OrganicEl
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ROHM shows off flexible organic EL light tech in shiny bracelet form
ROHM, the Kyoto-based semiconductor company that has been promising us tiny, thin OLED lights of joy for years, has finally delivered what we've all been waiting for: a shiny, pulsating, light-up bracelet. During a construction-laden sneak peak of the CEATEC show floor, ROHM was nice enough to show us this organic EL bracelet that sports their new flexible Japanese paper-based lighting technology. This particular bracelet is powered by a wafer-thin lithium battery and is sure to go quite nicely with your little silver dress. No word on availability or pricing, but this thing is for real, and you can see as much for yourself in a fun little video after the break. %Gallery-74741%
Flexible, stretchable, rubbery OLED prototype shown off in Tokyo
Electrical engineering researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a flexible, stretchable OLED that acts something like rubber, and does not tear or break when stretched. The material is produced by spraying a layer of carbon nanotubes with a fluoro-rubber compound, creating a rubbery, conducive material. The current, monochrome display prototype has a resolution of just 256 pixels, is 10-centimeters square, and can apparently be folded about 1,000 times with out falling apart, tearing, or imploding. The team is presenting its findings in the British science journal Nature Materials this month.[Via Slashgear]
Sony's world's first 16.7 million color flexible OLED
Oh boy, another bendy display we won't likely see on the market any time soon. This time it's Sony's turn to tout with this, their 2.5-inch, 160 x 120 pixel OLED display on a flexible plastic film. Better yet, this organic TFT delivers a relatively stellar 16.7 million colors compared to the 262k and 16k colors Samsung and LG.Philips, respectively, were showing off last week. That's a world's first 24-bit color depth for these types of displays. Take that Samsung. The display also measures a mere 0.3-mm thin which easily bests the hapless Korean (and Dutch) giants. The only downside (if you call it that) is the display's "greater than" 1000:1 contrast ratio compared to Samsung's 10,000:1 rating. But by now you've learned to take contrast measurements with a grain of salt, right?[Via Impress]
Sony keeps the DAP love going: NW-E-series Walkman stick
No sooner than Sony officially kicked out its long-awaited NW-A800 series of digital audio players, the firm is keeping the stream of new kit rolling right into March with the Walkman NW-E015F lineup. These 3.2- x 0.9- x 0.6-inch musical sticks shouldn't be too burdensome to even the weakest of individuals, and while it looks like you'll only locate these in that glossy black finish, there are a few options available nonetheless. Each version sports a full-color OLED display with three lines of text and CD cover support, USB connectivity, plays nice with ATRAC / MP3 / WAV / WMA, boasts ID3 tag support, lasts for 28-hours on a fully charged Li-ion cell, and weighs in at just 28 grams. The NW-E016 reportedly packs 4GB of space, while the NW-E015F sports 2GB of internal storage along with an FM tuner, and the NW-E013F gets stuck with a meager 1GB -- and for those who don't mind giving up the FM abilities, each version is available sans the "F." Unfortunately, Sony's not being as generous with regard to pricing and availability as it was with the A800s, but for everyone's sake, let's hope these pricetags are a bit more reasonable than the ones we saw earlier today.[Via Impress]
Citizen's VIRT W700 Bluetooth watch gets a facelift, remains ugly as sin
We applaud the effort, we truly do, but the masterminds behind Citizen's VIRT W700 Bluetooth watch should seriously consider a sabbatical to think about just how ugly their creations really are. Sure, we've seen worse in terms of brutal fashion miscues, but for a watch that sports such an elegant feature list, the unsightliness is almost unforgivable. Nevertheless, for those who aren't out to garner new friends with their wrist attire, the revamped W700 does smooth a few of the awkward lines found in the original rendition, and aside from syncing with your Bluetooth handset, it offers up on-screen caller ID, an OLED display, a vibration feature to alert you of an incoming call, lockable contact list, and a privacy feature to set your outgoing information to unavailable. The backlit display also flips out if you wander too far from your mobile, essentially doubling as a nifty cellphone finder after a long night of partying, and considering that a full charge will last you around five days, you can survive a week off without your AC adapter. Slated to hit the Japanese market next month for a currently undisclosed price, Citizen's latest VIRTs will be landing in blue, black, and the female favorite, pink.[Via MinistryOfTech]
Konica Minolta develops ultra-bright mobile display
Making mobile displays extraordinarily bright seems counter to the logic that battery life is priority number one, but Konica Minolta is taking its chances and marketing its new organic EL backlight tech to cellphone manufacturers, claiming to rock 1,000 candela per square meter (by comparison, a highway flare burns at about 70 candela). We're questioning the need -- or ability, for that matter -- to look at a screen blasting more light at us than a small flashlight, but if the output can be toned down for typical use, we can certainly see the safety applications in this. Just don't kill our precious batteries, Konica Minolta, and we're down.[Via Akihabara News]
