Fujitsu Debuts Bendable Electronic Paper 304
An anonymous reader writes "Fujitsu today announced their joint development of the world's first film substrate-based bendable color electronic paper with an image memory function. The new electronic paper features vivid color images that are unaffected even when the screen is bent, and features an image memory function that enables continuous display of the same image without the need for electricity. The thin and flexible electronic paper uses very low power to change screen images, thereby making it ideal for displaying information or advertisements in public areas as a type of new electronic media that can be handled as easily as paper. The jointly developed electronic paper will be showcased at Fujitsu Forum 2005, to be held July 14 and 15 at Tokyo International Forum."
Help...(useful) ideas needed. (Score:5, Insightful)
This looks great but can some people please think of better applications than advertising...
Surely Fujitsu have more exotic plans for this technology than curved posters ?
cartridges (Score:2, Insightful)
Electronic Paper and EPIC (Score:2, Insightful)
EPIC 2014 [robinsloan.com]
My first thought... (Score:2, Insightful)
Seriously though, I've seen enough professors accidentally write on a projector screen (instead of the whiteboard behind it) and leave a relatively permanent mark. I can only imagine how many people will accidentally jot down a quick note to later realize they just ruined a VERY expensive piece of paper...
nifty (Score:5, Insightful)
One thing that I think will really benefit from these reflective display technologies is classrooms and conference rooms. What I would really like to see would be a chalkboard-sized reflective display with a digitizer pen. Without dimming the lights like one would have to do with a projector (and thus lulling students to sleep), a teacher could write directly on it as well as have problems already in the computer to put up on it quickly. How much time in math classes is spent writing out problems? Word problems from all these standardized tests could be quickly thrown up on the board and the teacher could directly model how to solve them. It could really increase a teacher's efficacy as well as make their life a lot easier.
Later on, similar technologies could be built into desks (or the students could have tablets) so that the student can solve them at their desks and then the teacher could push a button and display the students' work on the board.
Re:Help...(useful) ideas needed. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Help...(useful) ideas needed. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Help...(useful) ideas needed. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Real World Applications (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Help...(useful) ideas needed. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Help...(useful) ideas needed. (Score:2, Insightful)
How about Cell Phone display. If it such a power saver, imagine how this could lengthen the life of any small device that requires a display. When the refresh rate gets high enough imagine potential for wearable computing. Flexibility is only one of the things this tech brings. The fact that it is so thin (and hopefully light weight) and uses so little power make it great for solar powered applications.
I say let the advertisers foot the bill at first and then it will be cheaper for home inventors.
Ponder.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh, great! (Score:3, Insightful)
Just what we need: more spam. As if people today didn't suffer enough advertising already.
Re:Help...(useful) ideas needed. (Score:1, Insightful)
I think whoever mentioned the refresh rate is hitting the nail on the head, same first thought I had. Get refresh up to the same level as current LCDs and away they go. Every laptop drops below 3 lbs. in a heart beat, and battery life goes through the roof. Let's not forget that the screen is probably the most battery-intensive part of a computer, and reducing the brightness doesn't help.
And cell-phones and PDAs can become useful for web-surfing again, even without updating the refresh rate. Just plug the screen into your phone and boom you've got a full-screen display for every site, not just the crappy little WAP ones. Here's the one I'd like to see: Little black box about the size of a pack of gum, plug it in at home and upload all your favorite bookmarks and RSS feeds (and slashdot) and then take it with you, catch up on the world during your lunch break. Watch the movie "Red Planet" with Val Kilmer to see what I'm talking about here.
Cheaper touchscreens everywhere!
VR headsets that don't weigh 8 pounds and only take up as much space as a pair of sunglasses!
Just as good: e-paper sunglasses!
Here's one I just came up with while writing: Full-body displays for surgeons. Up to now, those little displays in operating rooms can only show one part of the body at a time. Keep those, but also have a full-body display next to it, pair it with thermal scanners and have a constant check up of what the rest of the body's doing, so if you accidentally shut off the flow of oxygen to an extremity, you realize it a bit faster. Maybe they already have this kind of tracking, I'm just spitballing. (Still no substitute for holographic imagery, but not a bad step)
Just the beginning. They're probably already considering ideas we haven't even dreamed of yet. Personally, I'd like to see the skin-embeddable or armband version, so I can have a new tattoo everyday (since I don't really like needles and I do really like variety).
The omi-whatever keyboard (Score:1, Insightful)
This would be a great replacement.
This combined with the paint-on solar cell techinology they are working on would be great for self contained e-comic books, digital wall art (think Posters that can be changed via subscription or file upload)
Sounds perfect for cheap computer network/system staus displays.
How about emergency signs in buildings, elevators, etc.
I can see a use for instruction displays on things like AED's or other emergency equipment......
maps, cubicle name plates, periodic company news display in cubes or reception area, restraunt menus and table displays......
the list is endless