Scottish group develops e-paper prototype

Here's yet another group working on e-paper, for those of you keeping score at home: a team at Scotland's Paisley University Thin Film Centre has produced a working prototype of what they say is a working e-paper prototype, which can download info into a lightweight, high-contrast device that the developers refer to as "cheap and flexible." The research is being funded by DuPoint-Teijin Films and plastic electronics developer Plastic Logic. As with other similar projects, we assume this one is a long way from developing anything that can be commercialized. For the record, though, it's worth noting that the local paper, The Scotsman, has breathlessly declared this to be a "potentially life-changing creation."

[xVariable @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Wow! Black and white, and *pixellated*! Man o' man, talk bout being on the leading edge of research in your field. Impressive!

(Sorry, couldn't resist. ;)

[S64K90M @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

I think the fujitsu flexi is way better then this, but i guess its a work in progress..

http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_9865.html (it was on engadget bout a week ago)

[Patrick @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Well, we can all predict this will be the best epaper out there. I mean.. It's made in Scotland. And as we all know, if it's not Scottish, it's CRAP!

[Samuel Lago @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Shut up you bunch of idiots, like any of you could just 'make' e-paper. There will not be just one supplier of E-paper, and Fujitsu started with B&W, the same stage were Paisley University is now.

As for The Sctosman, well its not a bad paper but I'm a Times man myself.

[S64K90M @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Hey samual i kno, thats why i said its a work in progress..i mean i know i coulnt make the epaper im just sayin there a bit behind the compitition..its like LG making a lookalike ipod shuffle and just saying its an "LG Shuffle" they were like 5 months behind ipod

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Xerox invented this at their Palo Alto Research Center like 25 years ago. I think they actually founded a company called Gyricon. http://www.gyricon.com/technology.asp

[Tim @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Hey, this was in a press release last December by E-Ink and Plastic Logic:

http://www.eink.com/news/releases/pr77.html

What gives?

[xVariable @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Samuel Lago: Yeah, sure, we're the know-nothing peanut gallery, whatever you say. For the sake of arguement let's accept your premise. The thought comes to mind, then, of what's worse: being the peanut gallery, or the peanut gallery's peanut gallery. Hm, indeed intriging...

So, in summation, you are an idiot in any case.

[Andrew Tanasescu @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

Ok, Nice arguement everyone, but lets possibly thing what a role this can play into our future...

Honestly I would love a world where I walked around with a paper size e-paper and then go to a newstand and download the lastest news...

I love it. I really hope in however many 10s of hunders of years it will be everywhere

[xVariable @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

I'm still waiting for so-called "light-emitting polymer" display technology. It may go ith the prefix "organic" these days, but I don't know whether it's the same tech or not.

Suposedly (when I heard about it back in '97 or whatever), they were eventully going to be able to paint high bit/colour resolution displays onto any surface, be it the side of a building or a t-shirt, cheaply with paint gu-type equiptment. I'm pretty sure ths epaper tech is similar, but all applications thusfar seem pretty visionless and inelegant IMO. Take flexible displays, for example. Just how flexible *are* they? Unless they can be folded into a paper airplane, unfolded and reman undamaged (excepting the creases, of course), then it seems rather like an inadequate hack to me. Maybe these are incremental steps due to prohibitive dev costs, let's hope...

[Dan Garbutt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

the Scotsman reports everything breathlessly; it is a paper written by, and chiefly for, cretins

[travis @ Dec 19th 2005 1:36AM]

You know, this isnt exactly the best example weve seen of this type of thing in the past few weeks, but it is one of these newer technologies that really make you think, hey, we really are in the future here. I was watching Minority Report the other day, and in one of the scenese Tom Cruise is eating cereal, and the cereal box has moving animations on it and is making noise. And this is supposed to be the future...how far are we away from that, really? Things are just moving at such a fast pace...