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Sony Debuts Razor-Thin Flexible Display

Mike writes "Sony Corporation has put online a video of their new flexible 2.5 inch display. The display can be bent in half, is full color, and is apparently relatively inexpensive to make. This could be used in hundreds of cool new products, as well as enhancing thousands of existing products. In fact, it's hard to see where this kind of display wouldn't be used, especially in portable consumer electronics. 'The display combines Sony's organic thin film transistor, or TFT, technology, which is required to make flexible displays, with another kind of technology called organic electroluminescent display, it said. The latter technology is not as widespread for gadgets as the two main display technologies now on the market - liquid crystal displays and plasma display panels. Although flat-panel TVs are getting slimmer, a display that's so thin it bends in a human hand marks a breakthrough ... "In the future, it could get wrapped around a lamppost or a person's wrist, even worn as clothing," said Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa. "Perhaps it can be put up like wallpaper."'"

135 comments

  1. Lines on the Display? by Iggowanna · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What are those lines on the display? (see picture in article).

    If this is a PR thing for Sony, that's a REALLY bad 1st impression.

    1. Re:Lines on the Display? by Scoth · · Score: 3, Funny

      Remember this is Sony. They're holding up the aperture grill. No one will notice in normal use. Really. They mean it.

    2. Re:Lines on the Display? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a Trinitron, duh! The lines mean HIGH QUALITY!

    3. Re:Lines on the Display? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heheh, good one. I wonder how many will get that these days...

    4. Re:Lines on the Display? by Lead+Butthead · · Score: 1

      What are those lines on the display?
      "Dead Pixels."
      --
      ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
    5. Re:Lines on the Display? by vought · · Score: 1

      +1 Funny.

      As a customer relation rep at Apple, I had to explain that particular one over...and over...and over...(Apple sold a lot of Trinitron-based displays in from 1988-1998.)

    6. Re:Lines on the Display? by Assassin+bug · · Score: 1

      Lol. Yeah, I remember. And the booming sound of the degaussing mechanism that destroyed any magnetic storage device sitting near the sides of it when you turned it on. That was also a sign of high quality.

    7. Re:Lines on the Display? by Ruch · · Score: 1

      So it can be worn as clothing...can I project image from my back to front making me appear invisible or at least camouflaged.

    8. Re:Lines on the Display? by timeOday · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In the late 90s I used a Trinitron monitor. I always thought it was great until some jerk complained about those two wires on usenet. It was almost as if reading his words made the lines appear. Before, I had never noticed them. Afterwards, they bugged me.

    9. Re:Lines on the Display? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

      If you're 2.5 inches tall and VERY thin. Otherwise, forget about it.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    10. Re:Lines on the Display? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To do something like that properly, you need a holographic display, otherwise, anyone not directly facing you will see stretching in the image, or an unexpected lack of parallax, if you're fat.

    11. Re:Lines on the Display? by pimpimpim · · Score: 1

      I bought my IBM P200 in about the same time, for a whole lot of money, and I still use it every day. We're already in the late 00's now, so about 10 years good work from it! Great crystal clear image and it came with a 13w3-vga cable for extra nerd karma. But I must say that TFT by now is just as good what the image concerns. Probably I should switch to a TFT just because of their amazing cheap prize and lower power consumption , also I won't have to move these 30 kgs around anymore. (Not that I ever went there, but I can not advice the Trinitron for LAN parties). And BTW: I don't notice the lines anymore.

      --
      molmod.com - computing tips from a molecular modeling
    12. Re:Lines on the Display? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      ...damn you!

    13. Re:Lines on the Display? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I used to think it was a defect on the second hand monitor that I bought. Good thing I was able to haggle the price down because of it.

    14. Re:Lines on the Display? by Linker3000 · · Score: 1

      It's a Burberry Check - the prototype is designed to appeal to Chavs and be used as an animated baseball cap badge - realtime bling!

      --
      AT&ROFLMAO
    15. Re:Lines on the Display? by danlock4 · · Score: 1

      That would still be pretty good camouflage.

      --
      To .sig or not to .sig, that is the question.
    16. Re:Lines on the Display? by treeves · · Score: 1

      I had one with the Centris 650 I bought in 1992.

