Power Over Wi-Fi named one of the most game changing technologies of the year.
Popular Science included the technology in their annual “Best of What’s New awards announced this week. Power Over Wi-Fi (PoWiFi) uses an internet router to send out “power packets” of data on unused Wi-Fi channels. These signals are harvested by specially developed sensors to charge small electronic devices.
In real world testing PoWiFi was able to recharge the battery of a Jawbone fitness tracker from zero to 41 percent, over 2.5 hours, without any noticeable disruption in internet speed for users.
In future the team hopes to increase the amount of energy transmitted, and make it operational over larger distances.
The New Yorker has an interesting read about the tech behind Google’s new ‘Smart Reply’ feature.
I’ve been using this in Inbox and loving it.
On November 5, 2015, Google unveiled Smart Reply, a plug-in that reads and suggests responses to e-mails. If Smart Reply thinks that it understands a message that requires an answer, it will suggest three options, alongside a cheerful invitation to “start composing your reply with one tap.”