Mobee Magic Bar offers wireless charging for Magic Trackpad, Apple keyboard

i can understand the usefulness of this gadget maybe if i have 40 fingers or is a 500 words per minutes typist. but seriously, folks, does anyone on this planet use their keyboard or track-pad severe enough to warrant a inductive charger ???

furthermore, inductive chargers are not environmental friendly. in fact, you are wasting more energy compare to conventional chargers. it is designed specifically for people who are too lazy even to plug in their devices.

I will never understand the geek desire to save the world through outrageously expensive and totally inefficient inductive charging. What happened to being green? Like it's SO hard to stick something in a dock? The ONLY real reason for this I've found is if you are charging something that is used in a wet environment (like a toothbrush) and you want to keep water away from your device. Please somebody explain to me why you want this feature even though you have to pay a bunch to get it?

All inductive chargers rely on alternating magnetic fields. How long is it going to take before somebody revives the old worries about VLF/EMF exposure? I'm not trying to be alarmist, just saying...

Aside from that, it's extremely power-inefficient compared to a direct connection. First you have to convert DC to AC (induction can't happen with steady-state power), with attendant conversion losses. Then you have losses in the inductive coupling. And then you must convert AC back to DC to charge batteries, with still more conversion losses. I'd be surprised if any of these systems were as much as 50% efficient, meaning half the power you put in is thrown away.

And all of this for what? As others here have pointed out, if you have to dock the device anyway, then why not just make a direct contact?

As for Donn's comment--"When something can be charged just by being in the same room as a charging station, then I will take notice"--that kind of setup has indeed been demonstrated in recent years. But if you're sending, let's say, ten watts of RF power from a charging station across the room to a tablet, then anybody who walks or sits between the two has ten watts of RF passing through their body. I said I'm not an alarmist, but that would worry even me. Anybody reread Heinlein's story "Waldo" lately?

Yeah, I, too, don't see the appeal of "wireless" charging. When something can be charged just by being in the same room as a charging station, then I will take notice (don't ask me how that's going to work); otherwise, it's pretty much the same as plugging in at this point. By the definition of this keyboard system, my stock iPhone has "wireless charging" because I set it in a dock to charge.

The current "wireless" charging trend feels like most current 3D TVs to me.

If you need glasses, it's not 3D.

My geek woes for Tesla.

I'm missing the appeal of inductive charging. With a cable, you can only pick up and move a device a short distance while it's charging; with a "wireless" charger, you can't pick it up at all. It's an awful lot of money to pay not to plug in a cable.

If charging pads complying with a common standard were common in public places, that would be pretty cool. I just don't see how having one on my desk adds anything to my life.

The scenario makes sense, it's the price point that's way too high.

You have the convenience of never having to swap out batteries and to be able to pick up your keyboard and move away from the mac anywhere. Just put the keyboard back right into the charger if you are in front of the mac or done with the mac.

But $60 is definitely high when Apple's charger + batteries is so much more economical. You have enough batteries to power a keyboard plus magic mouse and a spare you can keep charged and just swap out. Plus the keyboard and mouse could last for months so there's not a lot of swapping. If you have a severe problem losing your NiMH batteries that could be a concern, or you are just so lazy and have the money to spend.

Uh... so which is it?

Wireless charging or not? Sounds like if you have to connect the charger WITH A WIRE then why not just connect your keyboard with a wire to charge it?....

Weird.