      --
      ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
  2. e-paper... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Didn't LG come up with one a couple weeks ago?

    1. Re:e-paper... by snooz_crash · · Score: 2, Informative

      R&D through several companies started in 1996. The tech name is flexible OLED.
      A history of which can be found here http://www.oled-info.com/history/

      --
      ceci n'est pas un sig
    2. Re:e-paper... by wish+bot · · Score: 1

      They also mention using electroluminescent material in some way too - although it's not made clear how. I actually think that electroluminescent material is pretty cool myself, but (I think) there are two main problems with it - one, it requires really high voltages (but doesn't use much power), and it has a fairly limited lifespan. Maybe Sony figures that this isn't important in small gadgets, but the high voltage issue could make designs problematic.

      --
      lemonade was a popular drink and it still is
    3. Re:e-paper... by zero_offset · · Score: 1

      The tech name is flexible OLED.

      Great. Folded FOLED. We'll *never* typo that one.

      --

      Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005

  3. Future by suv4x4 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "In the future, it could get wrapped around a lamppost or a person's wrist, even worn as clothing," said Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa. "Perhaps it can be put up like wallpaper."'"

    He's right. I've watched plenty of sci-fi series, and people there are crazy like that. They won't blink and wear their screen as clothing! Insane I tell you.

    1. Re:Future by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 3, Funny
      They won't blink and wear their screen as clothing!

      So the TeleTubbies are coming to a playground near you? Think of the children!

      --
      That is all.
    2. Re:Future by GoodbyeBlueSky1 · · Score: 1

      I'm all over this. Why bother working out when I can just select the "6-pack abs" design on my tele-shirt?

      --
      why? forty-two.
    3. Re:Future by lsllll · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can just hear the conversation in the bedroom:

      Man: Honey, you wanna make love?
      Woman: Sure (starts to get naked)
      Man: Hey! Let's play roles! Let's put on LCD masks.
      Woman: Hmmmmm, okay. But who do you want me to be?
      Man: Let's do it Indian poker style. You select my mask, and I select yours, and we'll never know whose face we're wearing.
      Woman: K. (Chooses Brad Pitt for him)
      Man: *Yum* Ok. (Chooses Angelina Jolie) Hey, can I put bigger boobs on your LCD shirt?
      Woman: Only if I can put a strap-on around your hip

      --
      Is that a roll of dimes in your pocket or are you happy to see me?
    4. Re:Future by bobo+mahoney · · Score: 1

      Those frickin' things scare the hell out of me. TeleTubbies are nearly as evil as Barney.

      --
      Bobo Mahoney
    5. Re:Future by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      You don't think the beer gut bulge would give you away?

    6. Re:Future by pnewhook · · Score: 3, Funny

      What's not to love about a drunk purple alien with a martini glass stuck to its head??

      --
      Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
    7. Re:Future by adrian727 · · Score: 1

      They won't blink and wear their screen as clothing! Some "geeks" are already doing that. http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/generic/8a5b/
    8. Re:Future by dreamlax · · Score: 1

      Man: *Yum* Ok. (Chooses Angelina Jolie) Hey, can I put bigger boobs on your LCD shirt?

      They'd have to make a screen big enough for her lips first. Even with todays 42" size TVs her lips are just under life-size.

    9. Re:Future by dgr73 · · Score: 1

      Now it's only a matter of time before someone rolls it up and tries to smoke it.

  4. It sounds like great technology, but... by HullBreachOnline.com · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...will it explode like other Sony products? The fear of that in itself will cause me to wait for the second generation product.

    1. Re:It sounds like great technology, but... by meiocyte · · Score: 1, Funny

      Is there a chance the screen could bend?

      --
      The thing in the box has no place in the language-game at all; not even as a something; for the box might even be empty.
    2. Re:It sounds like great technology, but... by fireboy1919 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      My worry is something like that.

      I worry that Sony will patent the technology and then make some more useless-via-DRM-and-proprietary-addons like the Minidisc, Librie, and PS3.

      So many innovations...that nobody gets to use.

      All they really have to do is sell this at a reasonable rate to PDA and phone manufacturers.
      But I think they'll probably just screw it up again.

