This article was interesting in that supplying power along with data would greatly simplify that ever growing mess of cables, not to mention the advantages for laptops. Not having to deal with batteries in laptops would make them much easier to carry, and even more slim. I also read somewhere that for the first time ever, laptop sales outpaced desktop sales...
Chalk
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BBC News Online 7/9/03
Powered data networks
By Mark Ward
BBC News Online technology correspondent
The days of travelling with lots of different adapters to ensure you can recharge your laptop, phone and other gadgets could soon be at an end...instead of needing adapters, computer networks could soon be
supplying the devices they interconnect with both data and power.
Typically devices linked together by an ethernet network only use it to swap data back and forth.
But soon the basic ethernet specifications could be extended to allow both power and data to be sent over the same wires.
...electric plugs, power outlets and voltages were different all over the world but ethernet used the same small range of connectors and cables no matter where it was installed...the RJ45 connector is a universal outlet...
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rest of the article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3054894.stm
Chalk
---------------
BBC News Online 7/9/03
Powered data networks
By Mark Ward
BBC News Online technology correspondent
The days of travelling with lots of different adapters to ensure you can recharge your laptop, phone and other gadgets could soon be at an end...instead of needing adapters, computer networks could soon be
supplying the devices they interconnect with both data and power.
Typically devices linked together by an ethernet network only use it to swap data back and forth.
But soon the basic ethernet specifications could be extended to allow both power and data to be sent over the same wires.
...electric plugs, power outlets and voltages were different all over the world but ethernet used the same small range of connectors and cables no matter where it was installed...the RJ45 connector is a universal outlet...
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rest of the article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3054894.stm
