Electrowetting Promises Power-Sipping, Daylight Readable Color Displays 63
Dutch researchers are working on a new application of an old technology that could mean bright color displays that draw much less power than conventional LCDs, according to the BBC. In this application, an instance of a technique known as electrowetting, droplets of colored oil in suspension are the basis for the display's colors; each pixel's color is determined by moving the colored oils with electrical current. A prototype reader from Dutch firm Liquivista is shown in the accompanying video; color magazines with 50-60hz refresh time using this display technology are at least a few years out, though. Significantly, these screens are daylight readable, which makes me wonder how they compare to Pixel-Qi style screens in power draw, brightness, and maximum density.
Interesting technnology, +1 for open source (Score:3, Interesting)
Notice the movie they use for the demo - Blender Foundation's Big Buck Bunny.
The Netherlands, how appropriate (Score:3, Interesting)
The Flemish artist Jan van Eyck is often (exaggeratedly) credited with "inventing" oil paint. He did greatly pioneer its use in the fifteenth century.
Where's the last breakthrough? (Score:3, Interesting)
display technologies (Score:5, Interesting)
IEEE spectrum had a good article in march on display technologies:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/hardware/the-electronic-display-of-the-future/0 [ieee.org]
Eindhoven == Philips (Score:3, Interesting)
The guy in the video mentioned that the firm is based in Eindhoven, where Philips' headquarters are located. After some googling I found out that Liquivista is indeed a spinoff of this company and therefore not a 'real' startup.
flicker-free? (Score:2, Interesting)
I have neurological problems and will lose consciousness if I look at any sort of flickering display, including CRTs. For some reason, plasma screen TVs also affect me (despite not "flickering" per se), and currently the only type of display I seem to be able to safely look at are regular LCD TVs/flatscreen monitors, with LED-lit screens giving me the least amount of trouble.
Even for people without serious, disabling problems like mine, displays that have (even imperceptible amounts of) flickering can cause various headaches, eyestrain, etc during prolong use.
My job involves web development and I'm a bit worried that some day the only display technologies available will be ones I can't safely look at.