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Roll-Up Monitors A Step Closer To Reality
Posted by
timothy
on Mon Oct 28, 2002 02:30 PM
from the working-toward-the-veldt dept.
from the working-toward-the-veldt dept.
gwernol writes "CNN are covering the merger of two of the leading companies in the field of OLEDs. This brings the dream of flexible plastic monitors and TVs a step closer to fruition.
You can find out more at Cambridge Display Technology who have acquired Opsys. CDT's technology paper on light emitting polymers (in the Research & Technology section of their site) is interesting reading."
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Roll-Up Monitors A Step Closer To Reality
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Sweet! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How soon? (Score:5, Interesting)
How long before Tommy lets you download your own images to the shirt?
How soon before that system is cracked and you're walking down the street with a picture of a guy f%^king a chicken on your back?
It should be an interesting ride on the subway in a few years.
Re:How soon? (Score:4, Funny)
LOL, it would certainly have to be a multithreaded attack.
=groan=
please mod this down, it's embarrassing
Heh (Score:3, Interesting)
When I first read that, I thought they had invented some way to put OLEDs on paper not written a paper about OLEDs
Well, one can dream, can't that? (Actualy, that can't be to far off. IIRC you can 'print' plastic on paper, and people have made electrically conductive plastic, if they could be merged with OLEDs....)
Hehe, how cool would it be to be able to buy a off-the-shelf ink jet printer and print electrical circuits, with built in OLED displays and all kinds of other craziness
they were prophetic... (Score:3, Funny)
Ben: Yes sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Ben: Yes I am.
Mr. McGuire: 'Plastics.'
Ben: Exactly how do you mean?
Mr. McGuire: There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?
Ben: Yes I will.
Mr. McGuire: Shh! Enough said. That's a deal.
These OLEDs technologies are pretty promising (Score:4, Insightful)
Tor
Re:These OLEDs technologies are pretty promising (Score:5, Interesting)
Requests and uses (Score:3, Interesting)
A semitransparent version for use in tracing.
Clothing - afterall, if you can make a sheet of this stuff, you could conceiveably make a fiber out of it, no?
Just thinking out loud.
tcd004
If I had my own oil company, I would... [lostbrain.com]
OLED Clothes (Score:5, Funny)
Problems (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm sure back in the day they were talking about LED TV and it wasn't until the past 5 or so years that the technology was there. Not that I would't mind a high res, super thin, and sexy monitor/tv. It sure would be a killer app for most TV's out there, and a good way to combine a coumputer station and TV...
Finally! (Score:5, Interesting)
Back in 1994, I attended a demo of the newest Apple hardware: the PowerMac 6100, 7100, and 8100. Those PowerPC 601 processors just blew me away!
As part of the demo, the Apple guys showed us a video of upcoming technology, including a computer that folded like a book. The computer used an "avatar" that the user controlled by speaking naturally, as if to a person.
The Apple guys then asked us what was the missing link preventing anyone from producing the contraption. The answer: "folding glass." Of course, we know now (and probably did then, just we didn't want to admit it) that the CPU's and graphics processors of the time would have choked on the OS needed to pull off the magic.
Re:Finally! (Score:5, Interesting)
Ah, that would be "Knowledge Navigator," [billzarchy.com] John Sculley's attempt at being a visionary. KN was what he wanted the Newton to eventually become. The video was originally made in the late 80's-- now it's almost 20 years later, and we're still quite a bit away from a device that can do what KN is capable of.
~Philly
Scary. (Score:3, Insightful)
Then, the bubble bursts leaving no real technology, thousands holding worthless stock and a CEO retiring in the Caribbean.
Haven't we seen this before????
I don't dream of them being roll up so much... (Score:4, Insightful)
Any signs of progress of THAT front?
Reuters Article (Score:5, Informative)
Reuters Link [reuters.com]
Very good to hear! (Score:4, Informative)
This isn't bad, however, because the up-and-coming OLEDs (as detailed in the introduction to this particle story) are much cheaper to produce and should mature faster than LCDs did in the 1990s, which was their early testing period.
With OLEDs, one also finds a much-increased video brightness, faster response times (no ghosts while gaming or watching DivX
Finally, these run much hotter but are much less prone to being affected by temperature fluctuations. This means it could easily serve as a server monitor in a 100 degree PowerEdge server closet or as the primary video output terminal at a physics laboratory in Iceland (where I study in the summer).
Already done -- in prototype (Score:5, Informative)
They used to have a movie of this screen being flexed while an animation played on it. Really awesome. Clicking on the link now leads to a much less impressive movie...
The better video link.. (Score:5, Informative)
Next logical step... (Score:5, Funny)
Mmm... Edible displays... (Score:5, Funny)
No, really! The OLEDs are supposedly nontoxic, and capable of being printed onto edible substrates, like rice
paper or fruit leather. Edible gold foil could be used for the wiring. The battery and control chips would of course need to be in a separate module, clearly labelled "Do Not Eat."
