Researchers at GE have created the world's first roll-to-roll manufactured OLEDs -- a newspaper printing-like process that is the first step to plentiful, cheaply produced, flexible lighting. Production of the thin, organic materials in this manner could lead to a wide array of innovations in the use of lights, sensors, and displays, and could make a noticeable impact on the efficiency and environmental performance of lighting and electronics. The company envisions a new playing-field for businesses, architects, and lighting designers who need access to cheap, energy-conscious materials, and see this research as a first step to an emerging field of commercialized OLED lighting. Yes, a new vista of discovery, wealth, and prosperity awaits those who take this bold step into the wide, wonderous, and uncharted worlds of scientific research and prototyping -- let's just hope it doesn't end up all Bioshock-y and weird.

[Via MetaEfficient]

Possibly buoyed by margins produced by its $2500 XEL-1, Sony is pumping 22-billion yen ($203.5 million) into scaling OLED production technology up to medium and large panels. No word on what sort of sizes are meant by "medium" and "large," but we're hoping that "medium" comes in around 30-inches and "large" runs upwards of the 45-inch mark. Competition being what it is, Sony probably hopes so, too. With OLED lifetimes on the rise, the only thing that keeps these power-miserly, high-contrast, great color and wide-viewing angle displays out of a home theater setup is sheer size. Given the race between manufacturers, we're hoping to see falling prices, rising sizes and shorter times to market.

Not to be outdone by what's shaping up to be the theme of the show when it comes to display technology this year, Hitachi launched their line of thin displays in 32-, 37-, and 42-inch sizes. Hitachi's 1.5-inch LCD displays may not match Pioneer or Panasonic in the sheer (lack of) depth column, but you will actually be able to buy these sets when they launch in the first part of 2008. And that's something impressive all by itself.

Employing public signage in the pursuit of suspects is probably about as old as criminology itself, so it's no surprise to see the FBI leveraging the latest technology to erect some of the largest, most versatile wanted posters in history. Thanks to a partnership with advertising giant Clear Channel Outdoor, the G-men will deploy some 150 digital billboards -- capable of displaying fugitives, missing children, or public safety info in real-time -- to 20 major cities around the country, following a successful trial launched in Philadelphia in September. So if you're planning on committing a felony in Des Moines, Iowa or Akron, Ohio soon, better get it done quick, lest your ugly mug become the talk of the car pool during your morning commute. List of all the lucky cities after the break.

[Via Slashdot]

Samsung announced a few new items at IFA today, but one of the more interesting finds in its treasure trove of mysterious electronic goodness were two LCD displays equipped with built-in 2.0-megapixel webcams, 1680 x 1050 resolution, 10/100 ethernet ports, and four or two powered USB jacks (the 220TN and 225UW, respectively). The 220TN, which you've probably seen already, rocks an onboard 500MHz CPU and an embedded version of Windows XP, thus alleviating your need for a PC (even for Skype). Its new kid brother, the 225UW, can't make that same claim, though the specs are dangerously similar (save for that pesky "look-ma-no-hands" processor action). No word on pricing or availability, but you'll know as soon as we do.

It wouldn't really be a Samsung release party without some monitors, now would it? -- and true to form, Sammy included a pair of 22- and 24-inch widescreen models in today's slew of announcements. The 245BW (pictured above) offers up a pretty standard 1920 x 1200 resolution, 5-millisecond response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio (3000:1 dynamic contrast), and 400 cd/m² of brightness, while the 226CW (pictured after the break) also features the expected specs, including 1680 x 1050 res, 300 cd/m² brightness, 1000:1 contrast ratio, and rather snappy gray-to-gray 2-millisecond response time. Sammy is also playing up this latter unit's Wild Color Gamut CCFL backlighting technology, along with each model's suite of Magic-branded fine-tuning options that we're all so familiar with. Both monitors are shipping immediately, with the 24-incher retailing for $550 and the 22-incher asking $380.

According to unconfirmed reports stemming from Taiwan (where else?), Michael Dell is pulling his company out of the LCD TV biz to return focus to its core PC efforts. Unlike Apple's ridiculous desktop display markup, Dell has concentrated on providing low-cost computer and home theater offerings, something particularly dangerous in the cutthroat LCD TV market, so it's not a total surprise to see 'em bail now. Dell is purportedly set to stop manufacture this month, so we should know soon enough how legitimate these reports are, a Dell spokeswoman wouldn't comment on the rumors, only stating that Dell currently sells LCD TVs in a limited number of markets.

NAB is one of the few times during the year that A/V geeks can pull themselves away from their editing bays, adjust their eyes to the light, and really get down with the latest equipment -- so it should be no surprise that RED Digital Cinema is using the event to leak its plans for some tantalizing new gear. We're all quite familiar with the $17,500 RED-ONE 4K base system and its ecosystem of accessories, and now it looks like the company is prepping products for post-production as well, with self-proclaimed "RED Savant" Steve Gibby reporting that a 4K projector and entire lineup of 4K displays are on the way. Even more exciting -- at least for the average consumer or prosumer -- is a promised "professional pocket camera" being described as a "mini-RED," and though we doubt you'll see these for sale at Best Buy, we're still pretty stoked to see what kind of offer they're going to make us here. And if they do already have a prototype of this one, you can bet it's under extra tight lock and key.

