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Microsoft and Bridgestone launch real-time tire damage system
A new system can detect tire damage in real time.
Solar car race kicks off 30th anniversary with a fresh challenge
It's a special moment in the history of clean energy: the 30th anniversary World Solar Challenge has begun. A total of 42 solar-powered cars (the largest field to date) left Darwin, Australia on October 8th to travel roughly 1,880 miles to Adelaide. The race officially lasts a week, but it's likely going to end considerably sooner for the front-runners -- the world record holders, Tokai University, took just under 30 hours in 2009. As it is, technical hiccups knocked out several competitors in the first day of racing.
Bridgestone responds to Sony: Kevin Butler wasn't in our commercial
Bridgestone is responding to Sony's lawsuit by denying the Kevin Butler character appeared in one of its recent commercials. Following Sony's allegations over Butler actor Jerry Lambert's appearance in a Bridgestone commercial, the tire manufacturer made a statement via The Hollywood Reporter declaring its intention to fight the lawsuit. As far as Bridgestone is concerned, Lambert appeared in its commercial but wasn't starring as Kevin Butler in any way whatsoever."Mr. Lambert is one of the actors who appeared in the commercial as a Bridgestone engineer," reads the statement, "Bridgestone denies that 'Kevin Butler' appears in the Bridgestone commercial discussed herein and thus denies that he speaks or does anything whatsoever in the commercial."It emerged last month Lambert appeared in a commercial as part of Bridgestone's "Game On" campaign, featuring him playing a Wii and acting in a similar exuberant manner to his PlayStation persona of Kevin Butler. Sony believes Bridgestone and Lambert's advertising agency Wildcat Creek are guilty of violating the Lanham Act, misappropriation, breach of contract, and intentional interference with a contractual relationship. Sony filed the lawsuit on September 11, and Bridgstone has since removed Lambert from its most recent ads. Sony has until October 12 to withdraw the lawsuit, otherwise it proceeds.
Sony, Kevin Butler actor in lawsuit over breach of contract
Sony filed a lawsuit implicating Jerry Lambert, the actor who plays Kevin Butler, Sony's high-energy, aggressive spokesman and fake VP of whatever happens to be relevant. Sony's claims are based on violations of the Lanham Act, misappropriation, breach of contract and tortious interference with a contractual relationship, senior director of corporate communications Dan Race writes in a statement to VentureBeat.Early in September, images and video of Lambert in Bridgestone Tires' "Game On" promotion gained traction online, wherein Lambert is playing a Wii and over-acting in a style similar to his Kevin Butler character. Lambert appeared in Bridgestone commercials as early as February. On September 11, Sony filed a lawsuit against Bridgestone Tires and Wildcat Creek, an advertising agency for which Lambert is actually president.Since the filing, Lambert has been removed from the most recent Bridgestone ads. The Game On promotion ended on September 30."We invested significant resources in bringing the Kevin Butler character to life and he's become an iconic personality directly associated with PlayStation products over the years," Sony's statement says. "Use of the Kevin Butler character to sell products other than those from PlayStation misappropriates Sony's intellectual property, creates confusion in the market, and causes damage to Sony."Lambert and Sony reached an agreement on September 26, and Sony has until October 12 to officially withdraw the suit or announce it will continue forward. NeoGAF member Takao has a detailed breakdown of the entire lawsuit.Below find a few of Lambert's most memorable Sony advertisements.
Bridgestone reveals plan to withdraw from e-paper business, AeroBee loses its buzz
If you were intrigued by those 21-inch e-paper tablets Bridgestone showcased last year, you're sure to be bummed by this news. The company has announced that plans to withdraw from the electronic paper business and expects to bring production to a screeching halt by the end of October. Citing increased competition and rapid declines in material prices for the move, the outfit looks "to put an increased focus on its core businesses." As you may recall, Bridgestone had partnered with Delta Electronics to develop the business-focused AeroBee tablets and it remains to be seen if the latter part of the duo will continue its e-paper exploits with a new mate.