      --
      Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
    3. Re:It sounds like great technology, but... by EdwinBoyd · · Score: 3, Funny

      Not on your life, my Slashdot friend. Now throw your hands up and rejoice, This bendy screen's your only choice!

    4. Re:It sounds like great technology, but... by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1
      Umm, you realize that Sony sells pieces-parts to lots of different companies for inclusion into various and sundry products.

      Like batteries... Oops, bad example. OK, how about the digital camera sensor in the Nikon D200? There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of separate components that Sony makes that are incorporated into other manufacturers gizmos.

      I wouldn't be surprised if the first commercial product using this technology was a Sony-branded critter, complete with DRM and / or a memory stick. But if it's any good, Sony will be happy to sell you a few hundred thousand of them.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    5. Re:It sounds like great technology, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mono--... DOH'!

  5. Razor-thin? by LearnToSpell · · Score: 0

    I can't imagine the cuts you'd get from that sucker. Go to work with a beach towel stuck to your chin to mop up the bleeding.

    1. Re:Razor-thin? by miskatonic+alumnus · · Score: 2, Funny

      Awesome. I've been waiting years for a vorpal monitor.

  6. Fantastic! by The+Mysterious+X · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Mum, the living room wall has got a dead pixel!"

    1. Re:Fantastic! by Associate · · Score: 2, Funny

      "I'll call your father and have him pick up a pack of spare panels from Walmart on his way home from work."

      --
      Someone hates these cans.
    2. Re:Fantastic! by Mattintosh · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I thought I told you never to call me on this wall!"

    3. Re:Fantastic! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see dead pixels...

  7. Great by Yetihehe · · Score: 1

    So we can expect it to be ready in about five years?

    --
    Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
    1. Re:Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try 20.

    2. Re:Great by Gospodin · · Score: 1

      The good news is, once we get this, we can expect commercial fusion power about 15 years later!

      --
      ...following the principles of Heisenburger's Uncertain Cat...
  8. ... like wallpaper to display ads by Rhys · · Score: 1

    Is more along the lines of what he's thinking. Not that it isn't a technically cool accomplishment.

    --
    Slashdot Patriotism: We Support our Dupes!
    1. Re:... like wallpaper to display ads by Anonymous+McCartneyf · · Score: 1

      Hey, who wants a television as big as the nearest wall?
      How about a computer monitor that size?
      How about if someone other than Sony is making it?

      --
      There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
  9. How long until.. by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..someone introduces a display that is as thin as three razors?

    --
    "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    1. Re:How long until.. by pla · · Score: 3, Funny

      How long until.. ..someone introduces a display that is as thin as three razors?

      Hah! My LCD already has the thinness of fifty-eight razors!

      Top that, Sony!

    2. Re:How long until.. by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      That's nothing, mine is as thin as five regular razors with one extra for the hard to get places.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    3. Re:How long until.. by windsurfer619 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Top that?! Try my 584 razors-thin CRT, bitches!

    4. Re:How long until.. by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 2, Funny
    5. Re:How long until.. by owlnation · · Score: 1

      Hah! My LCD already has the thinness of fifty-eight razors!
      Isn't that 0.58 kiloRazors?
    6. Re:How long until.. by NeuroManson · · Score: 1

      Now you'll be able to watch porn and shave at the same time!

      Best not confuse the two, however.

      --
      Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
    7. Re:How long until.. by Shai-kun · · Score: 2, Funny

      That'd be 580 razors! To be precise, it's really 0.058 kilorazors.

      --
      ...or so I've been told.
    8. Re:How long until.. by CamD · · Score: 1

      Fuck everything, they're doing five razors.

    9. Re:How long until.. by windsurfer619 · · Score: 1

      Kilo is thousand, so it's 0.58 kilorazers.

  10. Video by ddgromit · · Score: 5, Informative

    YouTube has a video demonstration of Sony's technology from Japan at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7QbQugXy1A

  11. Revolutionary tech? by slashthedot · · Score: 1

    It could well be a revolutionary technology in the display market in many years! With displays able to bend, all possibilities open up in gadgets and even laptop markets with smaller and more capable display units.

    1. Re:Revolutionary tech? by flyingfsck · · Score: 1

      Flexible porn?