Acer's recently carpet bombed the US with no less than five new LCD monitors in its entry-level xSeries lineup, with models ranging from 17- to 24-inches that are rather obliquely said to be designed for "multimedia, gaming and video applications." Since the specs on these two standard and three widescreen displays are average at best, we're not sure that pros in any of the above mentioned fields would really be interested -- but with prices ranging from $180 (17-inch x171s) to just $600 (24-inch widescreen x241Wsd), they could certainly give Dell, Samsung, and friends a run for their money. Specifically, the two square models (the 17-incher and 19-inch x191sd) share the exact same configuration save for maximum viewing angles, with both displays offering up 1,280 x 1,024 resolutions, eight millisecond response times, 700:1 contrast ratios, and 300cd/m² maximum brightness. The widescreen models do just a little bit better: the 19-inch x191Wsd and 22-inch x221Wsd rock 1,440 x 900 and 1,680 x 1,050 resolutions, respectively, along with five millisecond response times, 800:1 contrast ratios. and the same max brightness as their buddies; meanwhile, the 24-incher steps up the resolution to a pretty standard 1,920 x 1,200, contrast ratio to 1000:1, and brightness to 400cd/m², but retains the five millisecond response time of the other widescreens. Should be in stores now, so go nuts.

[Via PC Launches]

Talk about your incremental upgrades: PC hardware manufacturer IO-Data has just introduced an update to that 24-inch LCD-TV241XBR WUXGA display we saw last spring, but for the life of us, we can't figure out exactly what improvements the LCD-TV241XBR-2 offers. Just like its predecessor, this new full HD monitor sports a 1000:1 contrast ratio, maximum brightness of 500cd/m², built-in analog TV tuner, and a DVI input supporting HDCP encryption. Sure its not the most stylish 24-incher around -- if aesthetics are your main concern, BenQ, Dell, and heck, even Gateway offer snazzier looking models -- but with a suggested retail price of only €740 ($972), you'll be able to pick this one up for well under a grand. And hey, this must be the "upgrade" that IO Data's talking about: the XBR-2 is going for at least $250 less than the XBR did at its debut.

While wireless headset manufacturers battle one another to shrink their wares until they completely disappear into your ear canal, organizers of the Switched-On London lighting festival (not named, unfortunately, after the excellent column by NPD's Ross Rubin) have taken the opposite tack: for one week in February, they've transformed the famous Tower Bridge into the world's largest Bluetooth device (narrowly edging out the PS3). Using multi-colored lights strung across the length of the upper walkway, technicians have created a gigantic interactive exhibit wherein sensors located at either end detect travelers' Bluetooth-enabled gadgets (cellphones, laptops, PDA's, etc.) and then track their progress in pseudo-real-time as they move across the bridge. Visually, the movement is represented by a uniquely-colored pixel appearing at more-or-less the same spot on the walkway as the device; to a faraway observer, it would look like this single "pixel" was making the journey from one end to the other. In order to ensure device anonymity, the Bluetooth sensors only send a derivative of each device's MAC address to the bridge's main controller, so consider this a Bluesnarfing safe-zone. If you're in the area and want to check this out -- or love Bluetooth enough to buy a plane ticket (any BT fanboys out there?) -- you'd better hurry, as the project ends and the bridge goes dark tomorrow.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

It looks like there's a good chance that you'll soon be able to put some new monitors on your holiday wish list. DigiTimes is reporting that ViewSonic and Apple will be releasing 17-inch widescreens later this year or possibly in early 2007, leading to expectations that they'll replace the existing entry-level and mid-level displays currently on the market. As far as ViewSonic is concerned, this intel from "industry sources" seems pretty reasonable given that the company's just updated the rest of the line recently. What about on Apple's side? Yep, it's been awhile since the company has even had a 17-inch display -- so let's just say that we can't wait for CES and Macworld Expo 2007.

[Via TG Daily]

If you've got a big budget and need a monitor that can withstand outdoor conditions ranging from firehoses to dust clouds to exhaust fumes, then Sanyo may have just the product for you. For £3,825 ($7,274) you can get Sanyo's latest, the CE42LM4WPR, which brings 42 inches of viewing awesomeness (viewable at 178 degrees), a screen resolution of 1366 x 768, a contrast ratio of 800:1 and a panel brightness of 500cd/m². That's $173 per waterproof inch, if you prefer to calculate it that way.

[Via Gizmag]

It's probably a safe bet that no Engadget editor is ever going to get five monitors as much as we might want 'em. Sadly, it appears that the only way we'd ever get to regularly work in front of that many LCDs is is to become a UAV operator, using one of the new "cockpits" just announced by military contractor Raytheon. According to Raytheon's press release, the new "Universal Control System" consists of five LCDs, a couple joysticks, a keyboard, and a nice leather chair. But beyond that, we're not really sure exactly what makes it so "revolutionary" -- perhaps they know something that requires a higher security clearance that they're not telling us. That being said, the day that we actually do get five displays up in here, we'll market it as a "revolutionary" blogging tool, too.

While we've seen an assortment of 37-inch TVs before, seriously, who wouldn't want 37 inches of liquid crystal awesomeness? This new NEC LCD3735WXM will hit the stage (also known as your home entertainment center) with an ATSC high def tuner, 1366 x 768 resolution, VGA / DVI (with HDCP support) along with S-video, component and composite video inputs, 16:9, and a 1,600:1 contrast ratio and a 9ms response time. Sadly, you'll have to wait until next month to throw down $2,300 to get one of these, though.