Bridgestone rolls with air-free tire concept (video)
The days of flat tires and spares are numbered. Sure, self-inflating tires are all well and good, but don't protect from the darn puncture itself. Similar to Michelin's tweels, Bridgestone has cooked up some air-free concept tires that use a tough but flexible thermoplastic structure that behaves like a normal tire with nary any horizontal force produced. Each wheel is able to support around 150kg, although on a typical electric mobility scooter the load is more likely to approach 50kg. Bridgestone is looking to show off those curved, hypnotic spokes on the retail model, but is still researching how to protect against objects getting lodged inside. Roll over the break to see those spokes in action and imagine a future without puncture repair kits.
Bridgestone builds world's largest e-paper tablets, shuns consumers (video)
If you thought the Kno was unwieldy, check out these A4 and A3 paper-sized AeroBee terminals from Bridgestone. The company, best known for its tire commercials featuring adorable animals about to get run over, unveiled two new tablets with 21-inch and 13-inch (underwhelming) color e-paper screens -- the largest available on the market. You can check them out in the video after the break, but don't get too excited, these beasts aren't destined for consumers. Instead, they're being marketed to businesses which will likely use them as in-store displays or kiosks. Next step: coffee table-book e-readers. Though, we suspect In the Shadow of No Towers would lose something in the translation.
Bridgestone shows off QR-LPD display, the future looks dim
We didn't manage to check out Vivitek's booth and its bevy of low power QR-LPD-screened devices at this year's CES, but it doesn't look like we missed much. The e-book fanatics over at The Digital Reader dropped by, and found Bridgestone's QR-LPD screen technology extremely disappointing. Apparently the screens are just as dim and washed out as they were when we first glimpsed them, over two years ago. In addition, the screen refresh time is painfully slow. Unless these screens turn out to be vastly better in production and incredibly cheap, we think Mirasol and Pixel Qi don't have anything to worry about in the next-gen screen space. There's a video of QR-LPD after the break if you're still interested.
Delta Electronics to ship 13.1-inch color e-readers by Q2 2010
It's a funny thing, really. We wait years upon years for color e-ink to become a reality, and today -- of all days -- we finally hear that a sizable one is coming to market in just a few months. Reportedly, Taiwan's own Delta Electronics is hoping to ship a 13.1-inch color e-reader (along with an 8.1-inch monochrome version) by the middle of this year, both of which will rely on e-paper technology from Bridgestone. If you'll recall, we got an early glimpse of this stuff right around this time last year, but it wasn't until today that we heard any followup whatsoever. There's no mention of expected pricing and the like, but we're told that the refresh rate is well faster than the black-and-white solutions out there today. Frankly, this thing better check email, play back video and wash our laundry as well -- the reign of the standalone e-reader is just about over.
Bridgestone announces flexible touchscreen color e-reader
When we heard word of a "big announcement" back in July we imagined an e-reader of some sort, but what is it that we have here? Based on a technology Bridgestone calls Quick-response Liquid Powder, the company's all-color touchscreen e-book reader is about 5.8mm thick, features a 13.1-inch touch-sensitive e-paper display (with 4,096 colors and a refresh rate of about 0.8 seconds), and some sort of unspecified mobile phone connectivity. Most exciting, of course, is that the entire package -- circuit board, touchscreen, and housing -- are designed to bend together. A neat trick, sure, but probably not too practical for jotting down notes with your stylus. Still, we'd take two. Trials begin at the Kansai Urban Banking Corp early next year, but you can check it out sooner at FPD International 2009 in Yokohama City, Japan, starting tomorrow. [Via Tech-On]
Bridgestone set to make major push into e-paper business
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.
Bridgestone's 13-inch color e-paper display handles pen input, has the future written all over it
While it'll always be difficult to accept innovative technology from a company that makes our tires, there's just no faulting Bridgestone's work in the e-paper space, or their latest color entry, above. The 13-inch display, based on "QR-LPD" tech, has what looks to be great color depth, along with snappy 0.8 second screen refreshes (great for this screen size) and actual Wacom-based pen input. There's video of it in action after the break, and if we didn't know better we'd think they were putting a Sharpie to a perfectly good display. Unfortunately, the image does look a little dim at the moment, so hopefully that's something Bridgestone can improve upon as they approach commercialization -- whenever that might be.