      --
      Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
  12. Grain of salt time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The World + dog are announcing displays like this; especially digital paper products. It seems mostly to be premature announcements. Maybe they're trying to freak out the competition ala 'vaporware'.

    "Vaporware is a software or hardware product which is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge, either with or without a protracted development cycle. The term implies unwarranted optimism, or sometimes even deception; that is, it may imply that the announcer knows that product development is in too early a stage to support responsible statements about its completion date, feature set, or even feasibility." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware

    "sometimes even deception" indeed.

    1. Re:Grain of salt time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The World + dog are announcing displays like this; especially digital paper products.
      This isn't a digital paper product, and AFAIK only Philips has made similar announcements. (there have been announcements about other screen products, epaper and scientific ideas, but nothing like this). Have you seen the bright colors?
    2. Re:Grain of salt time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you ever bent over, whilst sitting on the can, perked up your nostrils and inhaled at the exact second you produced flatus? The aroma is intoxicating and, if done properly, you never need exhale again.

  13. Re:I don't like Sony by drinkypoo · · Score: 0

    Yeah, I have to admit, I voted this one down on the Firehose just because I don't like Sony and the article wasn't negative enough for me. But here it is on the front page, democracy in action. :) Regardless, I want e-ink wallpaper; it may not be light-emitting (although a transparent overlay over the top could provide that as well) but it doesn't consume power except when changing. Then again, it's unsuitable for video...

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  14. Porn!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Think of the possibilities for the porn industry for this type of technology. All you need now is a touch screen version.

  15. this looks familiar by shvytejimas · · Score: 2, Informative

    is it just me, or is this really familliar to the e-paper that LG & Philips developed recently? http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/ 14/0410247
    only this time there's a lot more buzz

    1. Re:this looks familiar by Laur · · Score: 5, Informative

      is it just me, or is this really familliar to the e-paper that LG & Philips developed recently?
      E-paper can't display full motion video, its response times are much too low for that sort of thing, but it should have great battery life for mostly static images. This appears to be a "normal" LCD, but thin and flexible, and the videos show it displaying video. Different technologies with different applications, but both very cool.
      --
      When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx
    2. Re:this looks familiar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      appearantly you haven't been paying attention to E-paper advances.

      http://www.eink.com/press/releases/pr101.html

      "We have put it all together and today we are unveiling our first-ever color research prototype that can play smooth color video."

  16. YAY! by Colin+Smith · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The future is here.

    Every surface can be turned into an advert. Animated no less.

    --
    Deleted
    1. Re:YAY! by cp.tar · · Score: 1

      So I wonder: what will the future of adblocking be like?

      --
      Ignore this signature. By order.
    2. Re:YAY! by s.bots · · Score: 1

      So I wonder: what will the future of adblocking be like? Blindness? Deafness? Both?
    3. Re:YAY! by karnal · · Score: 1

      Something tells me either a fist or a lighter will be involved...

      --
      Karnal
    4. Re:YAY! by cp.tar · · Score: 1

      So, I just need a 2nd level spell?

      Two spell slots just for going out... what is this world coming to?

      And then you need to take a seeing-eye dog as a familiar, too... sheesh.

      --
      Ignore this signature. By order.
    5. Re:YAY! by siriuskase · · Score: 1

      Not exactly. All you would need are these special glasses and headsets, they could easily be incorporated in a helmet, that filter out or completely replace what you see with a spamfree view of your surroundings. Lets just hope the spamfilter is correct when it filters out the cars around you, especially that one with the pizza advertisemnet wraped all over it.

      --
      If you must moderate, please moderate as irrelevent, not something bad, because I'm sure someone will find this interest
    6. Re:YAY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then they'll just have incredibly powerful advertisements targetted at dogs, and other assorted animals (and imps, etc.). Your familiar's going to need to be blind and deaf, and have its own seeing eye familiar, with infinite recursion.

    7. Re:YAY! by muffin · · Score: 1

      Spray paint?

  17. Heads Up by Devir · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Imagine a sheet like this, transparent and plastered on the windshield or in a corner of one. Then it's fed from a GPS computer for map information right in front of you. This would make GPS navigation a little safer.

    Add in some of the "Object detection" systems they've been pawning off for a few years and we're talking about a nice feature for the future of cars.

