Bridgestone set to make major push into e-paper business

Bridgestone's already showed off some fairly impressive e-paper displays, and gone into mass production with displays for inventory tags and whatnot, but it now looks like the company is now set to make its biggest push into the market yet. According to Tech-On, Bridgestone will be announcing details of its plans in July or August, but it appears that the announcement will concern e-paper displays for e-book readers, at least one of which will be A4 in size. That particular screen was making the rounds of exhibitions back in April, and makes use of the company's proprietary "electron powder and granular material" which, among other things, lets the screen rewrite in just 0.8 seconds. Of course, there's no word on any actual devices using the e-paper just yet, but we're hoping that'll be among the details announced in the next month or so.

[commenting @ Jul 1st 2009 5:15PM]

Pardon my French and ignorance but what is e-paper? I have google, but I don't get it.

[paul34 @ Jul 1st 2009 5:22PM]

Everyone has google.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=e+paper

[DeoWulf @ Jul 1st 2009 5:28PM]

If reading results from Google didn't help you, it's basically a type of display which 'prints' an image and then turns off. The image itself stays on the screen, but requires no power to maintain. It makes things such as electronic books much more energy efficient. Currently, it is only available to consumers in black-and-white form.

[GadgetGeek @ Jul 1st 2009 5:36PM]

@ Paul = awesomeness.

@ article,
The thing does look like one of those college binders you use for turning in essays...

[commenting @ Jul 1st 2009 7:37PM]

Thank you for your responses. I meant "I have googled" - missed a "d".

[jadair45 @ Jul 1st 2009 5:17PM]

E paper just seems like the worst of both worlds for newspapers: You loose the serendipity of browsing an actual paper and you don't have the web browsing capabilities of computer based content consumption.

[Boards of Canada @ Jul 1st 2009 7:17PM]

Yep but this will change. Also the big big thing people tend to forget is e-ink will help bankrupt the big paper companies trashing the forests of this world.

[Haikibutsu @ Jul 1st 2009 5:17PM]

Which bridgestone is this? I doubt this is the tires one.

[kempcross @ Jul 1st 2009 5:28PM]

I was also curious about this.

[Paul @ Jul 1st 2009 5:28PM]

I'm really curious too. Can somebody clarify?

[Scott @ Jul 1st 2009 5:33PM]

The Linked article says Bridgestone Corp which is the company that makes tires.

[kempcross @ Jul 1st 2009 5:34PM]

apparently it is from the same company. interesting. from their website:
http://www.bridgestone.com/products/diversified/electronic_paper/index.html

[tekdroid @ Jul 1st 2009 5:36PM]

http://www.bridgestone.com/products/diversified/index.html
Yes, the same Bridgestone.
I have a lot of respect for this company after seeing some awesome technology in their bikes (not available here in Australia, unfortunately). Pretty diverse competencies beyond tyres.

[tekdroid @ Jul 1st 2009 5:37PM]

doh, bet to the punch :)

[John Stracke @ Jul 1st 2009 5:41PM]

Not really surprising. I know that E Ink hires chemistry PhDs; and making good tires takes good chemistry.

[papari @ Jul 1st 2009 5:48PM]

From tires to consumer electronics. Sounds eerily familiar...

[Magallanes @ Jul 1st 2009 5:59PM]

Bridgestone + SUV was a Epic fail.

so i think :
Bridgestone + E-Paper = Epic win.

[xconan @ Jul 1st 2009 9:05PM]

besides tires Bridgestone also makes golf equipment...

[Haikibutsu @ Jul 1st 2009 5:19PM]

Sorry for double post, but the title of the 'newspaper' is funny. Mainichi is 'Everyday' in Japanese... thus, the title is 'Everyday, Weekly'

[sam @ Jul 1st 2009 6:15PM]

Mainichi Weekly is the bilingual (and, as the English part of the name suggests, weekly) version of Mainichi, so it is a real paper and not an (intentional) joke.

