Reuters Discusses the Future of "Electronic Paper" Technology

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2005-11-04T183055Z_01_SCH465281_RTRUKOC_0_US-COLUMN-PLUGGEDIN.xml' target='_blank'>http://today.reuters.com/news/newsa...N-PLUGGEDIN.xml</a><br /><br /></div><i>"In Neal Stephenson's sci-fi novel 'The Diamond Age,' a young girl's companion is a book with amazing qualities -- it talks, and the words magically change with the story... what was once labeled science fiction is finding its way to the real-world market. 'Electronic paper' is a display technology that makes possible flexible or even rollable displays... consumers are first likely to see the technology in clocks and watches. The popular example of an electronic newspaper that automatically updates itself wirelessly is still years away."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/ekkie_electronic_paper.jpg" /><br /><br />Way back in June, I <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=40889">asked</a> how long we'd have to wait for flexible display technology. I guess it's a positive sign when the topic continues to be discussed by various sources. Reuters has an article discussing the future of "electronic paper" and some of the challenges associated. It's certainly not lacking any major players with names such as LG, Philips and Fujitsu associated. It's worth a read if you're fascinated with this technology. Unfortunately, it still doesn't appear that we'll be enjoying its fruits within the PDA industry anytime real soon.

[Mark Johnson]

I had gotten really excited about this a couple of years ago when I first leared about eInk's technology. Then they went and partnered with Sony and the only thing that got to market was the horribly overpriced and insanely DRM-saddled Libre ebook reader. What a waste of two years!

Hopefully we'll soon see something from someone which actually costs LESS than a real PDA, uses a standard slot (like SD or CF, not Sony's Memory-Stick-Of-The-Month) and reads plain HTML or RTF, not some bizzare encrypted DRM format.

What I'd REALLY like to see (and I'm suprised it hasn't shown up yet) is a sheet of epaper that simply appears as a bluetooth printer. On your desktop, laptop (or even PPC) you'd just view whatever content you'd like to send to the sheet, then click print and choose the "epaper" as if it were a printer. The sheet could have memory for a few hundred pages at a time and a pair of "next page/last page" buttons.

Such a device should cost maybe $20 for an 8.5x11 page. I'd buy a dozen - there's plenty of times when I'm working with reference materials where I only need one "real computer" (for input/editing) but I'd LOVE to replace the 5 books sitting on my desk with 5 sheets hanging on the wall right behind my desk.

For the life of me, I can't understand how eInk (and the competing technologies) have taken so unbearably long to get to market. My guess is they signed an exclusive with Sony and so we're stuck.

These guys have got to understand that epaper is not about creating lame PDA's that cost almost as much as a real PDA and then hoping there's more than 5 people out there who actually care if they can use it for a year without recharging it. The manufacturers are acting like improved battery life is some sort of holy grail.

Paper is cheap. Paper wil be replaced by ePaper only when ePaper is cheap. The Sony Libre is a $500 sheet of paper. Duh!

[DuaneAA]

Paper is cheap. Paper wil be replaced by ePaper only when ePaper is cheap. The Sony Libre is a $500 sheet of paper. Duh!

I think this is what you are looking for:

http://www.siemens.com/index.jsp?sdc_p=d1184570pFEcfi1182563l1mn1182567os2u20z3&amp;sdc_contentid=1319922

Duane