There is a new technology now (actually about 5 years old, but only nowfeasible) that will change the whole appearance of PDAs, monitors, projector screens, and textbooks, if it is used to the fullest. In my Information Technology class today, we were discussing this technology because it related to a project the class the year before had done and the technology was mentioned in Scientific American.
What I am referring to is OLED, Organic Light Emitting Display. This is a screen, that produces full color images, but it is extremely thin and can be folded! Imagine a whole PDA the size of a pen and you just have to pull out the screen, or instead a porjector, you actually pull the display down, how about a monitor that remains rolled up when not in use to give you the maximum space on your desk, the possibilities are awesome. I'm not a big sci-fi guy, but a lot of you probably know those hand held devices in Star Trek where the screen pops up and spreads out, well, that could be real.
The textbook replacement was an idea concieved by some guys at my school for a class project. Their idea was to have a baton, a little over a foot long and maybe 2" in diameter. In classes, you just pull out the screen and you can open your books/notes from the hard drive (or memory card) and start working. It would have a stylus, CPU, and would bassically be able to replace pretty much everything in a student's backpack.
Here are the links so you can read more about it, I love this technology. And oneof the main shareholders is a parent at my school (same guy that started Quicken), I guess I need to become friends with his kid....
Scientific American
Universal Display Corporation
Future of PDAs
ops: Sorry, Falstaff. I didn't mean to sound rude...
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