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Light Emitting Pictures On Standard Inkjet Printer

CrashRide writes: "This story on FOX states that UofA scientists have discovered a way to print light-emitting pictures on thin sheets of plastic using a standard inkjet printer. Fold up pocket monitors?" The article says that these scientists have produced "OLEDs of simple bands of light, a scorpion, the University of Arizona logo and even photographs of themselves."

12 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Makes... by B00yah · · Score: 5, Funny

    reading comic books under the sheets at night a lot easier :)

    1. Re:Makes... by Nick's+Name · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, comics books. O.K. buddy, that's not what i was thinking.

  2. The Cost? by Jeremiah+Cornelius · · Score: 5, Insightful
    So I can run my $72 photo inkjet with an $800 print cartridge!

    This is the Gilette model: "Give 'em razors, charge for blades!"

    --
    "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
    Never been known to fail..."
  3. Amazing! Is there no new technology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    that pr0n can't benefit from?

  4. Protection by bonzoesc · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Jabbour said the next step of development is to find a way to protect the sheets from moisture, which damages them.
    I can't wait until they discover lamination. Imagine what these could do for portable video games! Gone are the days of using a halogen head lamp like miners do just to play Game Boy.
  5. So soon we'll be hearing... by Eryq · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The dog ate my homework."

    "Why didn't you print out another copy?"

    "It ate my monitor too..."

    --
    I'm a bloodsucking fiend! Look at my outfit!
  6. Print Preview by jesser · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does that mean the Mozilla team doesn't have to fix bug 2586, "Print Preview animates GIFs"? Here's the original bug report:

    In Print Preview, animated GIFs are still animated. I would love to say
    that it is not a bug, but unless the printing code can then back the
    preview up by animating the printed copy, I suggest the Print Preview
    should show a static image.

    This also applies to applets, Javascript, "hover" and "active" pseudo
    classes, and so on.

    --
    The shareholder is always right.
  7. Think of the implications by tcd004 · · Score: 5, Funny

    on oragami.

  8. UA OLED Research Dept by hmckee · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is a better story on the UA newspaper. And here is the link to research department. Not much here yet except for an animation.

  9. Making a fold-up monitor. by Christopher+Thomas · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is just a poster that glows -- it's a static picture that glows using a low amount of electricity. Unless you're running Windows, and all you need to display is the same bsod, you'll need a more "dynamic" display :).

    If you can print conducting traces, you could set up a grid pattern of traces around pixels that would let you selectively activate pixels, much as you do in a passive-matrix LED. At any given time, one horizontal line (say) would be ground, and the rest would be at Vdd. Vertical lines would be driven or not driven depending on whether you want pixels in the active line on or off. If these printed pixels really are OLEDs - diodes - then you won't have to worry about the other horizontal traces shorting across the vertical lines.

    I'm sure there are a number of ways of printing conducting traces with ink. Even a high-resistance trace could be electroplated after printing with thicker metal.

    The only question is whether a) the type of OLEDs printed with this technology are really diodes, passing current only in one direction, and 2) whether instantaneous current can be high enough to give an acceptable _average_ current (and brightness) per row over the whole scanning cycle. A row turned on one thousandth of the time needs to be a thousand times as bright when it's on.

    Other methods of addressing pixels in a display are of course possible. This is just one of the easiest (not necessarily best).

  10. No! by Greyfox · · Score: 5, Funny
    You could use it as a monitor! Just with a really slow refresh rate! Imagine the game of quake...

    Print a page...
    Move joystick...
    Print a page...

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  11. Glowing Walls? by Lally+Singh · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How about getting drywall presprayed with this stuff? Then you just run a small wire down to your light switch and the ceiling (or all the walls) light up. Power usage down, no need for lamps!


    And most importantly, it'll look like those cool futuristic movies from the 1960s!

    --
    Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!