A Wireless World?

Last week, word came out about the upcoming release of Bluetooth 5, technology that is supposed to offer 4x the range, 2x the speed, and 8x the broadcast message capacity over current tech. It looks like all of that innovation may soon be inserted into the Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone.

Wireless technology and its application into the Internet of Things (IoT) is compiling a lot of ink, Twitter characters, column inches, and newsroom bandwidth these days.

And why wouldn't it?

Several summers ago, my father and I talked about the future, as we sat outside his lake house downing our refrigerated colas. One thing we both desired, and toasted to, was a world without wires.

"Can you imagine never having to plug in a cord - I mean never?" He took another sip and smiled at the setting sun. I nodded and swallowed the same sentiment.

We went on to surmise a world in which you would no longer have to sit at a desk and get your feet tangled in a coaxial spider web, or tell someone to lift computer wires to run the vacuum, or paint around a wall receptacle, or pull a muscle in your back because you yanked the bed frame away from the wall to expose an outlet. (Most of the time, it was only just far enough from the wall to bend the electrical prongs and smash the cord into a grotesque shape. Don't judge. You've done the same thing.) And gone forever would be the echoing voice of family and friends: "Can I borrow your phone charger?" or their accusatory look when theirs went missing.

That future is getting close. Welcome to planar capacitively loaded conducting loop resonators, as Katie Hall, CEO of Endeveo Corporation, calls them. She explained it well in this CNN piece a couple of years ago. Some challenges still exist in getting it to market, but interest remains high with this particular tech. Some large companies, including Dell and Toyota, have been putting a lot of money into research and potential applications.

What would we call a world without wires? Certainly, our lexicon will begin to change. Wireless can only take you so far. At some point, we'll need to drop the word wire. There's a reason we don't say horseless carriage any more. Because we don't drive mustangs down the interstate, unless they have a motor. Eliminating wires I think would benefit everybody. I can't imagine anyone getting hurt by doing so ... although I suppose those engaged in high-wire acts might find it a little difficult. But they'll get over it. Quickly, I imagine.

As I break the tab on a new can of Coke, I'm once again thinking of the future. I'm remembering my kids laugh when they saw movies filmed in the '80s with long curly cords attached to banana size (and shaped) phones. I envision my grandchildren laughing at movies being filmed now that show people plugging cords into walls at airports and malls and restaurants.

And it brings a smile and another swig.

Here's to the inventors. To the engineers. To those who think outside the wires.

Godspeed.