Display Technology News Roundup 2.24.2013

Image via Electronics News

HMI trends in industrial touch screens "Glass touch displays are also setting a new design trend which optically excels with its smooth and seamless glass surfaces. At the same time though this is where the challenge begins: Where robust designs are concerned, the glass panel cannot just be stuck on the back with an assembly kit, like, for example, is the case with ceramic cooking areas, in order to create a shock- and vibration-proof hold. Especially not when the opening of the housing on the machine or equipment has to offer comprehensive protection against dust and spray water." via Electronics News

Apple patent filing points directly to 'iWatch' concept with flexible touchscreen display "In another embodiment, the invention calls for a more robust design in which the flexible display is mounted directly to the bracelet and "framed" by a thicker, more comfortable fabric covering. Switches and critical electronics should also be resistant to fatigue, the patent notes, as the bracelet switches from a convex shape to a concave configuration depending on whether it is being worn by the user. When in its "curled state," or otherwise attached to a user's arm, the bracelet can take on the form of an uninterrupted screen. On-board sensors, like gyroscopes and accelerometers, would aid in orienting the screen's information toward the user." via Apple Insider

Polytron Unveils Transparent Smartphone Display Prototype "Taiwan-based Polytron Technologies are apparently already experimenting with a glass like smartphone with a multi-touch display.The prtotype device called Switchable glass is a conductive OLED display (organic light-emitting diode) makes use of liquid crystal molecules, that emit light in response to electric current. When the device is switched off the molecules take the form of a white cloudy like substance, which transforms the device to appear like glass." via Gizbot

Apple CEO blasts OLEDs as inferior tech – independent research shows he has a point "At a Goldman Sachs investor conference today, the Apple CEO dismissed the idea that the display technology is something Apple should adopt, noting “If you ever buy anything online and really want to know what he color is, as many people do, you should really think twice before you depend on the color from a OLED display.” Cook, asked if Apple would consider creating devices with larger displays, said that size and specifications are things companies focus on when they can’t “create an amazing experience.” That’s obviously a shot across Samsung’s bow, but it’s an arguably true evaluation of both the PC business and smartphone manufacturing." via ExtremeTech

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Touch panel market projected for 34% growth in 2013 "The financial crisis that started in 2008 left much of the IT industry hobbling worldwide. But only the touch panel market is enjoying a boom. Many new players are pouring into the industry, and those on the sidelines are waiting for the opportune moment to enter. As more players enter the competitive landscape, touch panel prices are falling rapidly. In addition, to gain competitiveness and to differentiate itself in the market has led players to develop and improve structure, technique and process, and seek out new materials." via Solid State Technology

LG Display betting on OLED to the tune of $657 million "Today we learned that LG Display has invested a whopping $657 million in the production of large OLED TV screens, a figure that will enable it to produce 26,000 mother glass sheets a month which are big enough to make six 55-inch screens per sheet. In other words: the company will be capable of churning out 156,000 panels per page turn on your calender. Since LG display is the largest flat-panel producer in the world, and since LG Electronics owns a 38 percent stake in it – it stands to reason that LG proper will be buying plenty of the new panels. This is news that should resonate industry-wide." via Digital Trends

Panasonic Says Plasma is still the best TV technology "Unlike LCD TVs which use an array of LEDs to illuminate their pixels, plasma TVs use glass panels containing over two million tiny cells filled with a mixture of inert gases. An electric current passed through these cells excites the gases, causing them to illuminate the pixels across the screen. This method of lighting is traditionally a lot better for motion reproduction, contrast levels and reducing 3D crosstalk than LCD tech. But they do suffer from a lack of brightness and come with bulkier chassis than their LED cousins." via TechRadar

ISSCC 2013: Imagers, MEMS, Medical and Displays "Significant R&D effort is being spent on active 3D imaging time-of-flight (TOF) applications to support requirements from autonomous driving, gaming, and industrial applications, addressing open challenges like background light immunity, higher spatial resolution, and longer distance range. Deep-submicron CMOS single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) have been developed by several groups using different technology nodes. They are now capable of meeting the requirements for high resolution, high timing accuracy by employing highly parallel time-to-digital-converters (TDCs) and small pixel pitch with better fill factor. ...This and other related topics will be discussed at length at ISSCC 2013, the foremost global forum for new developments in the integrated-circuit industry. ISSCC, the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, will be held on February 17-21, 2013, at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel." via Solid State Technology

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Three-dimensional dancing bear shows the way to practical holographic display "Three-dimensional holographic displays can provide truly realistic images because they provide all the depth cues required by the human visual system and eliminate visual discomfort. However, the development of a practical holographic display system is limited by the availability of a spatial light modulator (SLM) with a large pixel count and closely spaced pixel element (small pixel pitch). Such a SLM is critical to achieve a large displayed image and a wide viewing angle.1 Over the past five years, we have developed three holographic display systems to combat this problem, each with an increasing degree of sophistication, resolution, and color reproduction quality." via SPIE

Improved Moisture Barriers for Organic Displays and Electronics are Coming "Materials used in OLED or OPV devices degrade rapidly when they contact oxygen or moisture, so they must be sealed tightly. In contrast, inorganic devices such as conventional TFT LCD or TFT-EPD survive the presence of humid air about a thousand times longer. In fact, EPD, such as electrophoretic E Ink displays, need some moisture so its encapsulation is meant to keep water in, rather than out." via Display Central

Key patent analysis on quantum dot displays released "The quantum dot recently emerged as a next-generation display material. Quantum dots, whose diameter is just a few nanometers, are semiconductor crystals. The smaller its particle is, the more short-wavelength light are emitted; the larger its particle is, the more long-wavelength lights get emitted. Considering that there are more advantages with the quantum dots over conventional light sources, it is not surprising that the quantum dot display gains a lot of attention." via Solid State Technology

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Sharp develops technology to recycle glass from LCD TVs "Sharp Corp has developed technology for reprocessing the glass from used LCD panels, a discovery seen helping to lower recycling costs for consumers. ...Working with Osaka Prefecture University, Sharp found a method for turning the crushed glass from panels into zeolite via reactions in an alkaline solution. The firm foresees stable demand for the material, which is used as an absorbent to purify water and as a soil treatment, among other purposes. A 40-inch panel would yield roughly 200 yen (US$2.35) worth of zeolite." via Waste Management World

As touch screen market grows, Asia gains advantage on industry ""Demand is growing for thinner, light weight, and lower cost touch panels and devices. In addition, we see strong touch screen growth over the next several years in larger display applications such as convertible/hybrid notebook PCs and all-in-one PCs,” saidJennifer Colegrove, Vice President of Emerging Display Technologies at NPD DisplaySearch. “Over the next few years, in-cell, on-cell, and sensor-on-cover touch technologies will surpass the add-on type projected capacitive touch.” To meet consumer demand, technology companies are adapting to the market simply by adding touch screen abilities. Google, for instance, was rumored to be installing a touch screen in its next Chromebook. Although the conjecture came from a “leaked” video last week, it is inevitable that more laptops will feature touch screen technology." via Digital Journal

Apple's iPhone 5 Integrated Touch Display Technology Comes to Light and it loudly Screams it's Coming to all Macs Eventually "Specifically, rather than employ a separate, overlaid touch sensor panel over an LCD panel, embodiments of the present disclosure may incorporate integrated touch sensor components in-cell within display pixel cells of the LCD or on-cell above the display pixel cells. Among other things, these touch sensor components may include a conductive portion of in-cell black matrix, which also may shield light from one pixel from bleeding into another pixel." via Patently Apple