    Fighter Jets as well as commercial airliners can make use of this technology as well.

    There's a million uses other then the silly and mundane.

    1. Re:Heads Up by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Add in some of the "Object detection" systems they've been pawning off for a few years and we're talking about a nice feature for the future of cars.

      I've been fantasizing for a long time about having a RADAR and/or LIDAR system that will detect all the vehicles around you, the speeds at which they are traveling, and so on, and report them back to you in realtime via a HUD. It's really not a necessary piece of equipment by any means, but it would be a boon to efficiency if you used it correctly.

      My dream of course is to have a system that can go so far as to recognize models of vehicle and such. You could mark vehicles with a color code to show how likely they are to be able to shut you out like an asshole when you attempt to pass them, et cetera. (For some reason, people seem to like to speed up on me when I pass them in my little purple car.)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Heads Up by SoulGrind · · Score: 1

      Yeah - I can see it now... media and advertising delivery on cereal boxes, newspapers, walls, lamp posts, etc., just like in the movie "Minority Report." Just don't don't go getting red or yellow balls.

    3. Re:Heads Up by It'sYerMam · · Score: 1

      I've wondered for a long time how difficult it would be to have sign recognition on a vehicle HUD. Especially handy for diagrams of major junctions and lane diagrams. It could be integrated with a GPS system to automatically guide you into the correct lane. This could either be accomplished through image recognition software - in the cases of standard signs (i.e. those without arbitrary text on) this should be much easier than your average image recognition software, since signs are high contrast and of a set format. To make the system more reliable, RFID tags, or a beefier equivalent, would be able to deliver a vector representation signs, and/or a reference key for each of the standard ones. The system would work best with some kind of triangulation feature to detect the distance of the sign in question.

      --
      im in ur .sig, writin ur memes.
    4. Re:Heads Up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would be much simpler and cheaper to use 1940s technology. See Hawker Tempest V gunsight - most WW2 aircraft used a reflector gunsight with a separate piece of glass to project on - in the Tempest it was simply projected onto the inside of the canopy, reducing the number of required components and also less for the pilot's head to hit in a crash. The same thing has been previously tried in cars in decades but was not at the time popular as all that was projected was speed, rpms, etc - i.e. nothing you need to look at constantly.

      "Fighter Jets as well as commercial airliners can make use of this technology as well."

      They've been doing it via projection on the inside of the windshield for more than 60 years. I doubt they will rush to a new technology unless it offers much more functionality.

    5. Re:Heads Up by danlock4 · · Score: 1

      (re: windshield GPS)

      As long as it's not too distracting...

      --
      To .sig or not to .sig, that is the question.
    6. Re:Heads Up by bratwiz · · Score: 1



      Oh, was that you??? So sorry, my bad!

    7. Re:Heads Up by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I've wondered for a long time how difficult it would be to have sign recognition on a vehicle HUD. Especially handy for diagrams of major junctions and lane diagrams.

      It must be pretty hard, because there is or was a whole run on the mechanical turk where someone (I forget who, vicinity maybe?) wanted people to draw outlines around road signs.

      It does seem like you could make this job easier, though, by using RADAR, LIDAR, or an ultrasonic scanner to identify the positions of road signs, and then correlate that with the image data; then at least you know what part of the image must be recognized.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:Heads Up by Some_Llama · · Score: 1
  18. flexible, huh? by veganboyjosh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Vaporware or not, what comes to mind after the initial neat-o factor is that the flexibility of this stuff could make for an interesting home theatre set up. Anyone remember those 180 or 360 degree theaters? Not IMAX, but the inside-of-a-dome-as-movie-screen thing. There was a motion sickness factor, but I'm thinking there'd be some cool applications as far as movies where you don't get to watch all the action at once, or maybe depending on which side you're viewing, you may miss something important, etc...
    Then there's always gaming, etc...

    1. Re:flexible, huh? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The problem with your idea is that if you are attempting to press a flat piece into a section of a sphere, flexibility won't help you. It has to be able to expand and contract to follow the contour. It makes much more sense to just do it the way IMAX does it, and use a projector.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:flexible, huh? by veganboyjosh · · Score: 1

      Gah, stupid 2 dimensional physics not working out in 3.