If this means increased competition for consumer e-ink displays, then it certainly should be good news. Right now it seems to me there's an awful lot of devices all using the exact same technology...

[NiGeRiA_StAnD_Up! @ Jul 1st 2009 5:37PM]

how does this work exactly?

[NiGeRiA_StAnD_Up! @ Jul 1st 2009 5:39PM]

how does this work exactly?

[NiGeRiA_StAnD_Up! @ Jul 1st 2009 5:40PM]

sorry for the double post

[Thomas @ Jul 1st 2009 5:46PM]

cool i guess

[JohnPombrio @ Jul 1st 2009 5:52PM]

Finally 8.5 by 11. Perfect size for textbooks and magazines! Been waiting for this for a LOONNNGG time. The large Kindle is still too small. The large format is the ONLY way to use scanned PDF's of expensive books, especially college textbooks. Magazines will go the same way. Manga too. Newspapers? Donno, but I have not read a newspaper in months- that is what the web is for! As long as if does word documents and PDF's, uses USB, and is under $750 US, it's mine!


E-Ink link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Ink

[Magallanes @ Jul 1st 2009 6:00PM]

+1

[sam @ Jul 1st 2009 6:20PM]

Um, manga pages are about the same size as the current e-ink displays. I don't see a reason to make them bigger.

Have to admit though, I would like a bigger display, but not in this format. It would be really neat if there was a 'clamshell-format' reader so that you get two book-size pages at once - you know, like a real book. As a bonus, the clamshell format would protect the screens when not in use - and, for manga, those double-page spreads would still work. Page-turning delays would happen half as often. And it wouldn't be much larger (thicker but not larger) than current readers. Ideally, this would be a flexible display without a border in the middle... yeah, that's probably too much to ask for. Still.

[JohnPombrio @ Jul 1st 2009 6:39PM]

Ahhh, man. AGAIN no one is saying that the SCREEN is A4 in size, just the device will be. That is the same spiel that the Plastic Logic reader is using: A4 in size! (but the SCREEN is a lot smaller). Probably been had once more with a hope of a truly A4 screen. Got my fingers crossed.

[Tim @ Jul 1st 2009 7:41PM]

You don't really need to have an A4 screen. Never heard of margins?

[tim @ Jul 1st 2009 8:18PM]

Yes, I most definitely have heard of margins, and I'd appreciate if you keep your greasy fingers off mine.

[Why should I have all the fun? @ Jul 1st 2009 5:53PM]

I'm still supporting iPaper.

[skip @ Jul 1st 2009 6:03PM]

won't make presidents look taller :'(

[dkarageo @ Jul 1st 2009 6:18PM]

Wait, so this IS the tire company? Hunh.

[Fry Guy @ Jul 1st 2009 6:27PM]

They've got no chance of beating my e-scissors. But they're a strong contender against e-rock.

[RAD Moose @ Jul 1st 2009 8:31PM]

Yeah, when are we gonna get the flexible, foldable, cutable e paper so we can play... oh wait, looks at hand.


For e-Rock/Paper/Scissors txt ROSHAMBO to 41411

[ichheissesuperfantastisch @ Jul 1st 2009 8:43PM]

it seems like they're only building the displays...some other company will be using the displays in their own products. The usual suspects, I would assume: Amazon, Sony and IRex. Hopefully the technology will have advanced sufficiently in the next 12 months or so to at least allow A4-sized displays on machines that can read and highlight PDFs (b/w is fine) and cost not more than $200.

[Michael @ Jul 1st 2009 10:53PM]

Can't wait until these things can refresh at 24fps. At least. Of course color would be nice too. ;)

[sam @ Jul 2nd 2009 7:23AM]

You are now describing an LCD display (or OLED or whatever). I think we have those already.

Seriously if your main concern about e-ink technology is that it can't display video, then er, imo, you are doing it wrong.