What do TV screens, bullet-proof vests and soap all have common? "Nematics were discovered in Germany in the late 19th century by virtue of their appearance under polarised light (as shown in the image), but no one realised they were more than a rather beautiful intellectual curiosity for another 50+ years. They are useful in displays because their alignment can be switched on and off by an electric field, so allowing individual pixels in a display to be separately addressed. Getting large areas of such displays to work perfectly with low energy consumption and high contrast are all technological issues; the basic physics (and requisite chemistry of the molecules) has now been known for many years. ...So, in the century and more since liquid crystals were first identified, they have transformed from an esoteric if attractive curiosity to a key class of materials in our everyday world. Things would look very different without them, as a quick appreciation of the screen on which you read this will make you realise." via The Guardian

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Display Technology News Roundup 2.9.2013

Image via ubergizmo

Mitsubishi Electric Free-form Screen Car Display System Developed "Mitsubishi Electric has come up with something interesting – a free-form screen car display system which is capable of projecting images on different kinds of screen, be they curve, oval or triangle in shape, in order to match the interior layouts of future vehicles. Basically, this prototype car display system will be powered by an optical engine which is capable of projecting images on curved, oval or triangular screens, in order to suit a wide range of car interiors." via ubergizmo

Will Samsung and LG Display Work Together on AMOLED? "Samsung and LG Display are both leaders in many aspects of AMOLED technology, but Japanese and Taiwanese competitors are catching up. In fact, Sony and Panasonic demonstrated OLED technologies (super top emission and ink-jet-printing respectively) which has led some to believe that Japan has taken one step leap forward." via DisplaySearch Blog

The Chromebook Pixel: leaked Google product, or clever hoax? ""The more pixels we add, the more wonderful the world," says the video's narrator. Even more tantalizing are hints that this high-res display is in fact a touchscreen. Still, it's not entirely clear whether we're seeing something that's the direct work of Google or an extremely impressive fan-made concept, but there's at least some evidence pointing to the former." via The Verge

Re-Thinking LCD Architecture for the Digital Signage Market "Since digital signage has become a recognized market, the differences in product requirements between that and a consumer TV have become more recognized. Although most differences between the two are complimentary: e.g. thinner bezels are beneficial to both consumer TV and digital signage but count for a lot more in the signage market. In some cases, however, the differences between the two are not complimentary and signage needs a solution that would be contrary to product design for a TV. One example is viewing angle." via Flat Panel Display Blog

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MSC offers embedded graphical LCD design day "MSC Gleichmann will be running a one-day workshop covering hardware and software design of graphical LCD user interfaces in embedded applications. It will focus on the Renesas 32-bit RX-series microcontroller development environment and will take place at the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, West Midlands on Thursday 14 March. The morning session will explain the fundamentals of driving a graphics LCD, first showing how this can be achieved using the RX62N Starter Kit to directly drive a WQVGA TFT display with touchscreen interface and then looking at how the software can be adapted for other similar standard displays." via ElectronicsWeekly

Apple Reviewing New Kind of Optical Film that Outshines OLED "Due to the film's low cost, it could replace other, more expensive films that have been used to create LCDs. Toyobo Co., a synthetic fiber manufacturer, will begin producing the film in April, at a scale of 10,000 tons per year." via Patently Apple

Trends in Capacitive Touch Panels "Cypress Semiconductor has been supplying capacitive touchscreen controller IC solutions since 2008 and has maintained a database with the sensor parameters and layer structures for each customer project that has entered mass production since then. Based on actual design project data from this database, we have derived some trends on the prevailing parameters of 'on-stack' sensors over the 2009-2012 timeframe. 'On-stack' refers here to structures where the touch sensor layers are supplied by standalone (ITO) sensor vendors and are combined with the display module after completing manufacturing of the display." via Electronic Design

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Invisible Smartphone on the Horizon? "Using technologies developed for displays, a Taiwanese company is showing off prototypes of a phone made of glass. ...Polytron has a long history with display technology, and markets a product as “privacy glass.” The liquid crystal molecules in the glass are arranged randomly when the current is off, but when it is on they line up and allow light to pass through. So this phone would be invisible until it is turned on. " via Discovery News

Can your 3D projector do that? "Watching in the dark will always be better than having a light on, but projectors today put out much more light than those in the past. For example, one of the 750HD’s selling points is the high level of brightness it provides 3,000 lumens of white brightness. And because the 3D view is “active” (liquid-crystal glasses used, not polarized), the full resolution of the image is maintained. The result is a more realistic and true-to-life 3D image as well." via 3DTV.com

How CNET tests TVs "Uniformity: With LCDs and rear-projection sets, we use this section to address backlight uniformity across the screen, making subjective observations with full-raster test patterns, letterbox bars and flat-color scenes, such as shots of skies, from program material. We also talk about off-angle viewing in this section, using similar material and subjective comparisons. Plasma TVs usually have effectively perfect uniformity and off-angle viewing, so we don't typically don't include this section in plasma reviews--but we will if the plasma's uniformity is atypical to our eye." via CNET

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‘Peacock’ color for screen displays "In a peacock’s mother-of-pearl tail, precisely arranged hairline grooves reflect light of certain wavelengths. That’s why the resulting colors appear different depending on the movement of the animal or the observer. Imitating this system—minus the rainbow effect—has been a leading approach to developing next-generation reflective displays." via Futurity

CES 2013 "It was impossible to walk through the CES without being bombarded with screens. Large screens, 3D screens, OLED screens, UHD/4K screens, 'smart' screens and all combinations of the above. With regard to large screens, the 110" 4K LCD screens on display from a number of China-based brands, including TCL and Hisense as well as Taiwan-based Westinghouse (in a hotel suite), were clearly hard to miss given not only their size, but the prominent position of the stands in locations that would have had major Japanese brands in those places in years gone by. That alone is part of a trend: Chinese brands will no longer be relegated to second place brands or OEM suppliers to others." via hiddenwires

Touchscreen suppliers snub notebooks in favor of smartphones, tablets "The unproven demand for touch screens on notebooks and the high-end specifications for touch on Windows 8 notebooks have contributed to touch-screen suppliers' reluctance to shift production from high-volume smartphones and tablets, noted Richard Shim, senior analyst with NPD DisplaySearch. ...In addition, there is a shortage of ultra-slim panels for ultra-slim notebooks due to the technical challenges and expense of making the panels. "The challenge from a production standpoint is that manufacturing ultra-slim glass--0.4mm and thinner--is not only difficult, but handling and transporting such fragile glass requires special equipment. Only two panel suppliers, AUO and Innolux, are taking on the extra expense of using ultra-slim glass to offer panels in any significant volumes," Shim said." via FierceMobileIT

Apple surprises with new solar / touchscreen patent "What’s interesting about this patent is that the solar panel would also operate as the touchscreen itself, rather than as two separate units, observed Forbes. Most touchscreens today use either a resistive (pressure-sensor) or a capacitive (conductive-sensor) screen to respond to touch input. The iPhone and iPad use capacitive touchscreens, for instance. However, the new patent takes a fundamentally different approach. “The integrated touch sensor array and solar cell stack-ups may include electrodes that are used both for collecting solar energy and for sensing on a touch sensor array,” according to Apple’s abstract. “By integrating both the touch sensors and the solar cell layers into the same stack-up, surface area on the portable device may be conserved. In addition to being used for capacitive sensing, the integrated touch sensor and solar panel configurations may also be used for optical sensing.”" via CleanEnergyAuthority

ZBD's epaper customer displays "Berkshire-based ZBD started life in 2000 as a technology spin-out of UK research lab Qinetiq, launched to exploit zenithal bistable displays, hence the company name. ...Unlike E Ink displays, ZBDs can be made on a standard high-volume LCD manufacturing line with little modification. The image quality is high-contrast and easily read, like an LCD digital watch, but does not achieve the ink-in-paper look of E Ink in an eReader. ZBD has re-invented itself as an electronic shelf-edge labelling firm by combining its displays with a low-power radio receiver in units ('epops') that offer five years of maintenance-free operation from an internal battery." via ElectronicsWeekly

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Display Technology News Roundup 1.31.2013

