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China fines LG Display, Samsung and others over alleged price fixing
Companies embroiled in display price fixing scandals aren't out of the woods just yet. China's National Development and Reform Commission has just fined six manufacturers ¥353 million ($56.7 million) for allegedly colluding on LCD prices, including Korean heavyweights LG Display and Samsung as well as Taiwan-based AU Optronics, Chungwa Picture Tubes, HannStar and Innolux. The accusations behind the latest penalty aren't quite the same as in other countries, but they share a familiar story: China believes the firms agreed to keep costs artificially high between 2001 and 2006, making ¥208 million yuan ($33.4 million) in undeserved profit. While the immediate fiscal damage will be light when it's spread across several companies, it adds to punishment that has already ranged into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Amazon tablet rumors flare on leaked supplier parts list
Last time on Days of our Rumored Amazon Tablets' Lives: Bezos teased us with a "stay tuned" cliffhanger, but shook his head at the notion of a color E Ink Kindle this year. While DigiTimes spilled its cup of beans about the devices' possible use of Fringe Field Switching displays and fabrication by Quanta Computer, the Wall Street Journal threw its two cents in with a report pegging a couple of new Kindles for Q3. Now loose-lipped sources are feeding the DigiTimes hearsay flames with a leaked supplier parts list that has Wintek, J Touch and CPT providing touch panels with NVIDIA processors at the tabs' cores. The Seattle-based company also purportedly plans to ship four million of these 7- and 10-inch slates by 2011's end. So, what to believe? We'll find out in due time, but with all this gossipy buzz you can place your bets on something.
iPad rigged up with 3D screen in Taiwan
Display Taiwan 2011 is going on in Taiwan this week, and at a booth for a company called CPT, there's a device on display that looks very much like an iPad (though with the actual Apple logos and identifying information covered up) that's been Frankenstein-ed together with what appears to be a 3D display. You can see the device in the video below thanks to YouTubers minipcpro. They call this an iPad 3 prototype, but I don't think it's that -- my guess is that this Taiwanese company just either opened up an actual iPad, or came across some iPad parts, and inserted their own display in the device. It's more a proof of concept than anything else. All you see running is that photo app, not a full version of iOS. Plus, it seems unlikely that we'd ever see 3D like this implemented in an Apple device, much less something that required glasses like that. Still, it's wild to see a completely different display show up in an iPad wrapping like this. [via BGR]
CPT's Colorful Sunlight Readable screen uses half the power of an LCD (video)
The last time we heard from CPT it was showing off what looked to be a competitor to Pixel Qi, a super low-power transflective display. Now the company is demonstrating something completely different, new enough to not really have a name but promising to deliver all the quality of a standard LCD at less than half the consumption of a typical backlit display while also working well in direct sunlight. Sadly that's about all that's known about it at this point, but you can see a prototype working in the flesh after the break. Well, a video of one in the flesh, anyway.
CPT starts a little transflective LCD fire under Pixel Qi
No, not literally. CPT is showing off some transflective display tech that's remarkably similar to Pixel Qi's, and the good news is that CPT is actually a display manufacturer. Pixel Qi's tech seems more advanced, with 5X power savings with the backlight off, versus CPT's 2X, but if CPT can get this 10.1-inch, 1366 x 768 panel onto the market soon for a good price, we think they could find some takers. Check out a hands-on video after the break. Interestingly, Netbook News says text is a bit less clear when the backlight is off, so perhaps Pixel Qi doesn't have so much to worry about... though of course they'd have a lot less to worry about if one of the devices using their tech started shipping!
Three more executives indicted in LCD price fixing scheme
Protip, if you were involved in LCD price fixing between 2001 - 2006, just turn yourself in because the U.S. Department of Justice is still coming. To the surprise of anyone who thought the last couple months of guilty pleas and fines were the end, a DOJ statement today spells out indictments returned by a federal grand jury in San Francisco against two former Chungwha Picture Tube execs and one from LG Display. All the legal details in the case against Cheng Yuan Lin, Wen Jun Cheng and Duk Mo Koo are in the statement beyond the read link, but hey man, we're still waiting on our refunds.[Via Reuters]
LCD manufacturer set to introduce 18.4-inch displays
Look, the LCD monitor market is hot. How hot, you ask? Well let's just say that panel manufacturer Chunghwa Picture Tubes (or CPT) has decided to circumvent the battle for ultimate supremacy in the 19-inch market by creating a totally new size of monitor: an 18.4-inch widescreen display. The new size will feature a 16:9 aspect ratio, 1366 x 768 resolution, a contrast ratio of 1000:1, and a response time of 5ms. The benefit of the slightly smaller size is that the cost to consumers will be lower than its 19-inch brethren, thereby giving CPT a cleaner shot a some market share. The first company to bite on the new size is Acer, which will be using the new panels in a Quanta-made laptop set to hit Europe in the second half of 2008.
