many wealthy investors, but his bitter rival Thomas Edison eventually prevailed with the wired alternating current system that we use today.
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