Image via ExtremeTech

Add OLED screens to your fingernails with NailDisplay "It's only a prototype right now, but a group of engineers at the National Taiwan University in Taipei think that using fingernail-mounted OLED screens could solve a number of UI problems plaguing today's gadgets. For instance, if a person is typing on a touchscreen smartphone, the NailDisplay could show what virtual key your thumb is on (and obscuring), essentially making your typing experience a "transparent" one." via DVICE

Jaguar Land Rover engineer discusses HMI display technology "The key differentiator that is holding back displays in the automobile is that of the environment. The harshness and variety of environmental extremes means that standard consumer display's can't be used, therefore specific development projects need to take place. I expect that the increased resolution trend will eventually migrate across to cars, but this must not be done at the expense of performance and in particular brightness - which in a fixed position system is critical to ensure performance in all ambient lighting conditions, this is something that consumer devices are not particularly good at." via Display Alliance

Penetration rate of touch screen technology used in LCD monitors expected to increase in 2013 "The global penetration rate of touch screen technology used in LCD monitors is expected to increase to 8-10% in 2013 largely due to the release of Windows 8, according to sources at ViewSonic. The penetration rate is expected to reach the percentage by the end of the year after climbing from 3-5% in the first quarter 2013 largely due to LCD vendors' plans to continue releasing products that are Windows 8 compatible, said the sources." via DigiTimes

Flex-o-Fab: a new 3-year EU project that aims to help commercialize flexible OLEDs within six years "The Flex-o-Fab project will draw on technologies and expertise already used to produce glass-based OLEDs and flexible displays. It will look to migrate existing sheet-to-sheet processes to roll-to-roll (R2R) production to further reduce costs and enable high-volume production." via OLED-Info

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Sharp IGZO to Transform Displays "The cascading effect of these two advantages over A-Si are stunning, and Sharp is taking full advantage, as evidenced in the CES booth. The big advantage in mobile displays comes in power savings, as the larger aperture ratio allows for far fewer LED backlights to achieve the same brightness levels. But beyond the obvious power savings from fewer backlights, the high electron mobility from Sharp IGZO also allows the display panel to modulate the on/off state (at about 100 Hz) and still maintain the image on the screen, according to Chris Frank of the Sharp Camas Labs in Washington State." via Display Central

Today's thinner LCDs can show uneven lighting, even in bright scenes "LCD screens have often shown some backlight non-uniformity (called mura), because an LCD panel can let the backlight leak through more in certain spots than in others. Normally, this appears as an uneven cloudiness that usually can be seen only when the screen image is dark or completely black. But as TVs get ever thinner, we've seen a new problem that can cause even more noticeable type of non-uniformity, which, at its worst, can be distracting even in bright scenes." via ConsumerReports.org

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Reduce Display Noise In Capacitive Touchscreens "There are several options to reduce display noise effects on the touchscreen controller: shielding (eliminating noise magnitude), avoid noise frequency, digital filters, touchscreen sensor design, and synchronization." via Mobile Dev & Design

Car Makers Seize New Display Technology "Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz is torn on whether to implement the head-up display technology in its models. Its revamped E-Class sedan, which debuted at the Detroit auto show this week, is chock-full of new safety technologies such as a pedestrian-detection system, but doesn't include a heads-up display function. "There is still an internal debate [within Daimler] about it at the moment," said Joachim Schmidt, Daimler's global sales chief." via The Wall Street Journal

High res displays revolutionize user interfaces "In the past, UI designers had to think about what would look good on a display. Now these designers just need to figure out what looks good. This small shift in design mentality has unlocked the creativity of many on what a modern interface should look like, and we have only seen the start of it." via The Retriever Weekly

Kent Displays Listed As Manufacturer “Of Note” 2013 "A pioneer in the liquid crystal display industry, Kent Displays has transformed itself from a research-based organization into a business-to-consumer company. Its plastic LCDs, manufactured under the trade name Reflex, are used in a variety of applications in growing markets such as writing tablets, electronics skins and credit card displays. Among Kent Display’s products is a line of e-writers — the Boogie Board tablets — which were introduced in 2010 by Improv Electronics, Kent Displays’ consumer product subsidiary. In its first year in production, Boogie Board tablet sales exceeded forecast by 10 times because of their successful entry to the Chinese marketplace. By 2011, Boogie Boards were being sold in India. Today, the company is exploring other global markets for expansion. Learn more at www.kentdisplays.com." via Smart Business

E Ink accused of asset-stripping Hydis "The chief bone of contention for Hydis workers is the suspicion that E Ink is asset-stripping the company by selling its core technology — more specifically, the license for Hydis' LCD technology which is considered to be just a few notches below top display makers such LG Display — to rival companies. The act itself may be legitimate, but in that case, Bae insists that the government must initiate legislation to prevent such transfers of technology in the future. ...This would not be the first time that Hydis suffered at the hands of a foreign owner. Prior to E Ink's acquisition in 2008, the display maker — formerly a unit under Hyundai Electronics, the precursor to Hynix Semiconductor that was acquired by SK Group — had been exploited by China-based BOE Display." via The China Post

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“Moth’s Eye” Approach Will Reduce Screen Reflections and Glares "Moth Eye technology will be far more advanced than Apple’s Retina display, which develops screens based on the highest threshold of human sight that can distinguish between the pixels on a screen. While Steve Jobs touted Retina display technology as the maximum threshold of human sight, a recent rumor has it that Samsung Electronics will use diamond-shaped pixels in its soon-to-be Galaxy S4 instead of the usual Pentile-Matrix pixel display (while also producing a pixel density of 440ppi, or pixels per inch)." via The Droid Guy

Samsung hits OLED screen milestone "While it took Samsung four and a half years to reach the initial 100 million production mark for OLED panels, the next 100 million units were produced in just eleven months, and the last 100 million units were produced in only seven months. Samsung held a ceremony to commemorate the 300 million production milestone at Samsung Display City located in Asan city, Chungcheongnam-do, in South Korea, which was attended by its president and more than 300 other employees." via itbusiness.ca

Design Touchscreen-Based Handheld Systems For Low Power Consumption "Designers can stretch the operating battery life of handheld devices through judicious management of the operational states. Touchscreens, which are now nearly ubiquitous, make a good example. The operating conditions for a portable device, with the variety of applications it can support, generally can vary from intensely busy to nearly idle in a moment’s time. By utilizing knowledge of how a device is being used, the power consumed by the touchscreen can be more efficiently managed." via Electronic Design

Toray’s touchscreen film self-repairs scratches, cuts down on fingerprints "What Toray has done is manage to apply the anti-fingerprint solution to their self repairing film. So now you can have a fingerprint free touchscreen that also recovers from any minor scratches. Toray also updated the anti-fingerprint technology to make it easier to remove any dirt that does build up, however, in doing so the film doesn’t work quite as well as last year’s wrinkled nanometer surface method." via geek.com

Has Apple finally abandoned its sad claim to the 'Multi-Touch' trademark? "Apple's used "Multi-Touch" since literally the first minute Steve Jobs uttered the word, with a conspicuous pause between syllables and a handy slide behind him displaying the hyphenated form. The goal, as with any trademark, was to convince the public that "Multi-Touch" on Apple devices is a proprietary technology somehow distinct from all the other multitouch displays in the world. If you squint right and imagine you're a hotshot young attorney with a bad BMW habit, it sort of makes sense, in the same way that "E Ink" makes sense as a trademark. But it was always unfortunate: here's Apple, the leader in minimal design, allowing its lawyers to brutalize the perfectly functional word "multitouch" with two capital letters, a hyphen, and a superscript. Gross." via The Verge

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Display Technology News Roundup 1.25.2013

Image via Zebra Imaging

3D holograms assist battle preparation "Holographic maps developed by Zebra Imaging (Austin, TX) and sponsored by a US Army contract allow soldiers to view three-dimensional (3D) landscapes and cityscapes prior to entering a battle zone. The technology, which has other uses in both military and civilian applications, relies on software that converts light detection and ranging (lidar) data into an up to 24 × 36 sq-in. rollable laser-written holographic display that can be observed using a simple flashlight, without the need for special viewing glasses or goggles." via Laser Focus World

