MaryLouJepsen
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Oculus exec Mary Lou Jepsen resigns to create new MRI tech
Dr. Mary Lou Jepsen is well known for her work in pioneering display technology as a co-founder of OLPC, former head of the display division at Google X and lately Oculus VR, which she joined about a year ago. Tonight during the Anita Borg Institute's Women of Vision awards banquet, the founder and former CEO of Pixel Qi capped off a keynote speech by announcing she will resign her post as Executive Director of Engineering and Head of Display Technologies at Oculus. Instead, she will focus on "curing diseases with new display technology," by bringing MRI machines to every doctor' office in the world. It's an ambitious goal, but a peek at Dr. Jepsen's history shows why she's the person to tackle it. For more info on what she might be working on, there's video of a recent TED talk with Dr. Jepsen discussing MRI and fMRI tech, which you can watch after the break.
3M makes Mary Lou Jepsen's dreams come true, showers Pixel Qi with cash
Chances are you've heard plenty about Pixel Qi's super-efficient, transreflective displays. The odds are equally as high that you've never touched one before, either. Well, 3M aims to change all of that and make good on founder Mary Lou Jepsen's continued promises to get those screens out into the consumer wild. Infusing the LCD company with an undisclosed amount of cash, 3M's New Ventures investment arm is betting the combo of its Optical Systems Division's LCD film technology expertise and funding will not only ramp up production of the sunlight-readable color screens, but also innovate uses for it across "...consumer markets as well as digital signage and touch applications." It's a nice shot of confidence for the display maker's much-touted, albeit scarce tech, and could be the financial boost necessary to take Jepsen from underdog to industry heavyweight. We'll keep a close eye out for how this develops. In the meantime, you can jump past the break to read the hyperbolic PR for yourself.
How-to: install Pixel Qi's 3Qi display on your netbook (and why it's worth it)
It's hard to believe that it's been almost two and a half years since Pixel Qi spun off from OLPC and promised to bring its dual-mode, power efficient display to laptops, tablets, and e-readers. For those who haven't followed our small obsession with the 3Qi screen technology (shame on you!) it promises the best of both worlds: full-color graphics in a normal LCD mode, but also the ability to turn off the backlight to morph into a grayscale, e-paper like display. And while we've seen it demoed at tradeshows (and more tradeshows!), we haven't been able to get our own grubby hands on the much-lauded display. Until now, of course. No, the 3Qi display still isn't shipping in any commercially available products, but Pixel Qi is at long last offering a $275 10.1-inch screen replacement kit for netbooks through MakerShed. Needless to say, we jumped -- nay, leaped -- at the chance to finally get the display into our laboratories, roll up our sleeves and get to crankin'. That's right, we got out the screwdriver, wrangled up an old Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 netbook and swapped in the 3Qi display for Lenovo's glossy panel. You're surely sitting on a metric ton of questions. Was it hard to swap out? Has the screen been everything we've ever fantasized about and more? Is it really 80 percent more power efficient than standard LCDs? We've got plenty of answers as well as a step-by-step how-to after the break.
Pixel Qi dual-mode displays sell out, in a good way
Unless you're in the music biz, selling out is generally considered a good thing just as long as you can restock, pronto like, to meet consumer demand. So we're sure Mary Lou Jepsen is roiling in her jollies knowing that the first batch of $275 dual-mode Pixel Qi displays have sold out after less than 24 hours of retail availability. You can pre-order now for a second shipment of the 10.1-inch reflective LCDs expected to arrive on MakerShed by the middle of next week. Until then, we patiently wait for the first-hand DIY experiences to begin trickling in.
