OVER recent months electronics companies have come up with ideas for
wristwatch-sized devices that function variously as a cellphone, pager, voice
recorder, radio, TV, camera, GPS satellite navigation system or computer.
Consumers get very excited by these promises, because a watch is one of the few
things we carry with us at all times.
The fly in the ointment is battery life. If the battery is small it quickly
goes flat. If it’s large, the watch looks ridiculous.
IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory thought it had the answer. The battery of
the IBM watch would be recharged via an induction coil…
