Wow, Notion Ink is still around. After a promising buildup for its “Adam” Pixel Qi-display Android tablet, followed by lackluster reviews of the finished product, the company kind of faded into the background. Notion Ink is moving forward with plans for an Adam 2, powered by a TI OMAP processor rather than NVidia’s Tegra. The company feels it will be able to get more performance out of an Omap than it could a Tegra. On Notion Ink’s “Designing Adam 2” blog, Rohan Shravan promises: Unlike last time where we banked on Tegra without possibly...

3M is investing in Mary Lou Jepson’s Pixel Qi company, which produces dual-mode transreflective displays that can operate in LCD color or low-energy monochrome e-ink-like modes. Engadget has the press release and some commentary. So far, while the Pixel Qi displays have seemed fairly impressive in what they could do, they have not yet been produced in large numbers or used in any very successful hardware. The infusion of an undisclosed amount of cash by a major corp like 3M might just change that....

A number of people have been anticipating the release of The Notion Ink Adam. Using its own modified version of Android, a unique user interface, and a Pixel Qi screen, the tablet promised a user experience that could leave the iPad in the dust. Now Engadget has gotten its hands on one of the devices for a comprehensive review and found that, sadly, it doesn’t live up to its promises. The review notes that hardware, user interface, and software are all fairly lackluster experiences, The display is outdoor-readable, but inside it looks washed-out. The camera is cleverly swivelable...

A recently-discovered Apple patent application offers an intriguing look at a possible future for the iPad (and perhaps iPhone/iPod touch as well). AppleInsider reports that Apple is looking at placing a translucent e-ink display between the LCD display and the touch-sensitive interface layer allowing for selective display of content by regions. E-books could be displayed in the ink format, while pictures and video could use the full-color LCD-screen. While a similar duality of purpose can be found in switchable displays like the Pixel Qi screens we’ve mentioned a few times, this Apple-patented system would go one better in...

The Android Police blog features a couple of five-minute demonstration videos of the Adam device from Notion Ink, showing it being put through its paces. The videos mostly cover the same territory, but one of them is, fairly impressively, shot in direct daylight, and the Pixel Qi screen is only slightly washed out—considerably more readable than my iPad in those conditions. The Adam looks fairly impressive from the videos, though of course it would take a hands-on session to get a really good idea of how usable it will be. Tantalizingly, both videos showed an e-book reader screen, but...

In a Notion Ink blog post about the forthcoming Adam tablet, Rohan Shravan takes the time to brag on a couple of things about the Pixel Qi and Tegra device. He first mentions the speakers, which are supposedly the best speakers of any tablet device. But then he makes some impressive claims about the battery life. The most power hogging elements on Adam are (in decreasing order) LCD, Wi-Fi, 3G, Speakers (in full power mode) and then CPU (Tegra). I am getting from more than 2 full days to minimum of 15 hours! I am thinking...

Om Malik reports on GigaOm that Mirasol’s low-power, sunlight-readable displays, previously scheduled for launch in 2010, are now expected to come to market in early 2011. Gizmodo notes that this is also about when the new displays from Pixel Qi are going to come out. It will be interesting to see what the sudden availability of not one but two low-power sunlight-readable display options is going to do to the e-reader market. The current best solutions for color reading involve LCD, which is washed out by direct sunlight. Will new-display readers drive LCD readers’ prices down? Or will...

Pixel Qi is creating a new device that may well be the first of its kind—a self-contained 10” Pixel Qi monitor that connects to a laptop or “even some phones” (or, for that matter, a desktop) using wired or wireless USB. Pixel Qi’s 10” $275 swap-in displays had been available for Samsung N130 and Lenovo S10 netbooks, but they required end-users to install the parts themselves. This new device would act as a fully-powered stand-alone monitor, useful for more screen area or for showing someone else screen data. As far as I know, nobody’s come out...

Mary Lou Jepson has posted on Pixel Qi’s blog about a number of new developments coming soon—most notably, the development of a new 7” Pixel Qi screen for tablets and e-readers. In addition to posting some user comments about how easy to use the 10” Pixel Qi DIY netbook conversion kits are, Jepson reports that Pixel Qi has “now fully completed [its] first tranche of series B finance,” and says that 7” screens are being planned for mass production sometime in the first half of 2011 (but samples may be available as soon as Q4 2010). ...

From Engadget. They modified their Lenovo laptop to install a Pixel Qi screen. Looks like it might be great for ebooks. A lot more information, including some battery testing and installation instructions, in the article....

Mike Lee at OLPC News has a photo and video comparison of the 4-year-old OLPC XO-1’s display, and the new Pixel Qi display based on the same technology. Lee said that he bought the $275 10.1” display panel when MakerShed had them available (they sold out fast) and put it in the Acer Aspire One netbook he had bought the month before for $199. (It seems a bit odd to me to pay more for a screen than for the netbook you swap it into, but on the other hand it does have some advantages.) Although...

Johannes Haupt of lessen.net sent me this info. From the Liquavista press release: “The arrival of LiquavistaVivid represents the next step in our roadmaps and demonstrates that electrowetting is a highly versatile 3-mode display technology, just like LCD, capable of significantly improving on performance in all modes, truly making this LCD 2.0.” added Guy, “Our full range of products brings increased advantages such as low power and up to four times the performance over LCD and is the ultimate choice for consumer electronics manufacturers. It offers the best choice for the consumers – a life without compromises on battery lifetime,...