Charged up over wireless: HoMedics expands to develop PowerMat

For 22 years, Commerce Township-based HoMedics has carved a niche in the sale of personal health products, with items from hand-held massagers to knee braces sold in 50,000 retail outlets.

Now the firm is on a quest for power. Wireless power.
After announcing a joint venture with an Israel-based inventor last year, the firm is expanding its Commerce Township facility for the research and development of a product called the PowerMat.

“We're dealing with huge companies that are looking to integrate our technology into their devices, so we're looking at PowerMat as being whatever Intel is to (the computer processor industry), PowerMat will be to wireless charging,” HoMedics co-founder Ron Ferber said. The product uses a process called inductive coupling, allowing cellular phones, cameras and laptops to be charged without the use of a cord by placing them on the charged mat.


The product took the Best of Competition award, beating thousands of other presenting companies.

“The potential here is to eliminate the need to plug something in within your workspace,” said Mark Falanga, senior vice president of Chicago-based Merchandise Mart Properties Inc., which hosts NeoCon.

“People in the modern workplace have multiple tasks, different groups, teams, throughout the day. Rather than isolate in a cubicle, workspace is freestanding, even with wheels.

“You can add even more flexibility if you're not tethered to an outlet and series of cords.”

The wireless power concept is already on the market.

Newest Version of the World Celebrated Live Acquisition Tool

e-fense announced the release of its highly anticipated version update to the renowned product, Live Response. Live Response is the amazing live forensics acquisition and collection tool that rests on a USB thumb drive. It is the only live forensic USB key with such an extensive feature set in the world today. It is already used by hundreds of clients in law enforcement and business. Live Response allows law enforcement, government and corporate customers to acquire data from a running system quickly. Even personnel untrained in computer forensics can acquire Internet history, RAM, images, and other digital evidence with a few simple clicks. The user simply inserts the pre-configured USB key into the target system, tells the application to start and the data is transferred onto the key within minutes.


Live Response and its sister product Aperio, have been in the market place for over a year. The products have received rave reviews from all who have used or analyzed it including; journalist, computer forensics experts, law enforcement officers, and information security personnel. This latest Live Response and Aperio release includes many new features that now ensure the software is easier than ever to use. It also includes even more robust features for investigators with forensics training. From experts to the computer novice, anyone can insert and gather the live data as required, e-fense has created a solution for all.

CEO, Steve Bederman, spoke about the ease of use, "You definitely do not have to be an expert in using computers to collect data with Live Response. Almost anyone can insert a USB key and click a prompt." Bederman chided, "Once I realized that I even could handle it, I knew we had a winner that could be marketed to a wide range of customer profiles." Live Response can be applied to a wide range of applications. The law enforcement community has used Live Response to collect data quickly without an onsite forensic expert. Officers are armed with Live Response, prepared to conduct investigations immediately whenever necessary. The business community has found Live Response to be a vital tool for incident response. During this economic downturn theft in the business place is becoming more prevalent and companies need to respond immediately. Companies can use Live Response to collect data from the target or suspect computer while using anyone that is onsite to do the capture. They then submit the USB key to the proper personnel for analysis and then report on that incident.

"We have been to several events this year where Live Response was the highlight and the reaction was awe-inspiring. Law Enforcement is learning about the ability to quickly acquire data that may make or break a case. Businesses are now aware that they can use law enforcement ready type tools to secure their business. Once we put it into almost anyone's hands they immediately want it," said Lauren LaFortuna, Managing Director at e-fense.

DDR3 Review Series

Over the course of the next few weeks, Benchmark Reviews will be releasing nearly a dozen reviews covering nearly every speed of DDR3 make by almost every memory manufacturer on the market. This article introduces the technology, and offers a glimpse at what we've secured for testing. And while we know that DDR3 is not for everyone, this series will certainly disprove the early failures and possibly convince you why DDR3 should already be a part of your computer system

Benchmark Reviews has been keeping very close tabs on the system memory industry lately, and it should not surprise you to learn that we have uncovered some fierce competition between manufacturers. Ever since Intel released their 3 series northbridge, which presently includes the favored P35 and X38 chipsets, most people believed that DDR2 would have the wind taken from its sails so that DDR3 could make waves. With the chipset supporting two different memory standards, the decision was ultimately left up to the consumer.

This was meant with the best intentions, but as DDR3 was released to the public it didn't take long for people to realize it was still too immature to compete against the more refined DDR2 in regards to high-end performance. DDR3 initially fell short of enthusiast expectations, and motherboard manufacturers collectively surrendered and kept DDR2 as the standard in nearly all of their products. For a short period of time after the P35 norhtbridge launched this put the weight of the world back on the shoulders of DDR2.