Dell follows Apple in exploring laptops with reverse wireless charging - Ars Technica

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A recently published Dell patent, spotted by Patently Apple, shows the company exploring the ability to wirelessly charge devices on a laptop's surface. We've seen similar concepts from Apple, which has already won patents for similar technologies. However, instead of simply dropping your iPhone on the laptop's surface and letting it charge, Dell's patent application describes a "wireless charging clip" that can attach to the PC and then be used to charge devices placed on top of it.

Enlarge / The clip would attach to the computer, giving it the ability to wirelessly charge other devices.

Dell

The patent (number 20220239124) was filed in early 2021 and was published Thursday. It doesn't guarantee a future product or feature, but it gives us a peek into what the company is considering.

Enlarge / The diagram shows a smartphone charging on a Dell laptop.

Dell

The wireless charging clip has a surface with a charging coil and a ferrite sheet beneath. The clip would be connected to the PC by magnets.

According to the patent application, the wireless charging clip uses "charging circuitry configured [to] supply inductive power to charge an auxiliary device when the device is placed on top of the first surface, and a connector through which input power is received" from the system that has the charging clip installed.

Apple has been exploring bringing inductive charging into its devices for years. The US Patent and Trademark Office has already awarded Apple patents that use the surface, trackpad, or lid of a MacBook to wirelessly charge Apple products.

Again, it's not certain that either Dell or Apple will release a laptop that supports reverse wireless charging in some form. After all, we've seen products like Apple's AirPower wireless charging mat fail to make it to market before.

Listing image by Dell

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A TikTok Music app could challenge Spotify and Apple - The Verge

Considering how intertwined music discovery is with TikTok, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if the company launched a music streaming app of its own. Well, patent filings uncovered by Insider suggest TikTok’s working on just that.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, filed a trademark application with the US Patent and Trademark Office for “TikTok Music” in May. According to the filing, the service would let users purchase, play, share, and download music. It would also allow users to create, share, and recommend playlists, comment on music, as well as livestream audio and video. ByteDance already filed for a “TikTok Music” trademark in Australia last November.

ByteDance already has experience with music streaming. In 2020, ByteDance launched a music streaming app, Resso, in India, Brazil, and Indonesia. Resso has some of the same features described in the “TikTok Music” filing, such as the ability to create playlists, share songs on social media, and interact with the app’s community.

ByteDance even uses TikTok to bring existing users to Resso. According to a report from The Information, the TikTok app in Brazil comes with a button that redirects users to Resso so they can listen to the full version of a song they’re interested in, a move that helps keep users within the ByteDance ecosystem.

The Information also reports that Resso had over 40 million monthly users across India, Brazil, and Indonesia as of November 2021, a number that’s likely to grow. Earlier this year, a report from Insider revealed that Resso’s monthly active users grew by 304 percent between January 2021 to January 2022 in India alone, as opposed to Spotify’s 38 percent growth in the country during the same period of time.

It’s unclear whether ByteDance plans on developing a music streaming app based on the Resso framework, or if it will come up with something else entirely. Just like TikTok had a profound impact on the way social media sites operate, it’s possible that a music streaming app with TikTok ties-ins could change the music streaming industry, forcing services to adapt.

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