    3. Re:flexible, huh? by CorSci81 · · Score: 1

      I'm reasonably confident they could make these in more than rectangular shapes. Besides, at the size at which a dome theater becomes useable the curvature of each individual element of the display would become quite small. On the software side, the processing to correctly distort the display information for a spherical surface is quite trivial.

    4. Re:flexible, huh? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Besides, at the size at which a dome theater becomes useable the curvature of each individual element of the display would become quite small.

      Do you mean pixel element, or a block of the material?

      Because you want it to be (if possible) one contiguous surface, so that you don't have seams between pixel elements.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  19. Andromeda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Flexis.

  20. Re:I don't like Sony by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "drinkypoo" is a well-known idiot of many years' standing.

  21. Raster dropouts... by Dr.+Zowie · · Score: 1

    The video and press images feature both rows and colums that have gone wonky -- clearly (A) the tech isn't quite ready for prime time (heh), and (B) you wouldn't want to bend it all the time, for fear of fatiguing the printed parallel cables that feed/drive it.

    1. Re:Raster dropouts... by Karganeth · · Score: 1

      Perhaps those lines have more to do with the camera taking the photo than the screen itself? Whenever I see images of monitors they always have lines across them.

    2. Re:Raster dropouts... by Dr.+Zowie · · Score: 1


      Nah, watch the movie. The lines don't move like Moire patterns would -- they are clearly affixed to the surface...

  22. Yabut by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most of these products have some kind of demonstration. The one that comes to mind even had an evaluation kit. Sadly the kit cost thousands of dollars so I couldn't get one to play with. That was a couple of years ago and I haven't seen viable products hit the market yet.

  23. Where's the video? by SpryGuy · · Score: 1

    FTA: "Sony Corporation posted video of the new 2.5 inch display on its' web page. In the video, a hand squeezes the 0.3 millimetre (0.01 inch)-thick display, which shows color video of a bicyclist stuntman, a picturesque lake and other images."

    I looked all over... where is the video? Can anyone find a link to the video? I'd like to see this thing in action...

    --

    - Spryguy
    There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
    1. Re:Where's the video? by ptrace · · Score: 2, Informative
  24. oh snap! by kaizokuace · · Score: 1

    i wanna cover my walls, ceiling and floors in oled displays! dynamic environment! battle bridge! fuck a imax! the possibilities are endless! (until they end of course)

    --
    Balderdash!
  25. Calling Gillette by EMH_Mark3 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    So how long till Gillette starts pushing out razors with 6 displays for a closer, cleaner shave?

    --
    Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me
  26. rootkit? by RedElf · · Score: 0, Troll

    Does this come pre-installed with a rootkit, or do we have to buy that seperate?

    --
    You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!
  27. Anti Nintendo strategy by daemon_mf · · Score: 0

    They're trying to break flying Wii-motes!

  28. Great... by XFusion · · Score: 1

    ...now just make sure the end product isn't powered by batteries made by the same company, and it's all set to go.

  29. Global anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shades of Earth, Final Conflict.

  30. Does it come with DRM? by baomike · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    and will it install a rootkit on my computer?

    1. Re:Does it come with DRM? by Fuzi719 · · Score: 1

      It's Sony, of course it will install a rootkit on your computer, and the EULA will say that use of this stuff on anything will confer ownership of whatever it is applied to to Sony. Like that video wallpaper? Your house is now owned by Sony. :-)

  31. in other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Researchers develop a 2.5 inch thick razor blade.

  32. Or better yet... by xtracto · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Mum, theres a *huge* hairy hole in the living room wall..."

    --
    Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
  33. been hearing about these things for years... by JustNiz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yet another technology demo that won't actually be in a real product for years.
    Same with ink-on-paper displays. Plenty of prototypes exist but for some reason no-one seems able to or wants to make an actual device you can buy.

    1. Re:been hearing about these things for years... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure I saw at least a couple of ink-on-paper displays in the library :-/

    2. Re:been hearing about these things for years... by JustNiz · · Score: 1

      yeah ok I geddit. I meant eInk displays or whatever its called.

    3. Re:been hearing about these things for years... by OBeardedOne · · Score: 1

      Yet another technology demo that won't actually be in a real product for years.

