Items tagged with e-paper
Wearables are the hottest thing going at the moment, and despite it still being a new area, it already seems like there's not that much differentiation in the market. Sony apparently recognizes this, as it's planning to integrate a technology in some of its wearables that others seem to be overlooking: epaper. On paper - ahem - it seems like a neat idea. Epaper isn't going to offer the kind of resolution and graphics like a normal smartwatch would, but it could be argued that the result would be far classier. You can get an idea of what we're dealing with in the shot below: As seen in the video below, squeezing the watch will force its face and band to change. You'll have a total of 24 designs...
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The e-paper universe has largely been dominated by once giant force: E Ink. But there was another player, too. That would be SiPix Technology, and its wholly owned subsidiary SiPix Imaging. The company was founded in 1999, but soon, it won't be operating on its own any longer. E Ink has just agreed to buy shares of SiPix, enhancing its e-paper portfolio and making its stance in the market even stronger. "E Ink is committed to growing the ePaper market and the purchase of SiPix shares is part of our long term growth strategy," said Scott Liu, Chairman of E Ink Holdings. "Our goal is 'E Ink On Every Smart Surface' and we are continuing to make investments in technologies that will open new markets...
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Last month, the Pebble smartwatch project was the darling of Kickstarter, raising $3.7 million in mere days; at this moment, the project is poised to top the $8 million mark at any time. Amid the swooning the Pebble devs are no doubt experiencing, the group is finding time to strike deals with other developers. The group announced that the first app partner for the the Pebble smartwatch is RunKeeper. RunKeeper, which is available on both the iOS and Android platforms, helps athletes track fitness data during workouts, and with a user base of 10 million, it’s both a lucrative partnership for the Pebble team and a sensible use of the device, which can display data from the app so a user can...
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When the team behind the Pebble smartwatch launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, they were looking for $100,000. To date, and with just over a month of fundraising time to go, the group has already raised over $3.7 million with over 25,000 backers. They claim it’s the most-funded Kickstarter project ever. The Pebble is a smartwatch that uses e-paper for its screen, and the device is both compatible with iOS and Android and capable of running its own apps, which users can load via Bluetooth. The little four-button device is waterproof and offers customizable faces, an application switcher, 3 axis accelerometer, and an ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller. Although the Pebble is itself...
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LG has officially begun the process of mass producing the world's first plastic electronic paper display (EPD) that is designed to be used in eBooks. LG's EPD measures 6 inches and offers a resolution of 1024x768. This display offers a paper-like reading experience on a plastic substrate that is as slim as cell phone protection film. The film is flexible and can be bent at a range of 40 degrees from the center of the screen. LG Display's plastic EPD is just 0.7mm thick, which is 1/3 slimmer than current glass EPDs. It weighs 14g, or about 0.49 ounces. LG Display Begins Mass Production of World's First Plastic E-Paper Display With advancements in functionality and design, Plastic EPD to revolutionize...
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Will your next Kindle be bendable? Maybe! AUO has recently showcased a new electronic ink screen that you can actually bend. Yes, bend. It's a 6" Rollable Organic TFT E-paper sheet, made pliable with high efficiency parts and plastic materials (PEN). Users can place the E-paper in their briefcases or purses without worry of damage. In addition, with its optimized charging circuit design, AUO's 6" Unplugged Flexible E-paper offers considerable power-savings, and its eco-friendly design allows it to be charged through solar power or indoor lighting with no plug in necessary. AUO also presents 4" Flexible AMOLED with Low Temperature Processed Metal Oxide TFT as backplane driver. It is only 0.3mm...
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Do we really need two more eReaders to choose from? Oh, of course we do! Competition's good for the soul, and Aluratek is bringing just that with the addition of the Libre Air and Libre Touch. The company has just announced two new Wi-Fi eReaders into their Libre lineup, with both of them shipping now, providing 100 free eBooks and boasting MP3 / Photo support. The Air ($119) has a 5" reflective light LCD with e-paper technology, and the absence of a backlight should make it easier on the eyes while increasing battery life. The Touch ($149), steps up to a 7" color LCD, which is more akin to a full-on tablet. In fact, it's a lot like a basic tablet. It has a 16GB microSD card and a full web browser,...
