PixelQi -- Engadget

PixelQi posts

Samsung shows off color e-paper prototype, PVI might beat it to market in 2010

by Vladislav Savov posted Oct 29th 2009 at 7:55AM

Now here's some yummy news to wrap our minds around. Samsung, a company with a manufacturing portfolio so wide that you wouldn't be surprised to see it selling toothbrushes and perfume, clearly also wants a slice of that growing ebook market and has now unveiled a 10.1-inch color display with that purpose in mind. It's still very early days, with a measly 10:1 contrast ratio and the ability to display only 7% of the NTSC color gamut, but baby steps are better than no steps, right? While Sammy is shooting at delivering this within two years, PVI -- the maker of displays for Kindles and Sony Readers -- is expected to ramp up production of its own color screens in the second half of 2010. Add these two heavyweights to the color e-readers already expected from Plastic Logic (spring 2010) and Bridgestone, and what you get is one hell of a thriving marketplace -- as long as Pixel Qi doesn't render them all useless when it launches later this year.

Read - Samsung Exhibits 10.1-inch Color E-paper
Read - PVI to ramp up flexible and color EPD in 2010

Pixel Qi e-ink / LCD hybrid display to debut on tablet next month?

by Darren Murph posted Oct 17th 2009 at 3:11PM

It's been far, far too long (read: four months) since we've heard a peep from the gentle souls over at Pixel Qi, but it looks like the long, heart-wrenching wait for the hybrid display that's bound to revolutionize Western civilization is nearing an end. According to the startup's CEO herself, Mary Lou Jepsen, the primetime-ready 3Qi display should make its glorious debut on an undisclosed tablet to be announced next month. For those out of the loop, this transflective display contains both e-ink and LCD properties, one for outdoor reading scenarios and the other for multimedia viewing. The amazing part is that toggling between the two is as simple as flipping a switch, which obviously means great things for battery life on whatever device it's shoved into. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled for more, but do us a favor and cross your fingers for good luck. Toes too, por favor.

[Thanks, Tom]

Pixel Qi's 3Qi LCD screen sized up with Kindle, CTO sheds light on your questions

by Ross Miller posted Jun 7th 2009 at 6:01PM

Turns out Pixel Qi's CTO Mary Lou Jepsen reads Engadget, or at least the posts relevant to her company and her invention, the 3Qi screen. In addition to a side-by-side comparison of the display against the Kindle and a few other devices, in an interview with techvideoblog, she can be seen going through our most recent post and answering some of our readers' questions, including clearing up what seems to be a pretty big misconception that the screen uses e-ink for being visible in direct sunlight -- "it's standard LCD, just clever design," she explains. In one scene, she demonstrates that even in those very bright situations when the screen looks to go monochrome for visibility, you can still see a hint of color, with the full "Pleasantville" experience entering the more she moves the hardware into the shade. As for reports of the tech adding a $200 premium, she dismisses this as a misquote and infers that it was more of an example price for a laptop that'd be using the technology. There's a lot of fascinating tidbits here, including some talk on the nature of the display and laptop industries. As it stands, mass production begins this Fall, and even though you're seeing that Acer logo on the demo unit, Jepsen says it's just a prototype built into a laptop they bought at Radio Shack and that no manufacturing partners have been confirmed. Make sure the closest star isn't beaming down at your screen and head on after the break for the both videos.

Read - Mary Lou Jepsen answers user comments
Read - Pixel Qi vs Kindle vs Toshiba R600 vs regular LCD tablet

Continue reading Pixel Qi's 3Qi LCD screen sized up with Kindle, CTO sheds light on your questions

Video: Pixel Qi's e-ink / LCD hybrid screen demoed at Computex

by Darren Murph posted Jun 3rd 2009 at 12:43PM

Wow, just wow. We were about three months away from putting Pixel Qi on a temporary vaporware watch, and now we couldn't be happier about shoving this crow down our throats. The outfit's so-called 3qi display technology -- which seamlessly integrates e-ink with LCD -- was on display this week at Computex, and there's a beautiful video just after the break that shows it off. Put simply, we've never seen a laptop display look as good in broad daylight as Pixel Qi's display, and even though there's no striking colors in the black-and-white e-ink mode, at least you can see the thing (clearly, at that) without squinting. Seriously, hop on past the break and mash play.

