It's almost impossible to think of a time when you had to wrangle a long cord while working with power tools. But as convenient as cordless tools are, they're useless if their batteries are dead. So this fall, Bosch will be introducing batteries with inductive charging that simply need to be placed on a base station for the power to flow.
It not only makes it easier to charge a battery without removing it from the tool, it also allows you to keep a charging base close to where you're working, so every time you put the tool down, the battery is being topped off. That alone should convert some DeWalt loyalists.
Since there are no physical connectors or open ports, the charging pads are water-resistant, but you'll still want to avoid them getting soaked. And Bosch claims that thanks to intelligent software the batteries charge as quickly as their predecessors did, no matter the temperature. There's no pricing info yet, but since the new inductive batteries are completely backwards compatible, there's no need to buy new tools to take advantage of them. [Bosch via Werd]