      The fact that we have been reading about these displays for years and that they have been steadily improving in quality to be reliable and actually useful means it won't be long before they hit the stores.

    4. Re:been hearing about these things for years... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ummm, you can go buy yourself a sony reader, irex iliad, or motorola motofone (well not if you live in the us). I'm pretty sure those are actual devices you can go buy...

    5. Re:been hearing about these things for years... by rapidweather · · Score: 1

      Didn't it take a long time before the internal combustion engine was applied to an automobile (of sorts) that we (they, back then) could actually buy?

      The above link to wikipedia has early examples dating from 1806 or so, and the first automobile for sale by Ford was in 1903. Here is a link for that, and other info about early automobile efforts, including some pictures.

      As it turns out, the automobile, and trucks, have had a greater impact on our lives than this revolutionary display may have. I notice that some billboards that we see as we travel down the road are starting to be powered by large scale displays, displaying complicated graphics in some cases. The new Sony display may offer a lower cost option, so they may be used as billboards if they can scale the display to the required size. If not, then the smaller consumer products envisioned may be what appears first.

  34. Is Sony's tomorrow always our yesterday? by NeuroManson · · Score: 1

    I mean, these flexible organic displays have been around for years now, some even in use on cheap cameras and cel phones.

    "In the future, it could get wrapped around a lamppost or a person's wrist, even worn as clothing," said Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa. "Perhaps it can be put up like wallpaper."'"

    They just NOW thought of this?!

    Remember when Sony used to be *ahead* of everyone else?

    --
    Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
  35. NOT FAIR by baomike · · Score: 1

    The other guy who mentioned rootkits got labeled "troll". All I get is "flamebait".
    I soooo wanted to be a troll... sigh

    1. Re:NOT FAIR by Anomalyst · · Score: 1

      I am breathlessly waiting to see which direction my HDMI jab tips.

      --
      There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
  36. Yes, but what about format? by stevenm86 · · Score: 1

    But... does it only show a movie if it is Blu-ray? ---- Evil wombat was here

  37. Anime has dulled me to this development by Dorceon · · Score: 1

    Until we get six-way foldouts like the laptops the students in Stellvia got assigned, this won't impress me.

    --
    What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
  38. I can see it now... by Magus2501 · · Score: 1

    "even worn as clothing"

    1. You could design your own clothing
    2. You could share your clothing designs with others (Creative Commons clothing?)
    3. Sony will release designer styles with clothing DRM.
    4. Someone will break the DRM, but no one will want the overpriced designs to begin with. The FCC and MAFIAA will get involved somehow.
    5. Microsoft will release MS Tailor, but it will be bloated and all the geeks will use OpenWardrobe.Org.
    6. School uniforms will be made available as a firmware upgrade.
    7. I will have a shirt that randomly rotates through the designs on T-Shirt Hell.

  39. Maybe they mean "paper sharp"....? by Joce640k · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure the expression is either "Paper thin" or "Razor sharp".

    --
    No sig today...
  40. Armoured Cars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ghost in the Shell(Movie) featured armored cars in which the windows were emulated by internal displays shaped like windows.

  41. Is that .... by wellingtonsteve · · Score: 1

    Is that Razor-thin or Razr thin? I'm getting confused with these Slashdot measurements..

  42. How will they ... by Anomalyst · · Score: 1

    fit the HDMI connector on a screen that size?

    --
    There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
  43. Delightful irony of cell phone screens by Koookiemonster · · Score: 1

    Now that we have a screen technology that can be read from any angle (=180 degrees), we only need something to prevent... that very same thing, so that no-one can read your SMS's behind your shoulder in a public location.

  44. Cinerama by alcmaeon · · Score: 1

    2001: A Space Odyssey was originally shot in something called Cinerama that was a projected on a deep concave sceen.

    You may be thinking about this or Super Panavision, a later descendant technology.
    1. Re:Cinerama by alcmaeon · · Score: 1

      Correction. 2001: A Space Odyssey was actually shot in the Panavision format.

  45. Technology as a whole by technoguru23 · · Score: 1

    Wow I mean really is it this thin what will they think of next people. I thought I saw something at Bungalow 8 several years ago if I am not mistaken. I think they have their own website too as well. really cool way of advertising don't ya think. personally I think so