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OLPC Spinoff Pixel Qi Merges E-ink With LCD

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the fun-things-to-keep-an-eye-on dept.

MaryBethP writes with some tasty prototype photos and info about the new OLPC spin off "Pixel Qi" that is combining the best of e-ink and traditional LCD displays. "The screen can work as a traditional backlit LCD when indoors, can have that backlight disabled to be perfectly visible outdoors (shown after the break), and, as its pièce de résistance, can be toggled into an energy-efficient 'epaper' mode. How exactly the company is fitting these seemingly disparate slices of technology into a single 10.1-inch screen is something of a mystery, but we're guessing much will be answered next week ahead of a planned product launch by the end of the year. Color us intrigued."

7 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. e-Ink? by owlstead · · Score: 4, Informative

    As far as I know, e-Ink is a marketing name for a specific piece of technology using colored particles and static electricity. Somehow I'm not so sure that this is the technology used here, it looks more like different ways of handling an LCD than a layer of e-Ink. I would not know how you could make a sheet of e-Ink invisible for the eye, and it seems this is required. The screen in the photo does not look like digital paper either.

    My money is on B/W LCD without (significant) back-lighting.

    1. Re:e-Ink? by Shagg · · Score: 5, Informative

      You're right. People get the terms mixed up all the time. E-Ink is the name of a company that markets a specific implementation of epaper technology (electrophoretic display). There are other technologies that also qualify as epaper (including variations on LCD, which is what Pixel Qi uses). As far as I know, Pixel Qi has nothing to do with e-Ink. Lots of people just get confused and thing e-Ink == epaper, which is not true.

      --
      Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
    2. Re:e-Ink? by Thaelon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So what you're saying is not all in-line skates are Rollerblades(tm), not all adhesive medical strips are Band-Aids(tm), and not all vacuums are Hoovers(tm)?

      You are correct, but good luck with that.

      --

      Question everything

    3. Re:e-Ink? by psocccer · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or that search company...what's it called? Gloople? Gorgon? Giggle?

      I don't know, maybe you should google it?

      --
      Free Online Woodworking Resources Directory
  2. Re:Wait. What? by linzeal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Generation X is dead and their cathode ray tubes are dead, long live the twittering tweens and their lcd screens.

    --
    An Education is the Font of All Liberty
  3. Re:Wait. What? by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 4, Funny

    Who said anything about cathode ray tubes? Get off my lawn and let me go back to my Teletype!

    --
    My blog
  4. Pixel Qi - no E-Ink by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    While the Pixel Qi displays are (we believe) remarkable and can and will really serve as exceptional e-paper displays, there is no relationship to E-Ink. Not the company and not the electrophoretic technology that E-Ink uses.

    John Ryan
    Pixel Qi Corp.
    Taiwan

    (Filed as anonymous coward, because I *do* have a separate /. personal account.)