Continue reading Video: Pixel Qi's e-ink / LCD hybrid screen demoed at Computex

Pixel Qi demonstrates 3qi display, merges e-ink with LCD

by Tim Stevens posted May 29th 2009 at 8:57AM

Pixel Qi demonstrates three-mode display set to merge e-ink with LCD

We knew Pixel Qi was up to something when it pledged to give us a cheap laptop that could last 40 hours on a charge. Now we can finally see what, with the OLPC spin-off releasing some images of a prototype screen called 3qi that looks like it can combine the best of e-ink and traditional LCD displays -- prototypes that will be shown in the flesh at Computex next week. The screen can work as a traditional backlit LCD when indoors, can have that backlight disabled to be perfectly visible outdoors (shown after the break), and, as its pièce de résistance, can be toggled into an energy-efficient "epaper" mode. How exactly the company is fitting these seemingly disparate slices of technology into a single 10.1-inch screen is something of a mystery, but we're guessing much will be answered next week ahead of a planned product launch by the end of the year. Color us intrigued.

[Via PC World]

Continue reading Pixel Qi demonstrates 3qi display, merges e-ink with LCD

Pixel Qi conjuring up black magic technology for 40-hour laptops

by Darren Murph posted Nov 29th 2008 at 3:40PM

Sure, you can go out and get yourself a laptop right now that'll go 12.5-hours strong, but what if your portable computer could nearly outlast your Aigo A215? While L's mythical quad core lappie came close in theory, Mary Lou Jepsen's (the former CTO at OLPC) startup is hoping to eventually create a machine that can last between 20 and 40-hours between charges. Pixel Qi is being pretty closelipped right now (and understandably so) about what exactly it has going on, but we get the idea the secret sauce is in a highly efficient display that will require far less power than traditional LCDs. The best part? We could see one of these longevous notebooks in the pipeline as early as 2H 2009, so we'd probably start stocking up on Red Bull right about now.

OLPC XO-2 to include multitouch and possibly haptic screen from PixelQi

by Paul Miller posted May 27th 2008 at 7:42PM

PixelQi, an OLPC project spin-off headed by Mary Lou Jepsen, certainly has its work cut out for it with the OLPC XO-2, due in 2010. Not only is the laptop supposed to support dual touchscreens and consume a mere 1 watt of power, but Mary Lou is also promising better readability, multitouch, and potentially even pen usage and haptic feedback. Interestingly, the projected price for the laptop is $75, which is exactly the pricepoint PixelQi claimed to be working on when it split from the foundation. She remains coy on which OS the new laptop will favor, merely stating: "The display can use whatever software OLPC chooses." As for partners outside of OLPC, Mary Lou won't name names, but she says PixelQi is "working with large, tier-one laptop, cell phones, and e-book makers." Forget 2010, give us a full color e-book tablet by the end of the year and we'll forget all this XO nonsense entirely.

OLPC spin-off plans $75 laptop

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jan 10th 2008 at 11:26AM

According to a report in the New York Times today, a spin-off of OLPC is planning to launch a competitor to the company's $200 XO laptop. Mary Lou Jepsen, former CTO of the Nicholas Negroponte-led company, claims that her new organization, Pixel Qi, can do it cheaper and better. "Spinning out from OLPC enables the development of a new machine, beyond the XO [laptop], while leveraging a larger market for new technologies," Jepsen wrote on the company's website, adding, "Besides, I need that extra $125 for laundry and stuff." Jepsen claims that the cost of a device like the XO can be reduced by, "Allowing multiple uses of key technology advances." If you'll recall, the original target price for the XO was $100, back in the hazy, optimistic days of 2005. Using an advanced abacus coupled with a complex system of levers and pulleys, we've determined that when and if the Pixel Qi laptop makes it to market, the cost will be no less than $150, and Nicholas Negroponte will say something crazy about it.