KDDI shows off cellphone-linked e-paper display
KDDI (smartly) doesn't seem to be ready to go all Foleo / Redfly-like, but it apparently does see some benefit in a cellphone companion of sorts, and it's now showing off a considerably different spin on the idea that relies simply on a stripped-down e-paper display. Even more unconventionally, the setup makes use of good old IrDA to transfer images from the phone to the display (a 13.1-incher built by Bridgestone) which, when combined with the inherent slowness of the display itself, adds up to a page refresh time of 12 seconds. It is still in prototype form though, so there's at least a chance that a few of those seconds will get shaved off by the time it's released, and an equally decent chance that it never actually sees the light of day.
Bridgestone shows off ultrathin, full-color e-paper
Just last year Bridgestone was feelin' pretty good about itself for unveiling the "world's thinnest" sheet of two-color e-paper. These days, the outfit is busy showing off a new version that measures in at just 0.29-millimeters thick and is capable of displaying 4,096 colors on an eight-inch display. In case that wasn't enough, the company is also touting what it calls the "world's largest full color e-paper that is A3 size, which is equivalent to a 21.4-inch screen." As you'd expect, the latter is expected to be used solely for advertising and could hit the market as early as next year, while the former technology is set to be commercially available in 2009. [Warning: read link requires subscription][Via Japan Today, image courtesy of NewLaunches]
Hitachi showing off color version of Albirey e-paper
Now that monochrome e-paper is a pretty standard affair, those at the forefront of e-ink technology have moved on to perfecting the real killer app, which is full-color displays. We've already seen a tiny color model from Fujitsu, and a larger, but only two-color offering from Bridgestone, and now Hitachi -- maker of the black-and-white Albirey e-paper -- is showing off a 13.1-inch version of this product will an impressive 4,096-color palette. Apparently the power-saving "RGBW" filter enables the device to display bright whites as well as deep blacks, but the trade-off is the unit's rather underwhelming resolution of just 512 x 384 pixels. Therefore, we probably won't be seeing color eBooks anytime soon, but the low res should be adequate enough for certain types of signage that would benefit from the paper's ability to hold a picture in the absence of power; we think they would look great advertising all the quality products found at Engadget's retail location.[Via MobileRead]
Bridgestone's super-thin QR-LPD e-paper
Everyone and their cat is working on flexible e-ink displays these days, so it takes a pretty special bit of e-paper to stand out from the crowd, and Bridgestone thinks its new quarter-millimeter-thick, two-color model will do just that. Being billed as the world's thinnest sheet of electronic paper (for its size) (and sparsity of colors), the so-called Quick Response Liquid Powder Display (QR-LPD) performs all the same neat tricks as devices shown off by other companies, including the ability to maintain an image when bent or powered down. And because its from Bridgestone, there's a good chance that you'll soon be able to score a set of customizable tires to match your classy PimpStar rims.[Via Akihabara News]
Hitachi introduces Albirey eBook in Japan
From what we can tell (machine translation often thwarts our best attempts at fact checking), Hitachi will be joining the likes of display manufacturers iRex and Sony when they release a commercial eBook reader in Japan tomorrow. The black-and-white e-ink model, supposedly called the "Albirey" and developed with technology from Bridgestone, seems to sport a WiFi connection with "the possibility to modify making use of radio communication," whatever that means, and comes in a package with standard A4 paper-size dimensions. The Albirey should be available tomorrow starting at what Nikkei Net is claiming to be 4,000,000 yen, which is probably the result of some Google Language shenanigans, 'cause that's like $36,000.Update: Once again, our readers have stepped in and succeeded where machine translation has failed: apparently the price quoted is for a batch of 10 units, which indicates that this unit probably intended for commercial displays and not consumer eBook consumption. Also, make sure to check out the comments for the full specs.
