Call us crazy (or just packrats, whatever), but we can't just toss a dead gadget in good conscience. Apparently, neither can Josh Burker, who decided to convert a busted Game Boy into a beautiful piece of vintage art. Similar to the playable Paper Mario game we spotted about this time last month, Mr. Burker used his papercraft skills to whip up a familiar scene of Super Mario Bros. and mount it within the space where the display used to reside. Gunpei Yokoi would be so proud.

[Via DSFanboy]

Those fortunate enough to traverse the halls of Embedded Technology 2007 could've seen Seiko Epson's latest wonder up close and in person, but for the rest of us, we'll have to settle for the above picture and a drool-worthy description. The prototype e-paper terminal measures in at just 3-millimeters thick and weighs only 57-grams, and it's even equipped with a USB port. Furthermore, it features a 6.7-inch display with a luscious 1,600 x 1,200 resolution, but the unit on display could only handle grayscale imagery. Also of note, the entire unit was powered by a single button cell battery, which enabled the screen to be redrawn upwards of 1,400 times (at 0.7-seconds per redraw) before running out of juice. Details surrounding its eventual commercialization were pretty much par for the course, meaning your guess is as good as ours at this point. Two more snapshots after the jump.

[Via Technabob]

Interactive billboards and advertisements have been (trying) to catch our eyes for some time now, but a team of Swedes are apparently hoping that adding speech abilities might convince you to take an even closer look. The Paper Four project has reportedly developed a prototype digital paper that uses embedded sensors to detect touch, and when you graze over a certain spot, it actually talks back to you via "printed speakers." Now in the fourth generation of development, the device combines paper with "printed graphic codes and electronically conductive ink that is sensitive to pressure," and it is already being showcased as a way to invite tourists or other customers to get up close and personal with ads in order to hear auditory information. Best of all, the team has hosted up a video showing exactly how this stuff works, so do yourself a favor and hit the read link to catch a peek.

[Via BBC]

While we've seen mention (and patent applications) of origami-based gadgetry before, the latest gizmo to incorporate crafty folding also melds it with a water reactive plastic in order to create diminutive shapes that "could be used to make certain microscopic 3D structures in large quantities." Gurus from ESPCI and the Paris Institute of Technology have teamed up to concoct specialized plastic sheets which react in curious ways to wee water droplets, and while the process itself seems more interesting than useful, the bigger picture could enable this technology to become a staple of microelectromechanical systems used in printing heads and video displays. Interestingly enough, the scientists were even kind enough to create a time lapse video of the morphing process in action, so be sure to tag the links below if you're even remotely interested in seeing a two-dimensional triangle mystically convert into a pyramid.

[Via NewScientistTech]

Talk about a long time coming, as what is now Polymer Vision has seemed to finally put all the pieces together and produce an actual working product from the idea envisioned by Philips around two years ago. We knew the spinoff was looking to commercialize the product later this year, but after nearly 24 months of coming up empty, a bit of understandable skepticism begins to seep through. Nevertheless, the firm's rollable, pocket-friendly "Cellular-Book" was out and showing its stuff at 3GSM, proving that there's at least something there to put on store shelves. Although the unit on display was indeed a standalone device -- sporting 16 shades of grey, USB, "10-days" of battery life, 4GB of internal storage, and GPRS, EDGE, and DVB-H connectivity just like we'd heard -- Polymer Vision is actually hoping to integrate its e-paper technology into mobile handset displays in the near future. Sadly, there still didn't seem to be any hints of a release date for the nifty pocket reader, but be sure to click on through for the very long awaited pictures of the Readius in action.

[Via Slashdot]

There are bookbags and knapsacks aplenty with built-in speakers and iPod interfaces, but what about those blissful days where you've just got a single class on the docket and only need a single binder? Mead's latest kit, albeit a bit on the childish side to be proudly used in a college environment, rocks the rugged, paper-holding ability that binders have had for years, but rather than reinventing the proverbial wheel, this speaker-packed Five Star notebook has simply evolved with the times. Featuring those same bright, vivid color schemes that lose their luster with haste, this class organizer reportedly features an iPod / DAP connection (likely a 3.5-millimeter aux input) and a set of built-in speakers, but the RMS rating, battery life, and overall sound quality remains in question. Still, these tune-playing binders should hit your favorite retailers just a hair before your middle-schooler forces you to go "back to school shopping" in the late-summer timeframe.

[Via Textually]

Narrowly edging out Dunder Mifflin as the "world's first" paper company to deliver antimicrobial office paper to North America, Domtar is ready to crank up the winders in order to deliver its specialized paper to healthcare agencies, educational facilities, and dysfunctional offices everywhere. The paper, which can purportedly be written and printed on without any special accommodations, is coated in a silver compound that protects it from "he growth of bacteria, odors, fungus, mold and mildew." Furthermore, laboratory studies reportedly show a 99-percent reduction of MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and K. pneumoniae compared to unshielded sheets, adding to its shelf life and keeping those secretaries free from lingering germs. While we're not exactly certain when reams of this germ-free paper will hit your local Office Depot, we're well on our way to a perfectly sterile office environment -- well, aside from that chewed up pen cap you handle each day.

[Via Wired]

Seems as though paper has found its way into another battle -- the National ePrescribing Patient Safety Initiative wants to replace our old tree-based friend with a presumably much safer Web-based system. Rather than continually risking the lives of millions of people by making pharmacists decipher doctors' illegible handwriting, prescriptions will are entered into a website, hopefully leaving less room for harmful and fatal errors. It's amazing that only "one fifth of U.S. doctors" use this kind of electronic system; by now you would think the robots that have invaded hospitals would be the ones doling out the happy pills, but we guess that's a battle left for another day. On the plus side, hackers will now have endless access to the uppers they need for monitoring their botnets around the clock.

Nearly a year after NEC rolled out its paper-thin ORB batteries, Korean battery manufacturer Rocket is launching (ahem) its own uber-thin battery. While juicy, scientific details aren't readily available, we do know that the "paper battery" won't include any toxic chemicals, is "flexible and thin," and molds together the companies "thin film technologies" with its battery knowledge. The company hopes to entice heavy RFID users, smart card manufacturers, and "cosmetic / drug delivery system" providers to utilize the paper battery in powering the already-miniscule devices. Oddly, Rocket also envisions its new creation being used in "teeth whitening, anti-aging, and wrinkle care," though we're not exactly sure how electrifying a tooth will brighten your smile. Nevertheless, the company hopes to have its newfangled power source attached to crates and body parts real soon, and confidently assures us that it "doesn't cause explosions or fires." Phew. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]

A new breakthrough in materials science may pave the way for those inevitable swarms of tiny flying robots that will one day darken the skies and strike fear into us all, as researchers in South Korea have succeeded in coaxing specially-prepared cellophane paper to rapidly curve and straighten itself in an insect-like flapping motion. Although scientists have apparently known since the 1950's that wood was piezoelectric, meaning that it bends slightly when exposed to electricity, it took a team from Inha University with help from Texas A&M to discover that the same property also holds true for other cellulose-based material. By coating both sides of a sheet of cellophane with thin layers of gold, the researchers were able to create so-called Electroactive paper (EAPap) so sensitive that the voltage from a microwave beam provides enough power to trigger its unique shape-changing abilities. Oddly enough, no one is quite sure of the physics behind the transformation -- theories center around pressure changes resulting from the movement of ions -- but regardless of how it works, we're sure that more than a few governments will be most interested in deploying this technology to beef up their domestic and international surveillance programs.

[Via Roland Piquepaille and ScienceNOW]