Bendable Color Electronic Paper

Fujitsu Develops World's First Film Substrate-based Bendable Color Electronic Paper...

Article here.

Yes, I know, this is on /., and other places (which is why I referenced the Fujitsu site's article instead). 

I'm really excited about technologial advances in this field. I'm hoping that they will allow the prices of large flat panel displays to drop significantly. Wouldn't it be neat to have a parabolic wide-screen display using this technology? Parabolic on the horizontal axis that is. It would be so immersive, especially for gaming.

That would be cool - I wonder if the refresh-rate would be up to it? It seems the applications they are suggesting wouldnt really need a good refresh rate.

If the cost of this stuff could be kept relatively low, it could become pervasive - jut put sheats of it everywhere instead of advertising hoardings.. if it doesnt even need power to keep the image, all you need is to be abel to walk up to it with your reprogrammer every now and again and bang, new billboard.

Goes way beyond advertising.  Imagine every wall in your house covered with this.  Change the color of your walls when ever you want.  Find a picture you like and "hang" it on your wall, no hammer necessary.  Forget a TV... we can watch our shows on any wall in our house at any size we want.

wkempf wrote:

Goes way beyond advertising.  Imagine every wall in your house covered with this.  Change the color of your walls when ever you want.  Find a picture you like and "hang" it on your wall, no hammer necessary.  Forget a TV... we can watch our shows on any wall in our house at any size we want.

I believe it was Fahrenheit 451.

Yes, it was in Fahrenheit 451 and also in 1984. 

Equip it with motion sensors the tv can follow you around the house

I don't think however at the moment that oled technology has a sufficient refresh rate to allow that... but things can change.

DuNuNuBatman wrote:

Equip it with motion sensors the tv can follow you around the house

I don't think however at the moment that oled technology has a sufficient refresh rate to allow that... but things can change.

I always wondered what it would be like to own an LCD window (or similar material) ever since I saw it on a "futuristic house"-type television show many years ago.  The window could be switched from opaque to clear with a flip of a switch.  It looked interesting until you start wondering what would happen if junior launched a baseball through it.  And started thinking about replacement costs.  And what chemicals would get splattered all over the room in case of breakage.

Cutting Edge Windows

This Old House wrote:

The greatest advancements in windows in the coming years will be in the glazing. In the works: windows that do double duty as TV screens, touch-screen monitors, and speakers for home theaters. But here's a list of high-tech glass already on the market that does a lot more than just let light through.

• Radiant: Heat-producing glass makes even window-filled sunrooms cozy on winter nights. Already popular in Europe and now available here.
• Self-cleaning: Embedded titanium dioxide dissolves surface dirt when exposed to the sun's UV rays. Rain washes dirt away, reducing the need for manual cleanings by half.
• Switchable: A layer of liquid crystals sandwiched between glass sheets switches instantly from clear to opaque when low-voltage current is applied.
• Darkening: Electrochromic technology slowly darkens glass at the touch of a button to control glare, reduce solar heat gain, and protect interiors from UV, but not enough for complete privacy.

billh wrote:

I wonder what would happen if the power went out...would all of windows sudden become "clear"?

If I remember correctly, they are Opaque by default...

So if you lost power, they would stay frosted...

At least that what I remember from one of those home shows... It was a question the host asked...

But I think it would be cool too if they were LCD displays instead of just frosting...

That would be awesome as either your mirror or as a window into a room... You would just need some sort of protective plexi glass or something to protect it.

If these also get a really thin controlling unit that can store lots of pages, I'm the first one to buy such a thing. So I can be cool while reading the PDF editions of some magazines.

Tom Servo wrote:

If these also get a really thin controlling unit that can store lots of pages, I'm the first one to buy such a thing. So I can be cool while reading the PDF editions of some magazines.

Microsoft showed off a huge panoramic display in their "Center for Information Work" exhibition.

Got to say I'd love to have something like that.

However I don't believe this latest annoucement would be suitable for this. Its designed for electronic paper, a very low refresh rate and very low power requirements. It retains the image even after power is removed.

The other thing that always comes to mind when talking about flexible displays is the Global-Link from Earth: Final Conflict.


The perfect computing device that expands from a mobile phone, to a PDA to a Tablet PC depending on requirements.

W3bbo wrote:

billh wrote:I wonder what would happen if the power went out...would all of windows sudden become "clear"?

I doubt it... AFAIK, when LCDs lose power they remain in the state they were in when the power was disconnected, although they do fade after a while (my phone's screen takes about 10 minutes after being switched off to return to "blank")

Fujitsu Labs wrote:

Features an image memory function that enables continuous display of the same image even when electricity is turned off therefore no electricity is required for continuous display.

ScanIAm wrote:

Ha, imagine if you prepaid and the new Harry Potter book showed up in your hands at the stroke of midnight, tonight.

W3bbo wrote:

ScanIAm wrote: Ha, imagine if you prepaid and the new Harry Potter book showed up in your hands at the stroke of midnight, tonight.

Speaking of which, Snape kills Dumbledore