How an E-ink Screen is Made (video) "The following video shows the CMO of E-ink, Sriram Peruvemba, as he explains the steps involved in making an E-ink screen. " via The Digital Reader

Electrowetting displays: Brighter than LCD, lower-power, and daylight readable "In an electrowetting display, a small blob of black oil takes the place of liquid crystal. In its base state, the black oil is opaque and doesn’t let any light through. Apply some electricity, the electrowetting of the substrate increases, the oil becomes a tight bead — and voila, lots of light passes through. Repeat this for all three RGB subpixels and you have a computer display." via Extreme Tech

Texas Instruments wants LCDs out of cars "The LCD touch screen has become commonplace in cars, but the technology suffers from limited shaping. Texas Instruments used its Digital Light Processor (DLP) technology to come up with a display that could take a wide variety of shapes in the car, and allow touch control for people wearing gloves." via CNET

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Acer denies making touchscreen alliance "He said neither the company nor its chairman are involved in assembling a touchscreen industry alliance in Taiwan. The Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported yesterday that Acer chairman and chief executive officer Wang Jeng-tang was organizing the nation’s first touchscreen industry alliance to take on industry rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea."via Taipei Times

Touchscreen restaurant table forecasts the end of human interactions "Moneual has unveiled a design for a touchscreen cafe table that can display apps to help diners browse and order off the menu. ...Designed to feature touchscreen menus, order placement interface, and payment options, the Touch Table would be the one stop shop for cafe-goers to enjoy a Seamless-esque experience by interacting solely with computers and minimally with humans." via Digital Trends

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Touch Screens Moving Beyond Smartphones and Tablets "The current trend of using iPads or other multi-touch tablets with dedicated apps for certain specific purposes may be innovative, but it won't be sustainable or economically scalable beyond a point. It is here that the necessity for dedicated multi touch devices comes into the picture. There is massive potential in this arena, and companies like Sollensys are leading the way forwards. " via Huffington Post

PaperTabs electronic paper expected to replace computers "PaperTabs, created at Canada's Queen's University in partnership with Intel Labs and Plastic Logic, look similar to sheets of paper with black printing. But PaperTabs are actually flexible computers powered by the latest Intel chips with 10.7-inch touchscreens and the ability to interact with other pieces of electronic paper. Lay one PaperTab beside another and they can work together to display a larger image, for example. PaperTabs can also be used simply to read large documents, with users bending the PaperTab each time they wish to virtually flick to the next page." via Perth Now

Xbox display technology turns your room into a ‘holodeck’ of sorts "Microsoft gave a demonstration of a new research project called Illumiroom that fills a room with lights and images that coincide with what’s being shown on a TV screen. The experimental display tech uses Xbox Kinect — in conjunction with a projector — to scan the appearance and geometry of the room." via Venture Beat

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Cockpit display innovators to convene at Avionics Europe 2013 "“Few humans would disagree that of our five senses, sight and touch are perhaps the most important. Avionics displays embody sight and touch via an increasingly important role for pilots, crew, passengers, and maintenance personnel alike,” affirms Vance Hilderman, president of Atego HighRely. ...Avionics Europe 2013 will take place 20 and 21 Feb. 2013 in Munich." via Avionics Intelligence

Inventing DualView: Displaying two images at the same time "The technology’s origins lay in 3D – specifically glasses-free 3D, most recently seen in Nintendo’s 3DS and 3DS XL handheld games console. Much like the 3DS, DualView combines a normal LCD with parallax barrier technology, displaying two pictures simultaneously by separating the direction of light from each pixel into two directions. But unlike glasses-free 3D, which tricks the eyes into seeing a single three-dimensional image by layering two 2D images, DualView uses the tech to display two 2D images simultaneously." via Humans invent

£25M Graphene R&D Centre With Backing from Nokia, Plastic Logic & Others "Material scientists and nanotechnologists get very excited about the potential of graphene — a one-atom-thick sheet of bonded carbon atoms which is exceptionally strong, lightweight and flexible and is a better conductor than silicon – but they are not the only ones to see huge potential in it. Nokia, Plastic Logic, Philips, Dyson, and BaE systems are among more than 20 industry partners who have pledged £13 million worth of support for a new graphene R&D centre to be established at Cambridge University. ...The new Cambridge Graphene Centre aims to develop graphene from a material with a lot of raw potential — researchers have already been looking at how graphene could improve battery capacity, and exploring its water-repelling properties — to a point where it can “revolutionise flexible, wearable and transparent electronics”." via Tech Crunch

Will Samsung use diamond or hexagonal sub pixels in their new AMOLEDs? "Reportedly, Samsung are developing hexagon and diamond shaped pixels. This means that Samsung will increase the resolution but the picture will suffer due to jagged pixel artifacts and blurring. It's probably that at such high pixel density this won't actually be noticed, but still." via OLED-Info

A Dual-Screen Smartphone "But it seems to me like the most clever, the most innovative, the most useful way to employ double screens is also the most obvious one: to turn your smartphone into a tablet. What I want–what everyone wants, I think–is the screen real estate of a tablet, with the convenience of a device that fits in your pocket. The trend right now is to try to find a middle ground with tablet-phone hybrids called “phablets” (see “Review: Galaxy Note”). The only problem: phablets are often awkward." via MIT Technology Review

Is Apple changing its mind on touch panel structures? "Calvin Hsieh, senior analyst at DisplaySearch, cites a report from China that Innolux has delivered "touch on display" samples for the iPhone, another China report that Innolux and AU Optronics have provided "one-glass solution" (OGS) samples for the iPad Mini, and his firm's own analysis that the iPhone 5 uses in-cell touch technology but the iPad mini uses a glass/film dual ITO (GF2, or DITO) structure. With both those processes struggling to attain good yields, could Apple end up changing its display technology adoption midstream?" via Solid State Technology

Plasmag Technology successfully develops TCP film "EDN quoted representatives of Plasmag as stating the technology has a simplified production process and low cost advantages over ITO films. EDN also quoted market observers stating they believe the technology will replace ITO film in the future for conductive touch screen materials, most notably for use in tablet products." via DigiTimes

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Display Technology News Roundup 1.15.2013

Image via PC World

Displair gives you a touchscreen out of thin air "Air flows out of the device, interacting with water drops to form a screen where you can beam images from a computer or tablet. But this is no mere projection screen, it's a fully interactive display, as I found it when I was able to play a game of Fruit Ninja just by waving my hand across the Displair's virtual screen." via PC World

CES 2013 OLED summary "But the most interesting OLED TVs didn't come from LG and Samsung this time - but from Sony and Panasonic. Both companies unveiled 56" 4K OLED TV prototypes. The two companies are collaboration on OLED technologies, and Sony made the TFT on Panasonic's set - which probably explains why both unveiled TVs in the same unique 56" size." via OLED-Info

It's official: 3D is dead "There are no more 60-foot posters with people exploding out of flatscreen televisions. The super glitzy marketing videos now relate to the far more tangible benefits of higher resolutions, curved displays, and the beauty of OLED. The show floor space dedicated to three-dimensional imagery has been decimated, relegating a dubious technology to its proper position as a sideshow rather than a leading cause to upgrade your TV." via The Verge

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Show envisions curved displays, controls "Given enough imagination, engineers could figure out how touch controls or displays could be helpful on the curved handle of a cup of coffee, said Mariel van Tatenhove, marketing director for touch materials for San Jose's Atmel Corp., a developer of microcontrollers, capacitive touch controllers and touch sensors. "We used to think the world was flat, but it's not," said van Tatenhove, who was showing off the company's paper-thin and bendable touch sensor called XSense. "Why shouldn't devices be either?"" via SFGate

