If you look hard enough, it’s pretty easy to cut wires out of your life.

Yet for all of the advancements in wired freedom we’ve enjoyed over the years, we still find ourselves needlessly tethered to an outlet, or USB port when it comes time to charge our phones. Not that there haven’t been innovations in the field of wireless charging, but they’ve been few and far between and, to be perfectly honest, not that exciting. This is due to the fact they usually still require a reliance on some sort of physical device, whether that be a pad or a case.

The trouble, as you our astute reader has no doubt considerd, is that charging requires electricity, and electricity sufficient enough to perform a charge has to come from somewhere. Plus the cost of using the little technology that is available for wireless charging, and the technical trouble that is still associated with the process, just isn’t worth it for most companies.

But according to Wired, Intel might have an answer to the wireless dilemma at hand.

Well soon anyway (hey, we are called Gadget Teaser). By 2013 Intel is looking to have wireless charging available for their lines of smartphones via certain models of Ultrabooks. There is no evidence to suggest that the technology is applicable yet, but the idea is that the Ultrabook will be able to act as a conduit of sorts to charge your phone. According to Intel, as long as the phone is within a reasonable range of the Ultrabook, it will charge.

Now Intel has been working on some pretty impressive wireless charging technology for a while now, but if this tech really does exist in the way that they claim it does this would be the most significant advancement in the field yet announced. If it is possible to use a single device as a wireless hot point to produce a charge, then the potential for a truly wireless future may be more imminent than anybody could have anticipated.

You’re probably thinking, “of course I can – they look completely different.” They do, you’re right. But they’re the exact same player. That Lexicon on top costs $3,500, whereas the Oppo is only $500.

It’s a strange story, one Wired picked up the other day. From what anyone can tell, Lexicon seemingly bought up a bunch of Oppo BDP-83s and packed the units into a new case. Yes, the whole player, chassis and all. Here’s Audioholics’ Clint DeBoer:

When we received the player the first thing we did was open it up to get a look at the inside. Imagine my surprise when I found that not only did the Lexicon share the same boards and transport as the Oppo – it was in fact AN OPPO BDP-83 PLAYER, CHASSIS AND ALL, SHOVED INSIDE AN ALUMINUM LEXICON WRAPPER.

There is one small difference – the Lexicon has a THX certification. The Oppo does not. How’s that for three grand?

Source: Wired

There’s an interesting article up on Wired this weekend that’s worth a look if you have the time. The focus of the story is Fennec, Mozilla’s new mobile browser. It’s meant to be the closest thing to a desktop browser you can get for a mobile device, replete with features that have to date required native apps to work. Features like full Java and HTML5 support.

That kind of flexibility is great for developers and users, but it’s a promise we’ve seen before. Remember that Java pitch from so long ago? Java was supposed to be the great equalizer, allowing one string of code regardless of machine. Different hardware capability and Java versions meant that never happened, and ambitious developers spent more time debugging than adding new features.

It’s hard to say whether things could be different this time around. It could be fantastic for consumers, leaving us to make the choice between PC and Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360, Android or the iPhone based on more than just native Facebook support, or whatever else becomes the flavor of the month.

Check out the full article on Wired.