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Display technologies have stalled. There, we said it. A few years ago, we were seriously seeing tons of innovation with display technologies -- everything from color e-ink to Mirasol. But hardly any of those technologies ever grew into a product that could be shipped to consumers, and thus, we're left with normal B&W e-paper and LCDs, with a few OLED display sprinkled in for good measure. But we aren't giving up hope. Researchers from Queens University have introduced a new flexible, e-ink display at the Computer Human Interaction conference, and it's one that they believe could one day replace smartphones. That's a bold claim, for sure, but the Paper Phone truly is something else. The device...
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If you thought that the e-reader market was saturated already, here comes another one. Pandigital, which is no stranger to the market, has just introduced a new 6" ePaper model that more closely aligns with the options offered by Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Rather than using an LCD, which tends to drain more power, this model uses an e-paper display that's more gentle when it comes to energy drain. This new model also integrates the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, a touch panel and a 600x800 screen resolution. Users who are worried about glare need not worry here; like all other e-paper rivals, this one also has a non-reflective screen so it can easily be used outdoors. It weighs 9.1 ounces...
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E Ink introduced the next generation of its electronic paper display technology called Pearl. Pearl expands the capabilities of reflective displays by offering a contrast ratio that's approximately 50% greater than today's offerings. According to E Ink, Pearl enables eReaders to offer a contrast ratio typical of paperback books compared to previous generations which offered a contrast ratio typical of newspapers. The Pearl design builds on E Ink's current generation of Vizplex designs which are used in millions of eReader devices today. E Ink Announces Next Generation Display Platform E Ink expands the marketplace for electronic reading with the introduction of E Ink Pearl, the next generation,...
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The future of electronic paper (e-paper) is looking brighter. Fujitsu has enhanced its color e-paper so that it now features the world's highest-level of color image quality. By redesigning the panel structure and image re-write methods of the company's previous-version of color e-paper, Fujitsu has improved the contrast ratio of its color e-paper by threefold. The new color e-paper has a 7:1 contrast ratio, offers brighter color, and has an image re-write speed that is twice as fast as Fujitsu's previous color e-paper with the ability to re-write a high-resolution image (1,024 x 768 XGA) in 0.7 seconds. With faster image re-write speeds, you'll see smoother image transitions and better color...
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Western Digital has a good thing going with their "My [insert name here]" line of external storage solutions, and that train keeps rolling today with an all-new My Passport Studio drive. Design wise, it doesn't look all that different than prior versions at first glance, but there's one particular change across that front that could very well revolutionize the seemingly stagnant external HDD sector.As with prior versions, Western Digital's newest My Passport Studio comes pre-formatted for use with Macs, but a simple reformat out of the box enables it to work fine with Windows or Linux machines. The FireWire 800 interface may cause problems for those who rely solely on USB 3.0, but given that...
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Each and every time that we think the e-ink and e-reader market has reached its temporary peak, we're reminded yet again exactly what "temporary" means. LG Display, a giant in the monitor and HDTV arena, has just signed a cross-licensing agreement with Taiwan's Prime View International Co., and it'll be buying up $30.5 million worth of that company's bonds. Why? In order to "tap into the fast-growing electronic paper market."Surprised? You shouldn't be. The display market has been squeezed for years, and with thinning profit margins in the LCD monitor and television segments, there's no better place to be than a blossoming market in which competition is still scant and consumers are willing...
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Remember back in ancient computer times, say the late '80s and early '90s, when your only choice for a computer screen was black, with white, orange or green typeface?That model has long since been discarded in favor of full-color screens, which are much easier on the eye and, frankly, more attractive. But then the Kindle e-book reader came along, along with a few other similar devices (such as the Sony Reader), and everyone just accepted that they were monochrome. Even the magazine-sized Kindle released earlier this month was a monochrome reader.Later this month, at the Society for Information Display conference, E Ink Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., claims it will demonstrate a color "e-paper,"...
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