Pixel Qi introduces tablet-ready screens, we go hands-on (video)
When we last caught up with Pixel Qi at CES, we were downright ecstatic about its dual-mode 3Qi LCDs with switchable backlights, though we had a few wants, including touchscreen support and better viewing angles. Well, the screen company took our criticism to heart, and brought along its new touch-capable and "wideview" panels to Computex. The new displays -- which are readable indoors and out -- are also 30 percent more power-efficient than the previous models, PixelQi founder Mary Lou Jepsen told us. Much to our delight, we were able to handle a number of different tablets and netbooks infused with the new screens earlier today. The one pictured above is actually an Intel Atom Moorestown-powered 10-inch slate with a capacitive touch 3Qi screen; there's a button on the right edge that turns the backlight on and off. Another on display had a Wacom digitizer for taking notes in Windows 7 Home Premium. In the short time we spent with the tablets and mock-ups, we discovered pen and finger input to be very responsive in both LCD modes. We were similarly impressed with the wideview screen on the netbooks -- a movie trailer was viewable when the screen was tilted off axis as well as from the sides. So, that's the good news, but where the heck are the real devices? You know, the ones we can buy? We wanted to know the same thing, and CEO Mary Lou Jepsen assured us that they are currently working with major manufacturers. We hope so, Mary Lou. We hope so. Hit the gallery for tons of shots (the screen is a photographer's dream!) and a video demo after the break. %Gallery-94147%
Pixel Qi manufacturing delays fixed, ready for 'some of the largest computer companies in the world'
We've long had a thing for Pixel Qi and its energy sipping dual-mode LCDs with switchable backlight; displays that carve out a niche between traditional LCDs hungry for power and long living e-paper displays. Unfortunately, even though Pixel Qi began to ramp production lines late last year, we still haven't seen the displays shipping in any retail products. Turns out that while the screens have been made available in some "specialized products that aren't sold in stores yet," Pixel Qi's manufacturer of choice ran into some snags that slowed down deployments. That seems set to change according to a new blog post by CEO Mary Lou Jepsen. Manufacturing has now ramped to the schedule and scale required to meet "strong pull from the some of the largest computer companies in the world." Mary Lou also tells us that Pixel Qi's DIY display kit partner will be announced shortly and that it has "wider viewing angle technology" coming in the fall that should help rectify one of Pixel Qi's weaknesses. So yeah, good news all around, but we've heard these promises before and still don't have product in hand.
Pixel Qi DIY kits will be out in Q2, 'slightly more difficult than changing a lightbulb'
We're going to assume that Mary Lou's bravado-filled "It's only slightly more difficult than changing a lightbulb" is in reference to working with OLPC. In fact, in Mary Lou Jepsen's most recent Pixel Qi blog post she makes quick reference of the fact that there will be DIY kits for replacing your own laptop screen (most likely a 10-inch module) with the sunlight-friendly, switchable magic of Pixel Qi, but she spends the rest of the post talking about how in Nigeria some schoolgirls started up a laptop hospital where they'd repair their XOs by swapping out parts or reseating cables. We doubt most of our laptops will be so resilient when it comes to ripping off the bezel and swapping in the Pixel Qi part, but we're dying to void our warranty and find out.
Pixel Qi has 'several more' partners since CES, is working on new form factors
There's nothing, nothing, we love more than talkative CEOs. And though this may not be a case of some brash smack-talking, we still appreciate Mary Lou Jepsen giving us a fresh update on the development of those delectable Pixel Qi displays. As you already know, CES provided us with our first opportunity to see one in person (in the shape of the Notion Ink Adam) and we were left highly impressed with the versatility and responsiveness of the hybrid display. Since then, Mary Lou and company have recruited a few more partners and, while production of the 10-inch units is ramping up as expected, new form factors are also being contemplated. She still won't tell us any names, but we're excited by the possibility of (relatively) pocketable Pixel Qi devices -- how does a Dell Mini 5 with a 40-hour battery life sound?
Pixel Qi ramping production lines, multitouch (40-hour?) tablets at CES
We know you're confused by the pronunciation of Pixel Qi (it's Pixel chee, by the way). But really, does that matter? We're just stoked to learn that its hybrid displays are hitting the assembly lines this month as the company ramps production in Q1. CEO, Mary Lou Jepsen, says that the first units will arrive in "specialized tablet devices with multi-touch," the first of which will be on display at CES from what looks like multiple "customers." They'll also be available to DIYers sometime in the future. Jepsen, you'll recall, was the original Chief Technology Officer on the OLPC project, but left to commercialize these 10-inch color 3Qi LCD displays that are readable in either direct tropical sunlight or no light at all thanks to a switchable backlight. As such, Pixel Qi is set to carve out a nice middle-ground between epaper displays and traditional LCDs that could see the advent of the 40-hour netbook / tablet. No, really.
Pixel Qi e-ink / LCD hybrid display to debut on tablet next month?
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 conjuring up black magic technology for 40-hour laptops
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.
5-year-olds repair OLPC laptops at Nigerian "hospital"
During the recent Greener Gadgets Conference in New York, former OLPC CTO (and XO challenger) Mary Lou Jepsen discussed the real-world difficulties with using the kid-friendly laptops, including the creation of an XO "hospital" used to repair broken computers. Apparently, in the crowded conditions of schools in places like Nigeria, the little green laptops have a tendency to be jostled around and even knocked on the floor from time to time. As there's typically no repair shops nearby, the kids have learned to fix the systems themselves, setting up a "laptop hospital" where they can repair what's broken using simple tools and cheap replacement parts. Mary Lou says the company designed the systems to be easily fixable, including extra screws embedded in the computers themselves, and allowing for quick changes of the LCD backlight and other components. The in-house repairs cut down on shipping, promote reuse, and increase kids' understanding of ownership and responsibility, thus furthering the OLPC mission, and making everyone generally want to hug.[Image courtesy NotebookReview / Kevin O'Brien]
