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Feb 29 2024

Wireless Electricity: When Can We Unplug Our TVs?

55 min 5 movies discussed
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You know all of those cords and cables and wires that we use to connect our stuff to the electrical grid so they’ll, you know, work? Imagine a day when energy flies through the air like wifi, utterly cord-free. Well, imagine no more! That day is coming!

AI Summary

Josh and Chuck dive into the fascinating world of wireless electricity, exploring how we might one day live in a completely cord-free world where your TV, phone, and other devices power up without being plugged into anything. They trace the technology from its surprising 19th-century origins with Heinrich Hertz and Nikola Tesla all the way to today's wireless phone chargers, explaining the science behind how electricity can jump through the air. The episode covers both current "near field" technologies like your electric toothbrush charger and the ambitious "far field" possibilities that could revolutionize how we think about powering our homes and gadgets.


Movies Discussed

America's Funniest Home Videos Game
America's Funniest Home Videos Game
1990 1h 24m
★ 0.0
"You're likelier to have some weird footage from your camera end up on the national news or America's Funiest Home Video. — Josh mentions this show when discussing the unlikely outcomes of security camera footage." — Josh
Entrapment
Entrapment
1999 1h 52m
★ 6.2
"And then before you know it, Katherine Zeta-Jones is slinking underneath one of those things. — Josh references the famous laser grid scene from this heist movie when discussing laser-based wireless power systems." — Josh
The Cannonball Run
The Cannonball Run
1981 1h 35m
★ 6.2
"Just think of the cannonball run. — Referenced when discussing how wireless electric car charging would benefit long-distance driving."
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001 2h 59m
★ 8.4
"basically like those bonfire towers in Lord of the Rings. — Josh compares a line-of-sight wireless power transmission system to the beacon towers from the film trilogy." — Josh
The Prestige
The Prestige
2006 2h 10m
★ 8.2
"Or saw on the Prestige. — Josh mentions this film as an example of where people might have seen Tesla's wireless electricity demonstrations depicted." — Josh

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H
Hextor 29 days ago
Real Housewives of New Jersey
◆ 2009
"Hi, everyone. I'm Jackie Goldschneider from the Real Housewives of New Jersey."
This is mentioned in a podcast advertisement that appears in the transcript.