Some years ago I announced to my colleague that ‘the office is going wireless’ and I promptly installed Apple Airport and took out all the Ethernet cables. However, there was a look of disappointment when she saw the office afterwards … ‘ thought we were going wireless’ she said, pointing to the power cables. I laughed. ‘How do you think we’re going to power the PCs? Do you think that the electricity is going to arc out of the plug socket and into the back of the computer?’ I said mockingly.

I shouldn’t have mocked. The advent of induction charging has brought us wireless phone charging through pads. It looks like it’s going further as well. An article in The Guardian suggests that this form of charging is good enough for electric cars. Instead of having to plug the vehicle in at special points, it uses hidden pads under the road. You can simply park your car and leave it to charge. That’s a nice incentive to increase the use of electric vehicles, but why couldn’t wireless charging of other devices be used as an incentive for brands? What about coffee shops, resturants or even trains putting wireless pads into tables? As well as using their (free) WiFi you could charge your phone, ipad or laptop whilst drinking your latte.