Harman Wants to Put an Augmented Reality Display in Your Car’s Windshield "Harman has developed an augmented reality display technology that give you real-time information in your windshield while you drive. It's like Google Glasses for your ar except that the product is actually about to launch it (or so they say...). And Harman promises you won't crash while using it." via Gizmodo

Two Advanced LCD Technologies Appear in Soon-to-Ship Consumer TV Sets "Sharp didn’t really try in its big press conference, simply saying that in addition to its coming 4Kx2K TVs, the company was introducing an FHD Quattron TV that produced images with close to 4Kx2K sharpness. ...Very briefly, because a Quattron pixel contains four subpixels (red, green, blue, and yellow) instead of three, any given color can be created with more than one combination of primaries. This redundancy can be used to create two luminance peaks per pixel instead of the traditional one luminance peak per pixel. Thus, the panel can produce a true 4Kx2K image even though it contains only 2Kx1K (four-primary) pixels." via Display Central

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Tactus tactile LCD "It’s a flexible panel sandwiched atop a touchscreen that uses liquid to inflate and deflate buttons that provide actual tactile response on devices like smartphones, tablets, and kiosk computers. Fast forward to this week and Tactus is on hand at CES 2013 where it’s showing off a 7-inch reference tablet that features the slick morphing keyboard. Like an e-Ink display, the Tactus buttons only require power during state changes." via Geek.com

How to deploy digital signage in transit "Solar Clearing of the LCD screen also is a concern. With direct sunlight and a backlight at full brightness, the LCD crystals receive a large amount of heat and could go through a phase change causing black blotches on the screen. This solar clearing will cause degradation in the display, thereby reducing the operating life." via Digital Signage Today

Flat panel makers safe from rising NTD "Chang said the near term foreign exchange rate fluctuations are unlikely to hurt Taiwanese screen makers badly, but he is more concerned about long term movements if the local currency continues to climb. Chang said another silver lining is that the weakening Japanese yen has served as a factor to reduce the impact from a rising New Taiwan dollar as local flat panel makers are able to take advantage of a cheaper yen by importing components from Japan." via The China Post

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DNP creates bezel-narrowing LCD cover "InvisiBezel can be mounted on top of standard “narrow-bezel” LCD panels. The edges consist of prisms that optically stretch the pixels at the edge of the LCD panel to conceal the bezel. It also protects the panels from scratches." via InAVate

Samsung Again Teases Flexible Displays, But Will Anything Come of Them? ""Samsung and a few other vendors have been teasing the market for some time on flexible displays but so far as I can see, their yapping hasn't done much to create buzz around the idea, let alone actual demand," said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT. "The more attention they receive, the more flexible displays look like a classic 'solution in search of a problem.' Unless Samsung and other involved parties can define some compelling need or use case, flexible displays are likely to become one of those long-discussed yet quickly forgotten misadventures."" via Sci-Tech Today

This Vomiting Robot Is Really A Next-Generation Display Technology "Petman, the eerily lifelike walking droid manufactured by Boston Dynamics, may look like a Terminator prototype, but it’s actually designed to test chemical protection clothing for humans. ECCErobot began as a testbed to study how our brains control our floppy, fragile bodies. And Larry, god bless him, is basically a display technology for studying the contagious properties of aerosolized norovirus (a nasty bug that spreads from projectile vomiting). " via MIT Technology Review

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The Display Technology News Roundup For 1.3.2013

Image via The Environmental Blog

OLED TV Arrives "The companies are tackling the OLED in different ways. Samsung is using three OLEDs—one red, one green, one blue—for each pixel; LG is using white OLEDs throughout, creating subpixels with colored and white filters. O’Donovan says he thinks, at least in the short term, that LG’s white OLED approach “will be better for yields and will create a more uniform color for the whole panel.”" via ieee spectrum

Panasonic Halts Plasma R&D "Panasonic is reportedly due to halt R&D activities for its plasma TVs to concentrate on developing OLED technology. ...In fact, plasmas could be phased out for good in 2014 to make way for upcoming OLED technology, which boasts all the benefits of plasma and LCD (infinite contrast, wide viewing angles, good response times, etc.) without the drawbacks." via Digital Versus

Small, medium-size AMOLED displays doubling by 2015 "Mass adoption of AMOLED technology, though, faces hurdles due to the higher cost and technical difficulty of manufacturing -- successful entry takes five years on average, according to the firm. "Prior to the start of mass production of AMOLED displays for mobile phones, only passive-matrix OLED (PMOLED) displays were available, mostly used in applications such as mobile phone sub-displays, automobile displays, and some industrial and niche applications," Chung stated." via Solid State Technology

The Difference Between Makers and Manufacturers "In Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance, Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih, professors at Harvard Business School, list critical technologies in which the United States has lost or is at risk of losing its manufacturing prowess. Among them are rechargeable batteries, liquid crystal displays, and semiconductors (70 percent of the world’s foundry capacity is in Taiwan). It is no longer feasible to make e-ink readers in this country, though the technology was invented here. Shih rejects the notion that innovative products can reliably emerge when designs are shipped off for others to produce." via MIT Technology Review

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Apple May Use IGZO Display Technology on 2013 iPhone and iPad Releases "A rumor suggests that Apple, Inc. and Sharp Corp. are negotiating plans for the former company to use the latter’s IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) technology in its next-generation iPhones and iPad tablet computers. While this agreement could be a potential game-changer for Apple, low yield rates on Sharp’s end has forced Apple to consider other display manufacturers in Asia to ensure healthy supplies of display panels." via Eastern Morning Herald

A Closer Look – MIT Lab’s 8D display "The 8D display is just of several inventions to overcome the prohibitive bandwidth requirements of holographic displays, all without the need for eyeglasses, using optimized optical hardware and co-designed "compressive" image-encoding algorithms. To date, MIT have explored the use of such "compressive displays" that are primarily composed of multiple layers of high-speed liquid crystal displays (LCDs)." via 3D Focus

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Electrowetting combines the best of LCD and E Ink "The problem is that the polarization limits both the viewing angle and the light coming from the backlight. Together, those optical layers—the polarizers, the color filters, and so on—waste more than 90 percent of the backlight’s output. Electrowetting limits this loss by dispensing with the polarizers." via ieee spectrum

Liquid Crystal Finding Could Lead to New Computer Screens "University of Massachusetts Amherst mathematician Robert Kusner teamed up with researchers at the University of Colorado to conduct three-dimensional liquid crystal experiments. According to a press release, “The work is expected to lead to creation of new materials that can be actively controlled.” ...“These findings lay the groundwork for new applications in experimental studies of low-dimensional topology, with important potential ramifications for many branches of science and technology,” Smalyukh stated, noting that the finding could lead to upgraded liquid crystal display (LCD) screens in televisions and laptops that let them interact with light in new ways." via The Epoch Times

Uni-Pixel: Possibly The Best Investment For 2013 "In order to fully understand Unipixel's opportunity, one must first understand the market - touch screens. ...Current 'conductive layers' are made from ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) which is horribly flawed. Firstly, Indium is expensive, increasing from $300/kg to $800/kg in the past 3 years. ...Due to the brittleness of ITO, this cost gets exponentially more expensive for larger screens (such as tablets or laptops, or larger smart phones). This is where Unipixel steps in with the UniBoss product." via Seeking Alpha

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LG Flexible e-Paper Fails to Change the e-Reader World "Why didn’t this screen technology ever catch on in the e-reader world? Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Bookeen, and Bebook all use e-Paper made by e-Ink Holdings. This company has had a stranglehold on the entire e-reader segment. With the industry gravitating towards illuminated screens and e-Ink Triton 2, there aren’t any takers for LG." via Good Ereader

