It took so long for electronic ink screens to finally hit the market we feel a bit silly getting impatient for the next-generation, but the Kindle has been on the market for a year and a half now, Sony Reader models for twice that long, and still we're dealing with the same crummy 7:1 contrast ratio, 16 shade grayscale, and .74 second refresh rate. E Ink's Sriram Peruvemba, however, is finally showing off next-generation models of the sort parent company PVI told us were coming, the first an improvement on existing screens that offers a 12:1 contrast ratio and a refresh rate fast enough for simple animations. Also shown is a larger, (slightly) flexible model rugged enough to take a meaty fist square in the face without blinking a single pixel. This version Peruvemba sees playing a major role in digital textbooks in the future. Unfortunately we still have a bit of time to wait for either, with the boosted contrast ratio model entering production later this year and the flexible one sometime in early 2011. Add another six months or so for devices using the things to make it to retail and hopes for a brighter, next-gen Kindle shipping by the holidays start to look a bit dim.

Continue reading E Ink shows off next-gen displays: high contrast, fast refresh, and rugged (video)

E Ink shows off next-gen displays: high contrast, fast refresh, and rugged (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |  Red Ferret  | Email this | Comments

While you can't buy a QUE proReader until summer it seems that you can buy the company. Well, maybe not you but someone with a few hundred million in the bank. At least that's the way the Financial Times is framing a piece focused on UK investor Hermann Hauser, whose venture capital firm has a stake in Plastic Logic. According to Hauser, "We're in very interesting negotiations with ... well, that would be a separate interview, you will hopefully hear [more] about this in the autumn."

Why would anybody want to buy this offshoot from the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory? After all, dedicated monochrome E-Ink devices are on their last legs, right? Chips made from plastic, not silicon, that's why -- intellectual property that could revolutionize integrated circuits and the entire computing industry. For the moment, however, Plastic Logic is only manufacturing the simple plastic transistors found inside its QUE proReader display that switch each pixel on or off -- a far cry from PCBs loaded with plastic integrated circuits. And as the FT acknowledges, any potential buyer might end up with an e-reader company and nothing more. Not exactly where you want to be at the dawn of the second coming of tablet computers.

[Thanks, Charlie]

Plastic Logic up for sale even though its QUE proReader isn't? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Financial Times  | Email this | Comments

Interesting read at  Ars Technica for all you folks following the Nexus One display controversy that has been making the rounds recently. This article attempts to explain why the Nexus One with its AMOLED has many users report blurry text rendering on the Nexus One. Hit the jump for the highlights of the article and hit the read link if you are ready for some serious graphics hardware and software processing information.

The technically detailed article describes how some of the Nexus One display issues may be attributed to the underlying hardware and the method by which Google has chosen to represent the screen’s resolution. Here are the highlights of what the author says is the cause for these anomalies:

• The AMOLED display of the Nexus One has an unusual arrangement of pixels known as the PenTile Matrix developed by Nouvoyance. Each pixel consists of a double-width blue or red subpixel element and a green subpixel element.
• The PenTile display uses a series of local filter operations and subpixel positioning to approximate a standard RGB-striped LCD display.
• The actual hardware resolution of the Nexus One display is 480×800 pixels, but no pixel contains all three colors. If you remove the signal processing noted above, the total effective resolution of the display is actually 392×653.
• The actual resolution may be negligible if the what you see is pleasing but here is where it gets tricky. Your eyes have 20x more rods (more numerous, more sensitive but don’t detect color) than cones (color sensitive) which means your eyes are better at detecting intensity/luminance transitions than detecting color/chrominance transitions. Because of the pixel arrangement and signal processing required by the display of the Nexus One display, your eyes will see the colors as bright, vivid and pleasing while text is blurred.
• With this unique PenTile pixel arrangement, you also have twice as many green subpixels and red and blue subpixels that are twice as large as the green subpixels. This arrangement can produce color fringing that is visible around the edges of text if you look closely enough.
• According to the CEO of Nouvoyance, the color fringing can be eliminated by tweaking the PenTile display driver hardware and that the color fringing seen on the Nexus One may be not be apparent on other devices because of these tweaks.

Pretty interesting stuff. What do you guys think?

