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Soken shows off mostly ugly wall of e-ink in Japan
Thus far, we've seen OLED rule the FDP International floor in Japan, but now we've got one more emerging display technology showing off its merits: e-ink. Soken Chemical & Engineering Company demonstrated a wall of 30- x 30-centimeter e-ink paper displays in order to showcase just what the technology was capable of. Quite honestly, we're still struggling to see just what that is. Practicality aside, it's still pretty fascinating to think that all of the colors you see above are being emitted from ultrathin displays, though the choice of pattern is questionable at best.
Kent Displays develops "paper thin" electronic skin for mobiles
You probably didn't know it, but if you've purchased anything with an unconventional display in the last few years, the screen itself may have been sourced from Kent, Ohio. Kent Displays is about to break out of its own shadow with two new technologies that could be rolling off of the production line next year. First up is a simple monochrome electronic writing tablet that consists of a pressure sensitive display (think next-generation Post-it note), while the second is a particularly impressive color changing electronic skin. In essence, the latter (dubbed eGo) requires no power at all to maintain any color already rendered on the surface, meaning that ladies can instantly make their phone match their outfit without sucking the life from their mobile. For those keenly interested, hit the read link for the full background along with a video of the production facility.[Thanks, Tod]
E Ink's AM300 developer's kit gets shown off on video
E Ink's AM300 developer's kit (made with the help of Epson) certainly seemed impressive enough when it was first announced, but there's nothing quite like a video to bring our newspapers of the future to life, and one courtesy of E Ink itself has now thankfully turned up on YouTube. While the display's 16 levels of gray and pen-based input capabilities aren't entirely unique to E Ink, its ability to display speedy animation does seem to be a step above most other similar displays and, naturally, it's being touted as ideal for advertisements. Head on past the break to check it out for yourself.
Samsung & LG HDTV prototypes battle for supremacy
Samsung and LG are locked in a tight race for "best HDTV you won't be buying this year or next" this week at the International Meeting on Information Display 2008, trading shots with OLEDs, LCDs and more. Samsung brought along an upgraded version of its true 240Hz 15-inch Blue Phase LCD panel with improved image quality, some fresh carbon nanotube-based color electronic paper, plus slimmed-down versions of its 40- and 50-inch LCDs. Then it got busy with the OLEDs, dropping in a 14-inch HD display, 31-inch 1080p display and 5-inch VGA panel, to which LG could only respond with the above 19-inch OLED powered by amorphous silicon TFT. More stills of the carnage exist beyond the read link, but in the battle of display tech streeting in 2011 at the earliest, we just hope LG is holding back a few surprises for CES.[Via OLED-Display, thanks Erik]
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.
Esquire's E Ink-infused magazine cover shown on video
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! (Sorry, but where else were we gonna use that line?) For those unaware, Esquire's October issue is on newsstands now, and for 100,000 99,999 lucky souls out there, they'll receive one with a flashing E Ink display. Just in case you aren't quite lucky enough to apprehend one of your own, however, The Dastardly Report's Ryan Joseph was kind enough to snap a few photographs and even host a video of the exclusive mag before tearing it down for hacking purposes. Head on past the break for the clip, and tap that read link to have a gander at the stills. Oh, and dart out right this instant to snag your own.
E Ink responsible for Esquire's flashing magazine cover
Nary a month after an E Ink exec asserted that e-newspapers would be going commercial by 2009, in flies word that a forthcoming issue of Esquire will likely be the poster child for the change. According to David Granger, Esquire's editor in chief, rags have generally "looked the same for 150 years," but all that will change when 100,000 copies of the September issue arrive on newsstands with a flashing electronic cover. The E Ink technology used will be exclusively available to Esquire until 2009, and the blinking "The 21st Century Begins Now" text will sadly fade after the battery runs dry in 90 days. Still, there's at least some chance the issue will wind up in the Smithsonian, and an even bigger chance magazine racks everywhere will require Kanye-approved sunglasses to even look at in just a few years.
E Ink exec sees e-newspapers going commercial in 2009
Yeah, quite a few rags out there have already diverted at least some of their efforts to the electronic press, but according to E Ink's Ryosuke Kuwata, the trend is set to explode in late 2009. Said VP, who is currently in charge of market development, admitted that some newspapers in Japan, America and Europe are all looking to make the move to e-paper in the not-too-distant future. He also stated that "verification tests" (trials, we presume) would be starting up "using several thousands of terminals by the end of 2008," and that the company would "gradually shift to a specific business in the second half of 2009." Reading the local headlines on e-paper, scooting to the market in a flying vessel and showing up to work by flipping on a hologram transmitter. Meatloaf always said two out of three wasn't bad.
AIST unveils flexible display created with microcontact printing
Fresh from its efforts to disguise solar cells as plant leaves, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (or AIST) is now boasting about some advances it's made in flexible displays, which it says will offer a whole host of benefits for e-paper-based devices. The big deal with this one is that all the processes needed to fabricate the organic TFT were done with microcontact printing, which allowed 'em to achieve a pixel pitch of 127μm even in its their initial 6x6-inch prototype, with the display also working effectively over its entire surface. That doesn't mean that it's quite ready for commercial use just yet, however, although the institute is promising to have A4-sized prototype ready by 2010, with actual e-paper products set to follow sometime around 2015.
LG.Philips announces 14.3-inch flexible e-paper display for CES
Try to contain yourself when we rattle off the following list of specs for LG.Philips's latest A4 sheet of flexible e-paper: 14.3-inches, 1280 x 800 pixels, 16.7m colors, 300 micrometers thick, full 180° viewing angle. It'll be at CES, but apparently only for Korean models to hold and love. The rest of us? Not so lucky, not even by a long shot.
Seiko Epson shows off UXGA e-paper display
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]
Qualcomm's MEMS-based e-paper handles mobile video with ease
We already know that Qualcomm and MEMS displays go hand in hand, but now the company is looking to seep into the mobile realm with an iteration that can supposedly handle fast-changing video clips without breaking a sweat. Put simply, the company's electronic-paper display "employs microscopic mechanical switches that turn pixels on and off at rates more than fast enough to display video," and unlike slower alternatives, this variation can switch on / off pixels in "just tens of microseconds." Furthermore, these units will offer up considerable energy savings when not viewing video. As it stands, full color versions are still quite a ways from commercialization, but a two-color flavor is scheduled to appear in a Hisense handset next year.
E Ink shows off front-lit, flexible e-paper displays
E Ink Corp looks to have rolled into this week's FPD International show with a fair bit of new paper-replacing gear, including a number of prototypes that it's developed with some of its partner firms. In addition to the E Ink watch we've seen before (and given away), the company showed off a new front-lit e-paper display developed by Alps Electric, which promises to let you get in some paper-less reading even in complete darkness. Also on display was a 9.7-inch e-paper display with an integrated flexible TFT substrate although, judging from the picture after the break courtesy of Tech-On, it doesn't appear to be completely flexible. It does boast a decent 1200 x 820 resolution, however, and it should actually be available relatively soon, with mass production reportedly set to get underway in the second quarter of 2008.
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]
French newspaper goes electronic
It's not like this is the first e-newspaper we've seen, but France's Les Echos is now offering up an electronic flavor of its product to those with an iRex iLiad or STAReBook. Oh, and the Amazon Kindle, too as you'll recall from that little inadvertently mentioned tidbit from their press release. Reportedly, the e-paper edition "will include whole articles just like in the printed" version, but unlike the traditional medium, those with e-readers will receive constant updates of the day's hottest stories and will actually be able to read the 6:00AM print edition at 9:00PM the night prior. Notably, the newfangled Les Echos edition will cost a stiff €365 ($506) per year if you provide your own reader, and for those of us far, far away from the Eiffel Tower, check out a video demonstration after the jump.[Via MobileRead]Read - Press Release [PDF]Read - Photos of Les Echos e-newspaperRead - Videos of Les Echos e-newspaper
Opalux set to commercialize "P-Ink" e-paper technology
It's getting tough to tell e-ink technologies apart from each other these days, but Toronto-based Opalux is hoping that its new system has what it takes to stand out from the pack, and it's apparently already well on its way to commercializing it. The secret ingredient here, according to MIT's Technology Review, are photonic crystals made out of silica beads, which measure a mere 200 nanometers across and are embedded in a spongy electroactive polymer sandwiched between transparent electrodes. The crystals can then be made to reflect varying wavelengths of light by altering their spacing, letting the pixel reflect any color in the visible spectrum. That, according to the company, allows the "P-Ink" display to pump out colors three times brighter than other displays, which rely on groups of three pixels to display different colors. While the technology is still relatively new, the company says it expects to see it used in products within two years, with advertising displays a likely first candidate.
LG Philips announces A4 color e-paper
While this doesn't mark the first time that we've caught wind of colorized electronic paper, South Korea's LG Philips has announced that an A4-sized rendition of the vivid bendable display has successfully been developed in its labs. The panel reportedly measures just 35.9-centimeters diagonally, is 0.3-millimeter thick, and can display up to 4,096 colors while maintaining the energy efficient qualities that inevitably come with using energy only when the image changes. Unsurprisingly, the company plans on marketing the device as one of convenience and doesn't hesitate to tout its greenness in the process, but unfortunately, it failed to mention when this would find its way out into the general public.[Via Physorg]
Fujitsu's FLEPia e-reader features color display, WiFi
While cranking out a couple of new e-readers may be big doings for some companies, it's just what we've come to expect from Fujitsu. Adding to its collection of e-ink-related niceties, the FLEPia "portable information terminals" will reportedly be available in an A5 size (weighing 480 grams) and an A4 flavor (320 grams), and both are just 12-millimeters thick. While details are admittedly scarce, you can reportedly read "up to two year's worth of magazines" on a single 4GB SD flash card, but you'll be recharging the battery every 50 hours or so along the way. Additionally, users will enjoy the convenience of WiFi connectivity built right in, and the six control buttons (plus a scroll key) should keep your pages aligned. The device is slated to land in white pearl, silver, and the obligatory pink pearl motifs, but considering the presumably lofty pricetags attached to each of these desirable units, we can't imagine too many early adopters diving in just yet.[Via Pocket-Lint]
Fujitsu flaunts color e-ink, future tech concept horn o' plenty
We're feelin' what Fujitsu's done so far this year, but now we've got an idea of what it might bust out with in the near future. Last week's Fujitsu North American Technology Forum 2007 was an opportunity to flaunt not-yet-real (at least not in the US) concepts like color e-paper and FPcodes, among a few others. We've seen Fujitsu's elusive e-paper prototype before, and it's still not ready, but at least now we know that the 8-inch, 640 x 480 color display is about 0.03-inches thick, with a 12-inch version in the works and an ambitious goal to reach 2.5-meters. It requires virtually no power and can operate with a teeny boost of focused energy like radio waves from a cellphone. In addition to this e-paper flight of fancy, Fujitsu was showing off a waterproof RFID tag, along with those QR-killin' FPcodes and their vein pattern identification system we've seen before.
Polymer Vision's Readius rollable display gets face time
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]