New E-Notepad by Sharp brings paper notebooks closer to their doom "The strongest point of the WG-N10 is the accuracy of its response when used with a stylus. It has a self correction system that adjusts the output lines accordingly as the stylus "writes", and can accurately display written notes even in the centimeter range. The reflective display even adds more intuitiveness to the unit, since it can be used just about anywhere that you can use an ordinary notebook, only you don't use up paper and ink!" via VR-Zone

Patent Issued for on Demand Calibration of Imaging Displays ""The steps further include receiving luminance and color values from a plurality of photosensors associated with the display screen, where the photosensors detect distinct luminance and color levels at the different regions of the display screen. The steps also include determining, from the detected luminance and color levels, a plurality of luminance and color correction factors by comparing the detected luminance and color values to reference luminance and color data. The steps additionally include applying the determined luminance and color correction factors to the different regions of the display screen so as to adjust luminance and color of the display screen at the different regions, where each of the different regions is spanned by a corresponding measurement field."" via Equities.com

Firewall: A Depth Sensitive Interactive Wall "Firewall is an interactive installation, a seemingly normal wall that is actually a stretched spandex surface which acts as a membrane interface sensitive to depth. People can push, touch, move and create fire-like visuals dynamically depending on the speed, pressure, depth and movement of the interaction with the spandex surface." via Digital Buzz Blog

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The Display Technology News Roundup For 12.27.2012

Image via MIT Technology Review

A Display That Makes Interactive 3-D Seem Mind-Bogglingly Real "The “Z Space” display, developed by Californian company Infinite Z, tracks a user’s eye and hand movements and adjusts the 3-D image that he or she sees in real-time. The resulting effect is stunning. Unlike the 3-D video seen in a movie theater or on a 3-D TV, you can move your head around an object—to look it from the side or from below, for instance—and the Z Space display will adapt and show you the correct perspective. " via MIT Technology Review

Iljin Display expected to become number one touch screen supplier in Korea by the end of 2012 "The expected increase will push Iljin ahead of other Korea-based touch panel makers Melfas, Electro Luminescence Korea (ELK) and Smart Mobile Application Company (SMAC) in touch screen panel revenues during 2012, all of which used to hold top spot positions in Korea from 2009-2011 in terms of revenues generated, added Digitimes Research." via DigiTimes

Big Change in 2013 LCD TV Panel Supply "So, while the end market might prefer 32” which is comparatively cheaper, panel makers may have to cut 32” panel allocation in order to produce 39”, which has a higher panel price and in better production efficiency." via DisplaySearch Blog

Gesture Recognition Technology with Potential "Plessey Semiconductors, Ltd in the UK has announced a contactless gesture recognition technology named imPart which they will demonstrate at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The imPart reference design to be shown at CES 2013 utilizes Plessey’s EPIC sensors to detect changes in electric potential and translates these changes to gesture input for their imPart tablet-style device" via Display Central

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Innolux, AU Optronics Tumble on LCD Order Report "“Inventories started rising so the industry needs to cut prices severely which will hurt profitability throughout the supply chain,” Vincent Yu, a Taipei-based analyst at Jih Sun Financial Holdings Co., wrote in a note today. “In China, the problem is with an excess of 32-inch TV panels as the market is switching to larger sizes, and we see this order cut as being a special one-off event.”" via Bloomberg

Apple Reveals Two Retina Display Technologies "The second patent relates to LCDs that include a panel having an array of metal oxide TFTs, which may be configured to reduce visual artifacts by providing reduced RC loading and parasitic capacitance, thus improving overall image quality." via Patently Apple

How the Kindle Paperwhite Works "The Kindle Paperwhite uses a unique lighting system to illuminate its electronic ink display. Rather than using a backlight as on LCD-based tablets, the Paperwhite uses a transparent light guide that directs light from four edge-mounted LEDs down toward the surface of the display." via The New York Times

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Penn team making waves with liquid crystals "Despite their name, such defects are highly desirable. If the location of the defects can be controlled, the change in pattern or orientation can be put to use. In the case of a liquid crystal display, for example, the crystals’ orientation in different regions determines which parts of the screen are illuminated." via Penn Current

Touchscreen offers new opportunity for PC brands: An interview with Acer president "Acer's internal research points out that a consumer, after controlling a touchscreen product for more than 20 minutes, would want to use his or her fingers to touch any display he or she sees. This indicates that touchscreen control is an irreversible trend. Acer believes touchscreen control will be a strong selling point, but it still needs more time to take off." via DigiTimes

Prismaflex launches self-powered outdoor displays "Prismaflex, the international outdoor media specialist, has created the first out of home advertising display that is entirely energy self-sufficient, with the launch of its solar-powered Autonomous Scroller displays. The breakthrough has been enabled using a transparent photovoltaic film that taps the sun's energy to power both the scrolling mechanism and the LED lighting used by the Autonomous Scroller display." via PrintWeek

Steve Wozniak's IT predictions for 2013 flexible displays ""Eventually, maybe not within 2013, flexible displays will become less expensive, installed everywhere and anywhere, and change the way we interact with mobile devices and share experiences," Wozniak forecasts. "I honestly believe mobile devices will increasingly become our remote controls to the world. We’ll carry our software on our mobile devices, but display it on these communal screens – including those installed in conference rooms. Device manufacturers will continue to develop mobile devices with various screen sizes, but software will also be designed to display on any size."" via Macworld

Will This Samsung Innovation Leave Apple Out in the Cold? "As Hiner noted, “it’s when we get to the next big leap forward that the divergence between Apple and Samsung could really matter.” Samsung produces 90 percent of devices equipped with OLED, or organic light-emitting diodes, a technology thinner and lighter than LCD, and it is also the company closest to bringing flexible OLEDs to market." via Wall St. Cheat Sheet

The Anti Pinch To Zoom "In a preliminary hearing last week, a US court invalidated an Apple patent related to the famous ‘pinch to zoom’ maneuver. Pinch-to-zoom is one of the most easily recognizable of touch-screen commands, and in the days of the first smartphones, immediately demonstrated how useful a multi-touch screen could be. ...A team from the Human-Computer Interaction Design labs at the University of Washinton is working on a slightly different approach that requires even less digit work." via MIT Technology Review

2013 in view: Looking ahead at the digital signage year to come "Richard Ventura, director of sales - vertical solutions for digital signage solutions provider NEC Display Solutions of America: In 2013 we are going to see further integration of mobility and NFC with digital signage systems. This will also be the year that large displays will be integrated into digital signage applications. The video wall will continue to grow in vertical markets. We will actually even see larger than normal video walls with a focus on off shapes and sizes as well." via Digital Signage Today

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The Display Industry News Roundup For 12.19.2012

Image via Aviation Week / Rockwell Collins

Flying Blind No Longer "Even though the Captain can’t see outside his windscreen, his aircraft’s synthetic vision system (SVS) is giving him a “daylight view” of the airport and surrounding terrain. Synthetic vision systems were created by NASA and the U.S. Air Force back in the late 1970s to improve cockpit situational awareness, especially when operating in reduced visibility at low altitudes. ...The next short step forward will be a combined SVS/EVS system that will present richly detailed images not only on the instrument panel but also on the Heads Up Display, where they can be overlaid on the real-world view through the windscreen. " via Forbes

Dual-sided phone with LCD on one side, e-ink on the other "The LCD side is for watching movies and playing games, but the EPD one is for more than reading ebooks and news articles. ...E-ink displays don't need much power, so that side of the Yota Phone can stay on continously without killing battery life." via Tech Radar

Samsung Display sues LG over LCD patents, again "LG had modified the PLS switching technology by Samsung without permission, and named it "AH-IPS" technology for use in its small- and medium-sized LCD screens, Samsung wrote in its filing. It added the company had patented the PLS technology in November 1997 but LG "copied" it." via ZDNet

Applied Materials to Set Up Display Panel R&D Center in Taiwan "Industry executives estimated the R&D facility to provide a huge boost to Taiwan’s display-panel industry at a time when the island is obviously losing ground to South Korea in global display-panel market. Samsung has begun volume production of AMLED panels while Taiwan’s panel makers are still in early stage of the development of the next-generation display technology. " via CENS

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China company taps bioplastics for use in flat panel displays "At a small factory near Shanghai, Chinese-Canadian plastics entrepreneur Wayne Song believes he’s closing in on commercializing technology to use biocomposites to make such a display, by mixing nano-scale natural fibers with polycarbonate and other optical-grade plastics. ...If the work can be commercialized successfully, Song said it will create a plastic screen that is bendable and hard to break, potentially opening up many new applications. He said some electronics industry experts expect the plastic panels to replace glass over time." via Plastics News

Electronics Recycling Asia: A Rare Procedure "Professor Li also pointed to attempts thus far to recover indium from LCD (liquid crystal display) monitors. At the current price of indium, “you’re going to lose money if you recycle it,” Li said,” so this is not economically sound.”" via Recycling Today

Samsung in 2013: expect an even bigger Note, but no 'unbreakable' Galaxy S IV "Speaking of screens, various news outlets have reported this week that next year's inevitable Galaxy S IV will have an "unbreakable" display, a fruit of Samsung's longtime effort to commercialize flexible AMOLEDs. The rumor appears to originate from Nicolas Gaudois, a UBS analyst quoted by Reuters. Don't expect such a screen on a Galaxy S model in 2013, though. "Flexible screens are still a while off," our source tells us." via The Verge

Plastic logic makes flexible displays a reality "UK-based Plastic Logic is the first company worldwide to have fully industrialised a process for manufacturing plastic displays. The resulting colour and monochrome displays are available in both small and large sizes. The integration of this new display technology in applications and end-devices is not only leading to innovative product concepts, but moreover is beginning to drive a display revolution in consumer electronics." via The Telegraph

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Australia paves way for cockpit tablets "The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has released an advisory on electronic flight bags, paving the way for greater use of tablet devices by Australian pilots. ..."A device being used as an electronic flight bag needs to be able to display information in a comparable way to the paper aeronautical charts and documents it is replacing," CASA said in a statement today. "Devices should be large enough to allow images to be shown without excessive scrolling. Smart phones, for example, are not appropriate as the screen is too small."" via itnews

Digital Signage Supplier Planar Sheds Itself Of Another Business "Planar, the first U.S.-based electroluminescent (EL) display manufacturer, is getting out of the business. ...The move is part of Planar’s strategy to shed itself of non-core businesses to sharpen its focus on digital signage, company officials have said." via Consumer Electronics Daily

In the face of new technology, how long will the boom last for China’s producers of flat-panel LCD screens? ""Japanese companies are making money" on Chinese screen-maker sales "because core components for making a panel are mainly produced in Japan," said Liu Dan, a vice president at BOE. "If a company invests US$ 4 billion to build an eight-generation (50 inches and over) panel production line, half of the investment will be used to buy equipment from (Japanese manufacturer) Canon," he said." via Caixin Online

Lenovo exec: We didn't realize how big touch would be "The industry did underestimate touchscreen demand, he admitted. But people are still buying PCs -- at least from Lenovo. In addition, sales of premium-priced computers are growing faster than other PC segments, he said. ..."As you go through any major architectural transition, you try to forecast accurately how much the attach rate will be on touch [or other features]," he said. "Across every major [shift] over the past 10 years, we're never right. The learning is, how do you respond to that? How does the industry change and evolve?"" via CNET

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Is Heads Up Display just what the doctor ordered? "For starters, the HUD is not cybernetically attached to the eye. Instead, the HUD is a headset, currently in the prototype phase, that the ER physicians would wear during their shifts. Made by the semiconductor company Kopin, the HUD, called Golden-i, delivers information via a single tiny projection screen that rests just below the eye. That’s an important detail: the HUD’s screen is not a true display. Rather, it’s a mini-projector that beams the image onto the user’s retina." via Dot Med News

Efficient OLED gets rid of heavy metals "The lack of heavy atoms in the molecule means it might be cheaper to produce than phosphorescent OLEDs containing iridium or platinum, says Z. Valy Vardeny, at the University of Utah. ...But building a molecule doesn’t necessarily mean it will find its way into device production, writes Brian D’Andrade of Exponent, Inc., in an accompanying commentary. To be useful in production, these molecules need to be optimized to emit colors of light needed in displays, they need to be able to be manufactured into devices, and the lifetime of those devices needs to be comparable—or better than—the state-of the art, he writes." via Ars Technica

Aspen Avionics Multifunction Displays "A new Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin advises owners and operators of Aspen Avionics EFD1000 and EFD500 Multifunction Displays (MFD) of an unintentional reset occurring in certain display modes when there are a large number of Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs). At this time, this airworthiness concern has not been determined to be an unsafe condition that would warrant airworthiness directive (AD) action under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) Part 39." via Helicoptor Association International

Raytheon increases pilot situational awareness with Aviation Warrior wearable computer, monocle display "The Raytheon Center Display Unit, which allows militaries to replace the analog instruments in their F-16s and helicopters with a new, flat-screen digital display. The richer data stream can then be sent directly to the pilot’s helmet. The Aviation Warrior wearable computer comes with a wrist-mounted screen, allowing pilots to see radar images, surveillance video, and maps even when on the ground." via Avionics Intelligence

Taking a Second Look at LCD "OLED is beautiful. Stunning image. But I was an early skeptic, and said then, as I say now: the LCD panel has never been stronger in the market. It will continue to dominate the TV market. Any move to OLED or other platforms is years away– well beyond any need for a reevaluation of the market. And digital signage– there is no serious rival for traditional, low-cost display. But since then, there has been more OLED fever. You've all read it. But finally, even the mass media is realizing the hype was over-done." via AVNetwork

Digital Advertising Carriers: LCD Television or LCD Monitor? "The young digital signage market has not settled on universal standards, and potential users of small-scale digital advertising networks have difficult and uninformed decisions to make. This article attempts to convince you why the choice should be made exclusively in favour of commercial LCD monitors, especially in situation when the required application is indoor or semi-indoor (for examples, on public transport stops) advertising network." via Screens Magazine

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The Display Industry News Roundup For 12.12.2012

Image via CNET / Sean John / Macy's / Recom Group

Would you wear a video display on your sleeve? "The display comes from Recom Group and was discovered at geek heaven, also known as the Consumer Electronics Show. ...The concept is a bit geeky but intriguing. Right now, I can't imagine walking around with a glowing screen on my sleeve, but then again five years ago, I'd never imagine a cell phone as my most faithful palm companion." via St. Louis Post-Dispatch

New Touchscreen Capable of Working in Bright Light "The key innovation behind hybrid tracking is that instead of blocking the infrared light emitted by external sources, it embraces it. This is implemented by tracking shadows of the external infrared light and combining that information with reflections that the built-in infrared sensors 'see' through the LCD." via Digital Signage Connection

Continuously Falling Notebook PC Panel Prices "Tablet PCs continue to capture consumers’ favor, as those who care more about content consumption than creation value portability and convenience, and thus tablet PCs are taking share from traditional clamshell notebook PCs. At the same time, economic concerns have hampered enterprise IT spending, which hits notebook PCs in particular." via DisplaySearch Blog

Samsung to reveal some exciting new tech at CES 2013? "They may unveil the new display used in this phone - perhaps the rumored 5" Full-HD AMOLED panel. Some say that Samsung will unveil a flexible panel, but I think it's quite unlikely." via OLED-Info

How electronic parts distribution and the LCD industry are changing "The electronic parts industry boomed in the 1990s and early 2000s, but major industry changes are forcing companies to adapt. In those days, middlemen such as parts brokers thrived on wide profit margins for parts and direct access to manufacturers in Asia. It was a simple formula: find buyers and sellers of parts and turn part numbers into profits. But profit margins on electronic parts have eroded with improved manufacturing and lower costs." via Display Alliance

Display database for engineers Search thousands of display panels by multiple characteristics and compare them side-by-side using the display database multisearch.