Read

How many scientists does it take to properly install a lightbulb? When that lightbulb is an implant that stimulates retinal photoreceptors to restore one's sight, quite a few -- even if they disagree whether said implant should be placed on top of the retina (requiring glasses to supply power and video feed) or underneath, using photocells to channel natural sunlight. Now, a German firm dubbed Retina Implant has scored a big win for the subretinal solution with a three-millimeter, 1,500 pixel microchip that gives patients a 12 degree field of view. Conducting human trials with 11 patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa, the company successfully performed operations on seven, with one even managing to distinguish between similar objects (knife, fork, spoon) and perform very basic reading. Though usual disclaimers apply -- the tech is still a long way off, it only works on folks who've slowly lost their vision, etc. -- this seems like a step in the right direction, and at least one man now knows which direction that is.

Subretinal implant successfully tested on humans, makes blind narrowly see originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 08:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Medgadget  |  Business Wire, Retina Implant  | Email this | Comments

We got a few minutes today to check out the latest build on Notion Ink's Adam prototype that we first saw back at CES. Like we heard a week or so ago, there will indeed be two versions of the Adam -- one which will be 12.9 mm thick and boast the Pixel Qi 3Qi e-paper screen, and another, thinner, non-Pixel Qi screen. The thinner, lighter version will measure in at 11.6 mm thick. As far as we know, the only difference in the two Tegra-powered Adams will be the display, and we also hear they are shooting for a third quarter of 2010 launch. In the meantime, check out the photos we got of the near-final prototype, and the video demo of the reader's flash support which is after the break.

Continue reading Notion Ink Adam hands-on (with video) at MWC 2010

Notion Ink Adam hands-on (with video) at MWC 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Just because it isn't HD doesn't mean it can't be beautiful. The Parallel Image display uses photoreceptors to transmit brightness levels to the other side of the display. I'm in love with all of that gorgeous copper.

The project represents how video would be transmitted if serial data had never been invented. Each pixel in the 50x50 grid arrives on its own channel, hence the lovely mess of wiring.

I wouldn't want to string all that copper, but I sure don't mind looking at it. [Hack a Day via CruchGear]

Hasselblad intros 50 megapixel H3DII-50 MS with multishot originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Digital Photography Review  |  Hasselblad  | Email this | Comments

You know what Livescribe's $170/$200 Pulse smartpen with 2GB/4GB of storage is missing to keep it from going mainstream? More apps. At least that's what Livescribe's execs seem to be thinking with the launch of its new application store featuring more than 30 paid and free applications that augment the smartpen's ability to record and link audio to your handwritten notes. Paid apps range in price from from $0.99 for the mature rated "Sexy Oracle" app on up to $100 if you're looking for a revolutionary way to learn Hebrew chanting... and really, who isn't? The company claims to have a community of more than 5,500 registered developers which likely equates to a 1:1 dev-to-owner ratio. Sweet. Check a video demonstration or both the pen and app store after the break.

Continue reading Livescribe's Pulse smartpen app store now ready for hot 96 x 18 pixel action (video)

Livescribe's Pulse smartpen app store now ready for hot 96 x 18 pixel action (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

It's been far, far too long (read: four months) since we've heard a peep from the gentle souls over at Pixel Qi, but it looks like the long, heart-wrenching wait for the hybrid display that's bound to revolutionize Western civilization is nearing an end. According to the startup's CEO herself, Mary Lou Jepsen, the primetime-ready 3Qi display should make its glorious debut on an undisclosed tablet to be announced next month. For those out of the loop, this transflective display contains both e-ink and LCD properties, one for outdoor reading scenarios and the other for multimedia viewing. The amazing part is that toggling between the two is as simple as flipping a switch, which obviously means great things for battery life on whatever device it's shoved into. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled for more, but do us a favor and cross your fingers for good luck. Toes too, por favor.

[Thanks, Tom]

Filed under: Displays

Pixel Qi e-ink / LCD hybrid display to debut on tablet next month? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

And it's out. The BlackBerry Storm2 (model 9520) just made its first official carrier appearance with Vodafone. The promising followup to the much maligned BlackBerry Storm will be free on pay-monthly contracts from £35 on up. Specs include a 3.25-inch 360 x 480 pixel capacitive SurePress (new and improved) touchscreen display, 802.11b/g WiFi and 2100MHz UMTS/HSPA data, 2GB of onboard memory with microSDHC expansion, 3.5-mm standard headset jack, 3.2 megapixel camera with video recording, built-in GPS, Bluetooth 2.1, and 1400mAh battery giving about 6 hours of 3G talk. BlackBerry OS 5 too, of course, when it lands on October 15th in the UK, Ireland, Germany, The Netherlands, and Spain -- France, Italy, and South Africa in time for Christmas.

[Thanks, James]

Read -- Press Release
Read -- Pre-order

Filed under: Cellphones

Vodafone puts BlackBerry Storm2 up for 26 October preorder originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments