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‘E-Paper in living color: Materials advances could bring color, video and flexibility’
January 10, 2008 | 3:21 pm
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By David Rothman
“Meanwhile, tweaks to the particles, solution, and electronics have boosted the refresh rate from one frame per second in current displays to 30 frames per second in a ‘video ink’ prototype. E Ink is working with partners to develop flexible transistors for use in color displays; eventually, such displays could even roll up. Commercialization is still a few years off, but ‘you can imagine a USA Today weather chart where clouds are actually moving,’ says Russ Wilcox, CEO of E Ink.” – MIT Technology Review (thanks Garson)/
The TeleRead take: This is in line with previous predictions, but welcome news just the same.
Related: L.G. Philips LCD unrolls 14-inch color e-paper display, from PC World.
Technorati Tags: E Ink
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Comments:
A completely foldable display technology that can scale depending on the situation would be brilliant. I think, though, that the danger of these ‘what’s in the lab’ discussions is that some customers may buy nothing waiting for the perfect solution–and there will always be a better solution coming down the line.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
[...] for all you e-book nay-sayers, just wait. "Meanwhile, tweaks to the particles, solution, and electronics have boosted the refresh rate [...]
Love the headline of that article. “Pigs could fly!” Wake me when it’s “Pigs are flying!”
The paragraph you quote, David, doesn’t say anything new. Video rates have been achievable for a while; the problem is that running E-Ink at those frame rates draws a lot of power, so your batteries run out quickly. Lots of folks are working on flexible substrates for transistor matrices; they’re really more useful in reducing weight and in breakage than in making displays that roll up. And do you really want to dwell on a future where you’re reading USA Today?
Heck, Bill, as I observed, the article is “in line with previous predictions.” But it’s still reassuring that things are on track, and beyond that, not all our readers work for Xerox PARC and live and breathe this stuff. Why don’t you give us your own specifics on truly NEW stuff that the media are downplaying? Big thanks. David
Hey, I’m just trying to help those who don’t “live and breathe this stuff” separate actual news from filler!
I have to confess I didn’t read the article; I’ve never felt the need to register for that site. But if we want to stick purely with Technology Review, their coverage of the Stanford experiments in building better battery cathodes seems more interesting. The real problem with mobile devices is not the screen; the XO is a pretty good demonstration of that. It’s the battery. Let’s hear more about battery technology!
Another “new” thing is the death of newspapers. By the time USA Today can be printed on “active paper”, the newspaper may not be around to be “printed”.
By the way, Rob, “completely foldable” is not what any of the solutions I’ve seen forecasts. They’re all “you can bend this if you don’t bend it too tightly, because there’s a delicate semiconductor matrix printed on it which can be cracked if you bend it too tightly”. That’s why you see so many concept designs that call for “rollable” displays.
Bill: Sure agree with you about battery tech—especially if we want alternatives to E Ink! Educate us with some URLs to accessible stuff, and I’ll write it up in the main part of the blog. As for USA Today, yep, things are far from certain. But quite out of character, the Gannett chain is starting to be more adventurous than most in the area of citizen journalism. For one thing, when some Gannett papers do investigations, they’re using an open approach and inviting true experts to participate. A little like the dialogue on this blog. We’re lucky to have someone around to remind us of the B word. Thanks. David