TECHNOLOGY

Are you a victim of the ‘wire web’? Is your home an entangled web of wires, plugs, multi-plugs, extension cords and adaptors? Does the space behind the TV or PC look like a high-tech tangle? And we’re not even talking of personal gadgets like iPods and cellphones!Recent technological research reveals that a three-bedroom house now needs an average of 40 plug sockets; you’re lucky if you get 15. But before you race off to tear up your walls, here are options to make your life a tad more bearable. And wait, wireless electricity will be in your homes soon enough.For personal devices (not laptops though), you may want to get yourself this new thing called a Chargepod. Recently launched by Callpod, the device can charge as many as six devices simultaneously—without extension cords or wires. Hurray!Now, India also has smart multiple sockets, with power-saving options. If you switch off your PC, attendant machines like printers and scanners will switch off automatically. Or you can install a programmed switch at the main door, so that when you leave home, all appliances except essentials like refrigerators, will be switched off.Then there will be WiTricity. A team of MIT researchers has developed wireless power; they can light up a 60 W bulb from a distance of 2 m. The implications are phenomenal. It’s akin to the feeling of weightlessness you experienced in moving from broadband to Wi-Fi. Except this can expand to your entire house. When used commercially, WiTricity could be adapted to charge devices like laptops from several meters away. It’s the last-mile tether that the mobile techie needs to sever. That too is just around the corner.