The Era Of Wireless And The Wiry Household

These days we are much worried about electromagnetic pollution around us emanating from all kind of wireless devices.  And, yet, search an average household and you are very likely to find a basket or box full of a variety of wires.  Most of these will be chargers for various devices.  Then you will have earphones and headphones.  You will also find data cables for connecting portable devices to a bulkier computer or laptop.

Apart from these, there are those well known wires coming in from the external world too.  Apart from the electricity power cable there is one for broadband internet-cum-telephone cable and one for the TV (unless you have IP TV.)  While a complete wiring schema for distributing the electrical power throughout the house has been around for quite some time, that for the other two cables is yet to become mainstream.

For telephones, the problem has been mitigated by cordless phones with multiple handsets.  Similarly wired LANs have disappeared from households with the advent of wireless routers (though the issue of relocating your router remains.)  I wonder if something similar can be done for the TV too, so that you could be free to move your TV to any location in your house with the requirement of just a power point.

With the current state of technology, the most entanglement is found near the TV installation in the house.  Though these days TVs in many homes have a decorative wooden mounting which also serves to conceal this entanglement, if you look carefully you will find the following:

• Power cable for the TV.
• Power cable for the STB.
• The incoming TV cable.
• The cable(s) connecting TV and STB.
• If you have a DVD player too, power and data cables for the same.
• If you have a Chromecast, Roku or a similar device, a power cable and a connector for the same.
• An extension board and its lead.
• Wires going out to the home theater system.

The next jumble will be found close to the router.  Here you will find the following:

• Incoming cable for internet and telephone connected to a splitter.
• Two cables coming out from the splitter, one for the telephone and the other for the router.
• A power cable for the cordless telephone.
• A power cable for the router.

And then it is very likely that there will be a charging station with an extension board which can accommodate one charger for devices with mini-USB, one for Apple devices and one for the laptop.

Some people bring their devices from abroad where the plugs are different.  Hence you are also likely to find a collection of adapters or universal plugtops.

Needless to say that this paraphernalia does require some time for management and proper stock taking.  The management includes straightening out tangled leads and earphone wires as also finding a few missing cables and chargers.

This state of affairs is calling out for some more innovations, the foremost being a self charging battery like the self winding watches of the yesteryear.  Technologists should also ponder if is it possible to transmit energy through narrow laserlike beams and have reflectors and beam-seeking receptors. To start with this transmission could be for low power requirements like charging mobiles and tablets.  

It is heartening to note that these days many gadgets are coming with power adapters that accept input from 100 to 240 volts.  This has eliminated the need for step-up and step-down adapters.  Bluetooth too is a big help as it eliminates the need for a connector cable in many cases.

Ideas are invited for the least wiry household set up.