>> NOMAD - USB CABLE DISGUISED AS A KEY
I've seen a bit of buzz on the Internet regarding the revolutionary
Nomad Key - a USB cable that fits snug on your keyring; but seriously?
Isn't this a step in the wrong direction - technology has advanced so much
lately to a point that cables should be moving to the obsolete state not
promoted as the next best thing since sliced bread.
So, let's review - what do we need cables for?
CHARGING
Wireless charging, aka
Inductive charging
uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy between the device and
a charging docking station. The
Palm Pre, a webOS device released in 2009 utilized inductive charging as have
a number of android based devices - but while the cable is gone, they
typically incur additional cost, longer charging times and wasted heat.
SYNCHRONIZATION
Bluetooth has been a technology feature available in almost every mobile
device and modern laptop or desktop (with a dongle) since it gained popularity
since it's introduction in 1998 - but really only became useful with the
v2.0 + EDR specification in 2004. Synchronization over TCP/IP is gaining
popularity as well, especially with cloud based solutions.
So why are we trying to patch an existing problem that has better solutions?
At least in the realm of IoT - there is a lot of research on regards to
ultra low-power micro-controllers or wireless power (ref: PSIKick and Rezence) and
we even see Arduino style devices that have thrown away the cable completely
and allow sketch uploading via low energy Bluetooth (ref:
LightBlue Bean) - forget the hype, push for a better solution.
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