08-10-2004, 09:00 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Roll Up Your PDA Screen? Maybe
"Some futures take longer to arrive than others. Back in 2001, I wrote about a company called Rolltronics that was working on adapting roll-to-roll printing technology to the production of amorphous semiconductors on plastic films. Their goal was a $15 PC that could literally be printed on a press like a newspaper with different layers for battery, motherboard, graphics controller, display, keyboard, etc. Well, the company is still working toward that dream, but the more variables you try to change at once, the longer it takes and the more risk you have to accept. So on its way to the future, Rolltronics decided to make a few bucks by applying some of these ideas just to displays and the results look to be amazing.
We're talking not just about displays that are cheaper to make (perhaps a third the cost of current technology), but that are flexible and paper-thin. Lower prices can lead to market acceptance, but what people really like is something that looks brand new and opens up new application possibilities, and the new Rolltronics displays promise to do that. Imagine an HDTV you take home under your arm in a cardboard shipping tube and attach to your wall with thumbtacks or carpet tape."
I've read about flexible screens before, but I didn't realize how close we are to seeing them come to market. Most of this article is above my head (I heard several "whooshing" sounds when I was reading it), but the basic premise is clear, and if it comes to pass (always a big "if" in the tech world), display technology will never be the same again - we'll have "stick" PDAs and phones with a roll-out screen, massive HDTV screens that take up hardly any space at all...the possibilities are enormous. This is some very cool stuff!
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08-10-2004, 09:41 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 559
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Star Trek doesn't even have roll up displays 400 years in the future!
This is very cool. I think the potential here is beyond our imagination. All science fiction speculates that advertising will be dynamic and this looks like it'll help to bring that about.
:mrgreen: One more thing we'll have before Star Trek predicted!
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08-10-2004, 09:47 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 24
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Anyone ever watched a TV series called Earth Final Conflict? They use a Mobile phone / PDA type device called a "Global" and it has a pull out screen. I think that it is a very well worked out fictional device and with roll-out screens, it is probably not too far off the mark.
__________________
Little fishy in the brooke
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08-10-2004, 09:58 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 555
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by nGage
Anyone ever watched a TV series called Earth Final Conflict? They use a Mobile phone / PDA type device called a "Global" and it has a pull out screen. I think that it is a very well worked out fictional device and with roll-out screens, it is probably not too far off the mark.
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I used to chase that series. I remember Liam can pull it out at various widths for different applications.
Or maybe he just fudged during filming and wasn't consistent in pulling it out :lol:
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08-10-2004, 09:59 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 19
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The movie Red Planet with Val Kilmer had a pull out screen device, they used it for mapping purposes.
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08-10-2004, 10:17 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,911
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If it was cheap you could make it the wallpaper in your house. Then when you grow tired of one pattern you just change it with no fuss at all.
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08-10-2004, 11:00 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 71
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by dean_shan
If it was cheap you could make it the wallpaper in your house. Then when you grow tired of one pattern you just change it with no fuss at all.
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Cool!
Now I could finally be able to have naked girls wallpaper that can be switch instantly back to normal when my wife comes home!
.....Sweeeeeet
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08-10-2004, 11:16 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 667
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blue Zero
Quote:
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Originally Posted by dean_shan
If it was cheap you could make it the wallpaper in your house. Then when you grow tired of one pattern you just change it with no fuss at all.
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Cool!
Now I could finally be able to have naked girls wallpaper that can be switch instantly back to normal when my wife comes home!
.....Sweeeeeet |
Ah yes.... the first application of ANY new technology! :rotfl:
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08-11-2004, 05:25 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 301
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This sounds great, but I hope it doesn't turn out like E-Ink's digital paper. Years of hype followed (this year) by finally releasing their first e-book reader that uses the "I hate it so much" Sony MemoryStink and the "I hate it even more" MagicGate DRM system.
The E-Ink system could have been so exceptionally cool, but now their awsome e-paper is wedded to Sony's goofy restrictive proprietary device. The thing's gonna flop and now we'll have a huge wait until we get a decent standards-based eInk eBook reader. If it had used SD and read HTML and PDF's it would have been incredible.
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08-11-2004, 10:20 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 734
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by nGage
Anyone ever watched a TV series called Earth Final Conflict? They use a Mobile phone / PDA type device called a "Global" and it has a pull out screen. I think that it is a very well worked out fictional device and with roll-out screens, it is probably not too far off the mark.
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That was the *very first thing* that crossed my mind!
Holodecks? You betcha. If it's that cheap, I'm going to wallpaper my f'ing room with the stuff.
<edit> I should've read the thread before I responded; you guys beat me to it 
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