All wireless all the time

[tajjohnson]

While watching Steve Job's keynote at Mac World and the introduction of the cool new iMac I could not help thinking how cool it would be of the mouse and the keyboard were wireless without requiring an external transceiver. This seems like an obvious step to me and I have not been able to determine in my own mind why Apple has not done it.

Apple, I ask you, take the next step and make the mouse and the keyboard wireless - it would just be soooooo clean.

Thanks,
Taj Johnson
Longtime Mac enthusiast and owner

[Noc]

Heh that was one of my first thoughts, too, when I read about the new iMac. However, the problem is that presumably, many people would prefer "wired" mouse and keyboard, for various reasons.. they are faster and better suited for games. Also, there is the issue of replacing batteries all the time.

Personally, I use a wireless keyboard and love it...

[iFunk]

I don't know if this is possible or not, but wouldn't it be cool if the mouse and keyboard drew power from the main base wirelessly?

That means no batteries and will always be charged. This might be possible cause I know USB can charge power through a cord, but then again, I am no electrical engineer.

iFunk

[symphonix]

Did you know those Bluetooth headsets used on mobile phones draw power wirelessly from the phone? That is very cool, but ridiculously expensive.
Frankly, I'm happy with a wired keyboard for a desktop. Why should you want to go wireless if its going to cost you $100 or more?

[iFunk]

But what would you call such a revolutionary computer...

I'd call it a pain in the ass!

Voice-recognition in nothing like you would want it to be. Do it now, open up speech control panel and try and work with that. (never tried on mac os x though)

Its very cool, I admit that... but its still limited.

iFunk™

[roger]

It would require a massive antenna to enable power to be drawn over a radio connection. Some scientists actually did it for tiny, tiny robots but it would not be feasible for a keyboard/mouse unfortunately.

So we would be stuck with batteries.

[Koelling]

Wasn't Tesla doing these experiments in the 1900's? He was a super genius who came up with things in his head with perfect measurements (like AC power and the AC moter that we use today) He had lots of other ideas and according to the story, he had a lab in Colorado springs (not far from where I live) that he had fully wireless lightbulbs and stuff but Edison (competing power company) shut him down and now we are still trying to recreate what he did.

[suzerain]

I thought I'd reply to two unrelated things in this thread at the same time.

(1)

The thing no one ever seems to realize when they think of voice controlled computers is that you'd have to talk ALL THE TIME. Personally, I think that would massively suck if I was watching TV, or in an office full of people (noise factor? hello?).

Plus, have you ever done any public speaking, or gone out with friends where you were all talking a LOT? Your throat hurts, you need to drink water constantly, and you end up with a headache.

I think we have our hands for a very good reason. Let's keep using them. Now had you guys said MIND CONTROL, I'd be with you...

(2)

I'm too lazy to look for links right now, but there were in fact two competing electrical transmission ideas in the late 1800s. And we chose the one with the wires, for whatever reason (sinister or not).

However, this was prior to the work of the Curies et al., and it turned out to be a very good choice, because had we as a civilization gone the wireless route with electricity, we'd probably all be a bunch of tumor-having ugly MF's right about now, because there would have been serious radiation problems. I'm no expert on the subject; this is what one of my science-type friends told me.

Wires are a probably a good thing for electricity.