Wireless charging is coming to your tablet, computer

Wireless charging is an exciting frontier, but few have ventured to make it available. We've not really seen it roll out on a large scale, either, as competing charging standards battle for supremacy. Freescale has introduced a new wireless charging system that breaks tradition. Rather than trying to charge your smartphone, their 15-watt wireless charging pad will take aim at your tablet, and possibly even laptop (someday, of course). Their products are also expected to hit in the first quarter of 2015.

Denis Cabrol, director of global marketing and business development for Freescale's MCU group, said 'Today's mobile products offer a broader range of features, functionality and form factors than ever before, requiring developers of wireless charging systems to accommodate larger batteries and enable faster recharge speeds. Freescale's industry-first 15 W solution is engineered to address these evolving market requirements, while helping to streamline product development and unleash design creativity.'

Freescale sees their product as being implemented everywhere, too. Airline seats, coffee shop and restaurant tables - even your car's console. Their big, bad charging platform also takes advantage of Qi, Wireless Power Consortium, and the Power Matters Alliance; the three standards vying for your wireless charging attention.

Aside from tablets and computers, the Freescale charging mat could also power your larger smartphone - like a Nexus 6 or Note 4 - quickly.

It's more power than ever, but not a new concept, and definitely not a new missive for where and when we'll be charging wirelessly. Until now, nobody has really been able to deliver on their concept in a significant way, but we're hopeful Freescale can make it happen.

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Comptroller: Many DOE Tablets, Computers Missing, Unopened

By: Lindsey Christ Text size: +-

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The Department of Education has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on computers and tablets over the past few years, but a new audit by the city comptroller says many of those devices are missing or are sitting unopened. NY1's Lindsey Christ filed the following report.

Computers and tablets seem to have a habit of disappearing, off desks in schools and out of the Department of Education's record books.

'This is very troubling when parents expect every computer, every tool to be used in the classroom for their children,' said City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

In an investigation of nine schools, plus the Department of Education's central office, the city comptroller's office says it was unable to locate more than 1,800 computers and 250 tablets, even after working with the Department of Education to try to find the missing hardware.

'We only looked at 10 locations, and this is the mess we found. But there's 2,000 locations,' Stringer said. 'Even at Tweed, Department of Education headquarters, they couldn't account for 600 computers right in the middle of the main headquarters. There's something wrong.'

The Department of Education does not use a central database to keep track of computers and tablets, but Stringer says there is already a system in place that could easily be used to do that. In its formal response to his audit, though, the Department of Education says it believes creating a central inventory system is neither cost effective nor practical.

'We have a right as taxpayers to make sure that every computer, every tablet is accounted for,' Stringer said.

It's not just the missing hardware. Auditors say they discovered 394 computers and tablets still in their packaging, some bought back in 2011. At one school, one-quarter of the devices purchased in recent years remained unopened.

'The notion that we can't account for thousands of computers, and that we found, our auditors found unpacked computers that should be in the classroom, points to a very serious issue,' Stringer said.

The Department of Education says it has asked all schools to update inventory lists in an effort to locate missing and unopened devices.

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Audit: NYC School Computers Going Unused Or Missing

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - More than 2,000 computers and tablets are missing or unused at New York City schools, according to a new audit by the city comptroller.

The audit by city Comptroller Scott Stringer found the Department of Education didn't know where 1,800 laptop and desk computers it had purchased for 10 locations were. It found nearly 400 other devices were never unpacked.

Stringer says the audit represents a sample of sites and is concerned it's 'just the tip of the iceberg.'

'Parents expect their kids to be ready for 21st century and they want technology for their children,' he said.

He says in a time period from 2011 to 2013, he also found boxes of unpacked tablets at three locations and more than 600 missing computers from doe headquarters.

'Perhaps there's an inventory control problem at the Department of Education,' he said. 'We must account for every tablet computer in the whole school system.'

Stringer wants the Department of Education to make a centralized inventory system, keeping track of all purchases and the computers locations. He also wants every missing computer found.

'All we've asked is to see the computers,' he said. 'Just show us the computers.'

Deputy Schools Chancellor Kathleen Grimm told the Wall Street Journal the audit ignored some information provided by her staff.

She said sometimes equipment isn't put to immediate use because of insufficient Wi-Fi bandwidth and the need to train staff to use it.

The DOE said it will use the audit's recommendations and issued a statement saying, 'We are committed to providing our city's school children technological resources that enables them to thrive in the classroom and identifying ways to catalog all equipment to ensure we are using all available resources to serve our students.'

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