<;K
company mergers != products closer to reality (Score:4, Interesting)
What consolidation often means is that noone is investing in the idea, or that one of the companies couldn't survive long enough to get an actual product out the door.
Fahrenheit 451 (Score:5, Insightful)
Particular to the current thread, in the book there are wall-sized display devices used in the predictable fashion; not to view above the sky full of live stars or weather a la Hogwarts in Harry Potter (which sounds delightful) but to take a small room and create a large, totally synthetic environment with an extended synthespian family, all via subscription service. And there you sit all day, listening to their dramatic, interesting lives while your own dull, wasted existance drains away. So if you like, views into a crafted world with fake people, custom made for unneeded people. Homeowners in the book measure themselves successful based on how many walls they own; four walls is just enough.
Entertainment is emmersive enough. Do we really want to be flood with non-reality? Or Unreal Tourny, for that matter? The stars overhead sound good, and so does an "invisible wall" that projects an outside view of your backyard, or anywhere else in the world for that matter (the crater of an active volacanoe sounds nice!) But that's NOT where this is headed, you know. People historically ignore nature and real people and embrace entertainment instead.
The Printer is Gorgeous (Score:4, Interesting)
This opens up a huge boon to the small computer retailer. Want to sell displays? Print 'em! Save a bundle on the costs of shipping heavy glass CRTs, and the risk of shipping fragile TFT displays.
Due to pre and post printing processes, the likelihood of being able to "print your own" display are slim, since more than likely you still would need to test the leads to the polymer substrate, calibrate the individual displays, test for bad pixels, and laminate the whole pile together. In other words, don't expect to save a bundle by buying the fabrication hardware and doing it yourself, at least not until Avery or some other mainstream paper manufacturer comes out with a "EZ LEP" package, complete with inks you could only use once (logically, by the time the display dies, the ink cart will be dried out).
Still, this does a good deal for both online retailers and brick and mortar shops, and opens up a world of possibilities.
You CAN wait for your lightweight laptop... (Score:3, Informative)
or did you all miss the fact that their first press release - which reads amazingly similar to their latest ones (without the patent listings) came out in 1997?
http://www.universaldisplay.com/newsroom.php?pr
until i can buy a monitor based on this technology, i'm putting it up there with 10 GB sugarcube sized holoraphic memory, a actual Windows/Mac desktop-replacement Linux, and 3G.
Why is lifetime of screens important? Replace em! (Score:3, Insightful)
Make the screens replaceable. I mean, this technology makes it sound like they're pretty cheap to make since they are built using a modified (granted, more complex) inkjet technolgy. You've also now got a whole new after-market for laptop screens.
Don't need super-hgh rez - get a cheaper one.
Want to have a tri-fold-out screen at the office, and a lighter, energy efficient one for on the plane?
So what if the screen goes out if you can just buy a new screen for a few benjamins?
If i could get a lot more battery life, have a much more rugged screen, and it was mch brighter - i'd pay $200 for a newer screen(with higher rez, of course) every year and a half.
Hype vs. reality (Score:3, Insightful)
There are many display technologies that don't scale. This may be another one. The whole point of this technology is that it's supposed to be cheaper to fabricate in large sizes. If it doesn't scale up, it's not helpful.
Non-silicon semiconductor inventors are notorious for claiming their technology will be really cheap, but to date, they haven't delivered. Even amorphous silicon has never lived up to the low-cost claims of decades ago, even though it really works.
What bugs me about these guys is that they can't make a cheap one or a big one, yet they're on CNN. To succeed, they have to do both, yet they can't do either. If they had a wall-sized demo TV that cost $100,000, that would be a step forward. Or if they had a postage-stamp sized one that cost $1, that would be something. But all they have is some promising chemistry. That should be good for half a column in Electronic Design, not worldwide publicity.
It won't be long before we see people imatating... (Score:3, Funny)
(And it'll probably be a terrorist too!)
Don't hold your breath (Score:3, Insightful)
The head of technology and strategic planning spoke. Despite the hype-ticle on CNN, it was clear from what he said that you shouldn't expect flexible displays any time soon - probably not inside 10 years. I don't get a T-shirt with space invaders on it any time soon. You can expect conformable displays within a few years - i.e. rigid, shaped screens. However it's likely that you will see other companies building these; CDT is an IP company. They hold fundamental patents on light emmiting polymers. They aren't just a holding company; they do develop technology, but their basic strategy is to licence to others. They will have bought Opsys to strengthen their patent portfolio.
If you are currently building hardware that needs small mono screens you should definitely check out CDT. Their displays have superb characteristics - an almost 180 degree viewing angle, bright even in sunlight, and very low power requirements. The examples of the technology that he showed were very 'version 1.0', but show brilliant promise.
Next CHASE meeting - 12 Nov - Invisible Networks are building community broadband networks in rural villages around Cambridge. Currently using 802.11.
Jeff Veit
www.tanasity.com and www.tangledtime.com
At last ... (Score:3, Funny)
Never thought the pages of my monitor would get mysteriously "glued" together, but once again, technology has an answer.
Re:Dream?!? (Score:3, Funny)