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Plastic Logic E-Newspaper
Ostracus writes with news of another contender for a next-gen device suitable for displaying a newspaper page. It's very thin but weighs a bit more than a Kindle. "Plastic Logic, a spin-off company from the Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory, has recently released its design of a future electronic newspaper reader. This lightweight plastic screen copies the appearance, but not the feel, of a printed newspaper. This electronic paper technology was pioneered by the E-Ink Corporation and is used in the current generation Sony eReader and Amazon.com's Kindle. Plastic Logic's device, yet to be named, has a highly legible black-and-white display and a screen more than twice as large compared to current versions available on the market."
How great. A company takes a e-ink panel and wants to put it into a very small enclosing. There's no product yet, but this "innovative" and "great" idea, that only the geniuses at "Plastic Logic" could have.
There was no breakthrough in engineering, no battery issues or lag problems solved, no improvements in robustness - just the idea of putting a panel into a small case. Look at the promotion video on their website. Even the promotion model can't display its pages without massive horizontal errors. Page flipping is still slow as hell. No plan how they want secure electronic parts from bending. Nothing to see here, just a company thinking plastic logic. In my opinion a marketing stunt by a Cambridge drop-off to attract venture capital to spill out some good earnings for their initial staff.