A charge pad for cell phones and other small electronic devices invented at the UF College of Engineering — and now being developed for the consumer market by UF spinoff WiPower — was featured earlier this month on the Today Show.

Reporting from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Paul Hochman, editor of Today Tech and a contributor to Fast Company magazine, described WiPower's charge pad as well as several soon-to-be-available products from other companies at the show. The technology works by transmitting power wirelessly to PDAs or other electronic devices equipped with special adapters to receive it when placed nearby, eliminating the need for multiple charge cords.

Ann Curry, Today news anchor, demonstrated the WiPower pad by showing how adapter-equipped light bulbs light up without any cords when on the pad.

After some playful back-and-forth with Hochman about the merits of "inductive coupling," Curry noted, "Eventually someday for our homes, we won't need to have all those cords all around our houses."

That's been the goal since WiPower, which has offices in Gainesville and Altamonte Springs, began seeking to commercialize the technology first developed at UF in 2006. Ryan Tseng, the founder and CEO of WiPower, worked with UF Electrical & Computer Engineering professor Jenshan Lin on the project that began as Tseng's senior design project. WiPower later sponsored continued research in Lin's lab to improve the technology, with the Florida High Tech Corridor contributing matching funds.

"Hopefully in the future we can create something like WiFi," Lin has said, "except it becomes wireless power."