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First Touch-Screen, Bendable E-Paper Developed
Al writes "The first touch-screen flexible e-paper has been developed by a team from Arizona State University and E-Ink (the company that makes the technology for Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Reader). Jann Kaminski and colleagues at ASU's Flexible Display Center say the main challenge is that most touch-screen technologies do not respond well to being flexed. So they used an inductive screen, which relies on a magnetized styluses to induce a field in a sensing layer at the back of the display. The first adopters for the technology are likely to be the US Army. Watch a video of the device being tested."
Will it blend?
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Bendable e-paper! I look forward to the day when the stack of textbooks and file folders I keep can be easily replaced by one or two screens and a million tiny hard drives I can lose.
Although, it would be nice if a subscription to a newspaper meant that they would give me their proprietary e-paper and update it once a day with the new issue, keeping all previous issues on file and searchable on the same piece of hardware.
How about the awesomeness of replacing that stupid projector screen and projector with one of these? No more expensive projector, no more being blinded while you're standing in front of it, no more casting a shadow on the screen, and best of all - you can interact directly with the screen. I'd say it's got tons of advantages in that area alone.
You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
I'm not impressed. I can do this with my current LCD Screen. Watch thi*#&$&#*((*#
640YB ought to be enough for anybody.
A couple that come to mind:
The foreman in charge of a team constructing a building (say 3-4 stories) wants to check the blueprints to make sure of a detail. He unrolls his E-paper blueprint from his back pocket and navigates to the correct section, then zooms in. A PDA would limit the display area for the blueprint, while it would be kind of difficult to roll up the whole roll of paper blueprints and stick it in his pocket.
Similarly, an E-paper newspaper could be (potentially) folded to fit in a pocket and is reusable without requiring people to put it in a recycling bin.
Your local grocery or department store could have catalogs available at the entrance that show you where in the store the item you're looking at is located, and how many are left. You could pick one up when you enter and leave it when you're finished shopping. That I suppose a PDA could do, but if you're shopping with small children, having something that's easy to read (because of its size) and durable could be useful.
I love Slashdot.
Aricle: "Berkley finds cure for cancer."
Slashdot: "What the hell can they use that for?"
Are you telling me that you have such narrow, blinded, imagination-less vision that you can't see the use for something as thin and flexible as paper, but with the functionality of a touch-screen laptop? How about, I dunno, an e-Book that's as easy to transport and hold as a newspaper? Hell, with modern wireless technology, you could have your screen/input device sitting on the table with you at breakfast while the laptop "base" is over by the outlet. Carry the newspaper screen/input device around with you on the train and bus wirelessly connected to a PDA around your belt.
Think of the possibilities!
There is a growing perception that touch means touch - using your finger. Using an inert stylus (like Windows Mobile devices) is a very poor second. But having to use a special purpose magnetic stylus is a FAIL.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
The applications people dream about are things like:
-Robustness. For field work a display that is inherently bendable is potentially less likely to break.
-Displays that are more compact/portable, since they can be folded up or rolled-up. E.g. a PDA with a small screen for quick work but a larger roll-out display for reading a book.
-Being able to read computer-text in a format roughly like a newspaper (thin, light, bendable, etc.). In principle not more useful that a rigid and flat e-book reader, but it is a format some people may prefer.
-Large format displays. E.g. instead of having a projector and unrolling a white screen, you just unroll a bendable display screen (with all the usual advantages of monitor technology: e.g. you can't block the beam, brighter display with better contrast, etc.). Or being able to unfold a screen (like a map) and put it on a table for impromptu collaboration (or display data in the field).
-Deformable displays for shifting surfaces. E.g. imagine a touchscreen that had a keyboard 'hidden' behind it. When required the keys press up (bending the display) so you can use it as a normal keyboard. With a switch the keys depress and lock, giving you a flat touchscreen.
-The ability to put touchscreens onto non-planar surfaces. Like having a screen that follows the contour of the dash in your car. Or having screens plastered onto columns in malls (for a mall directory, and advertising, probably...).
-The ability to put touchscreens anywhere: wallpapering a room, the inside surface of a tent, clothes (maybe just for novelty or maybe actually useful: e.g. a computer interface built into army uniforms), the surface of your desk, etc.
Those are just a few. If you can't think of any applications for a bendable touchscreen, you're not trying very hard!
It sure would help to be flexible. Much easier to transport a 100" display that rolls up than a 100" LCD screen.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
e-ink displays have no back lights. That thing in the back was likely the magnetic sensor.
If they can extend it to the size of A4 and A1 sheets of paper, that could replace the need for printing glossy posters for poster presentations sessions at conferences and in office corridors. These are relatively costly to print, and become out of date (E-mail addresses tend to change).
Taking an A1 sized poster to a conference usually requires taking a rocket launcher sized tube through airports and train stations, along with the laptop containing a powerpoint presentation.
Imagine if all that was required was to take a USB memory stick and download an image to a generic E-ink display at the conference.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
That makes me imagine playing wylie coyote tricks on my girl friend ... Where did the door go? its over here ... THWACK!
Go go Gadget Nailgun!
Roll it up, stick it under my arm, and carry it to where I need it. Yeah, that sounds pretty handy.
Control with a mouse. Not draw with a mouse. I've given whiteboard talks, sketching out what I'm talking about. And I'm here to tell you you CANNOT give a whiteboard talk by trying to sketch with a mouse.
Not one person using standard accounting ledgers said, "You know, this is just unacceptable. This has to be able to do arithmetic on its own for me to do my job." Then they got to see computer spreadsheets.
You8r missinf the bigges and most important use:
Gaming!
Now I can have my table sized roll out, and just have the map display on it, with monsters as they come into sight!
SA well as be able to play every parker brothers game with just one board.
Think man, THINK!
Won't anybody think of the gamers?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
In the ancient world, books were scrolls, which avoided the complexity and expense of bookbinding. With flexible e-paper, I suspect the scroll will return to its rightful place as the preferred format for printed matter, since you'll only need one large scroll to display anything every printed.
Only mine had one other cool feature...You could lift the plastic cover to erase. Here's a link to a pic... http://www.schylling.com/Creative-Play/MGSL-2.jpg
So if they made a little finger-glove that just goes over the tip of your finger that's magnetic, or even if they eventually develop something that's basically a magnetic version of a false fingernail, would you not consider THAT touch screen? For your definition, does it HAVE to require actual skin-to-screen contact?
For my money, I'd rather NOT directly touch and smear up a screen. You'll have a sharper, more accurate touching point using anything other than the rounded, soft surface of a fingertip as well.
And finally, if something can sense a finger touching it, odds are it'll be set off by just about anything touching it. If they can make it so that it's ONLY activated by the previously mentioned fingertip cover, I'd consider that WAY better.
Planet Zebeth - Metroid with a twist
Actually not, that row and column are light from the get-go, rewind and rewatch. I'm also not sure, but that could be a reflection.
The preceding comment is my own, and in no way construes an opinon of the Emperor of Mankind.
And don't forget, France could make their flags out of it for the next time someone invades! Kidding, calm down. Goodbye karma, hello 'troll' mods.
"bended"? C'mon, I know /. is the home of the "offline illiterate", but "bended"?
While "bended" is archaic, it's still grammatically correct.