Bridgestone set to make major push into e-paper business
By Donald Melanson 
posted Jul 1st 2009 5:09PM
posted Jul 1st 2009 5:09PM
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.
Pardon my French and ignorance but what is e-paper? I have google, but I don't get it.
Everyone has google.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=e+paper
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.
@ Paul = awesomeness.
@ article,
The thing does look like one of those college binders you use for turning in essays...
Thank you for your responses. I meant "I have googled" - missed a "d".
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.
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.
Which bridgestone is this? I doubt this is the tires one.
I was also curious about this.
I'm really curious too. Can somebody clarify?
The Linked article says Bridgestone Corp which is the company that makes tires.
apparently it is from the same company. interesting. from their website:
http://www.bridgestone.com/products/diversified/electronic_paper/index.html
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.
doh, bet to the punch :)
Not really surprising. I know that E Ink hires chemistry PhDs; and making good tires takes good chemistry.
From tires to consumer electronics. Sounds eerily familiar...
Bridgestone + SUV was a Epic fail.
so i think :
Bridgestone + E-Paper = Epic win.
besides tires Bridgestone also makes golf equipment...
Sorry for double post, but the title of the 'newspaper' is funny. Mainichi is 'Everyday' in Japanese... thus, the title is 'Everyday, Weekly'
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...
how does this work exactly?
how does this work exactly?
sorry for the double post
cool i guess
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
+1
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.
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.
You don't really need to have an A4 screen. Never heard of margins?
Yes, I most definitely have heard of margins, and I'd appreciate if you keep your greasy fingers off mine.
I'm still supporting iPaper.
won't make presidents look taller :'(
Wait, so this IS the tire company? Hunh.
They've got no chance of beating my e-scissors. But they're a strong contender against e-rock.
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
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.
Can't wait until these things can refresh at 24fps. At least. Of course color would be nice too. ;)
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.