Special Interest Group for Stereoscopic 3D in Education (SIG3D) "The new SIG3D group’s aim is to improve learning and teaching through communication and collaboration between its members, providing professional development and resources for the effective implementation of educational stereoscopic 3D technologies as well as showcasing high-quality applications, pertinent research and instructional best practices." via 3D Vision Blog

Holographic Television at the MIT Media Lab "Research since the early 1960s has attempted to build true holographic television, but until very recently the prospect has seemed distant. The authors' group has for several years concentrated on developing holographic displays suitable for consumer applications, adding constraints of mass manufacturability, low cost, and compatibility with mass-market computational resources such as might be found in PCs or game consoles. A resurgence of consumer interest in 3-D displays, combined with several relevant technological developments, makes this an opportune time to explore re-imagining holographic displays as part of a home in the near future rather than in fictional spacecraft in the far-off future." via The Society for Information Display

Apple Patent A Reminder That It’s Working On Google Glass-Style Wearable Tech, Too "Apple’s vision is still more focused on wearable media delivery, versus the AR-type features that Google is making the central feature of its Project Glass device, which is also where Microsoft seems to be headed according to its own recent patent filing. But all of these massive tech companies are clearly trying to plant their flags for the next stage of mobile tech, which begins to look increasingly like it’ll take the form of something we wear, not something we carry." via TechCrunch

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Samsung To Introduce Unbreakable Display For Next Gen Galaxy S IV "According to Reuters, Samsung is a frontrunner in developing unbreakable screens. That's because Samsung has a big interest in OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays, and a feature of OLED panels is that plastic material can replace glass substrate." via Hot Hardware

Video: Fraunhofer's COMEDD OLED program "The Fraunhofer's COMEDD published a new video explaining all about COMEDD and its activities and the OLED production process." via OLED-Info

China FPD Conference "SEMI today announced that the 2013 China FPD Conference and ASID will be held concurrently in Shanghai for the first time. ...According to NPD DisplaySearch spending on manufacturing equipment for flat panel displays is forecast to rise 121 percent from $3.8 billion in 2012 to $8.3 billion in 2013. ...DisplaySearch forecasts that the majority of FPD equipment spending in 2013 will be used for new low temperature polysilicon (LTPS) fabs and fab processes for use in both TFT LCD and AMOLED (active matrix OLED) displays. FPD China will bring together the leading buyers, specifiers, engineers, suppliers and other key players to discuss and plan the next stage of China's display industry growth." via Solid State Technology

In pixel wars, LCD has staying power, refuses to die ""OLED still has a long way to go to become a mainstream display, as it has to become bigger and improve picture quality," said Chung Won-seok, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities. "The use of OLEDs will continue to be confined to small displays at least for the next 2-3 years. Its usage as a mainstream TV panel is only likely in 2014, but even then there's a possibility of intense competition with LCD TVs as that technology keeps improving."" via Hindustan Times

OLED TV Prices May Be Lowered By New Polymer Development "For years, indium has always been viewed as the most ideal material for anodes, due to its conductive and transparent properties. But times have changed, and with the material become increasingly more expensive and difficult to obtain, researchers have been forced to try and come up with an alternative. ...Scientists working together at Iowa State University’s Microelectronics Research Center and the US Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory believe they have finally hit on to something: a 15-year old polymer poly (3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly (styrene sulfonate), known more simply as PEDOT:PSS." via HDTVtest

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Touch screens go optical "The capacitive touch screen, which works by changing the local capacitance of metallic layers in the screen, reacts to very light touches and is durable but expensive to manufacture. Resistive touch screens, where conducting layers are separated by a flexible material that is compressed locally on touch, are cheaper but delicate to fabricate, especially for larger sizes. ...We devised a touch screen where light is confined in a waveguide that reacts to touch." via SPIE

Why would someone repair an LCD rather than buy a new panel? "On the other hand repairing the LCD panels is very useful for the manufacturers, because they usually get a shorter warranty period for the LCD panel than they provide to the end customer. Thus, they carry the expenses resulting from this discrepancy. The price of the repair of an LCD panel in Elsin is about 20-50% of the price of a new panel. Therefore, the total saving at mass production level is significant." via Display Alliance

USPTO may invalidate another of Apple's key multitouch patents "US Patent #7,479,949, claiming a "[t]ouch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics," essentially covers iOS's ability to respond when a user is trying to scroll vertically in a document, or trying to move around within the document in multiple directions. It also covers iOS's ability to discern the difference between swiping among images in a gallery, or panning or zooming within the image. The patent is sometimes referred to as the "Steve Jobs patent," as Jobs' name is listed first among the many Apple engineers cited as inventors of the patented claims." via Ars Technica

One step closer to telepathy with BCI technology "...brain-computer interface technology (BCI) has brought us one step closer to making direct brain-to-brain communication a reality. ...What Professor James has done is record the activation pattern in the visual cortex of one individual, use a computer to convert this activation pattern into flashing LED lights of different frequencies and transmit these light patterns to the brain of another person. The result is that the second individual “sees” what the first was imagining." via Neuro Gadget

Digital Display Technology: An Introduction to Digital Signage "What kind of display will best meet the deployment needs: plasma or LCD? What are the pros and cons of each? How will digital technology change in the next five, 10 or 20 years? What about terminology — what is the language of digital technology?" via Self Service World

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The Display Industry News Roundup For 12.06.2012

Image via The Verge

LCD embedded in contact lens "The LCD-based technology enables to use the entire display surface. And, by adjusting the patterning process of the conductive layer, researchers said it enables applications with a broad range of pixel number and sizes, such as a one pixel, fully covered contact lens acting as adaptable sunglasses, or a highly pixilated contact lens display. " via EE Times

New lighting challenges role of CFLs and LEDs "Scientists led by Professor David Carroll, the director of the Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials at Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC, USA), have developed a new form of lighting based on field-induced polymer electroluminescent (FIPEL) technology. The lighting gives off soft, white light rather than the yellowish glint from compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs or the bluish tinge from LEDs. It is claimed to be at least twice as efficient as compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs and on par with LEDs." via Vision Systems Design

LatinDisplay 2012 – A Recommendation for a Display Policy for Brazil "Display technologies like segmented displays, e-paper displays and smaller-sized TFT LCDs make the most sense. Brazil should also focus on markets where they already have a strong industry with needs for these types of displays. Examples include portable consumer electronics, medical, aerospace, automotive and retail. Focus on markets where the volumes are small to medium as it will take time to develop the expertise to support high volume panel manufacturing. " via Display Central

Display database for engineers Search thousands of display panels by multiple characteristics and compare them side-by-side using the display database multisearch.

Projected Infrared Touch – A New Cutting-Edge Touch Technology "GeneralTouch Technology Co., Ltd., a world leading touch products and solutions provider with over 12 years of continuous innovation in the touch field, announced the birth of a newly patented multi-touch technology - Projected Infrared Touch (PIT). ...The PIT touchscreen is a piece of pure glass, with the anti-glare or anti-vandal features as added options. Its construction is highly sealable and is effective against dust and liquid invasion. It continues to work even with scratches on its screen surface. Moreover, the grounding design of PIT touchscreens is much simpler in electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding when it is compared with PCAP touchscreens." via GeneralTouch

Qualcomm expands IGZO display tech agreement with Sharp "Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) announced an expansion of its display technology agreement between its subsidiary Pixtronix, Inc. and Sharp Corporation to develop and commercialize high-quality color, low-power MEMS displays incorporating IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) technology. The goal is to build the displays using existing LCD manufacturing infrastructure. As a result of the equity investment (of up to $120 million), Qualcomm will become a minority shareholder in Sharp." via Solid State Technology

Nanocrystal Breakthrough May Enable Bendable Electronics ""We have a performance benchmark in amorphous silicon, which is the material that runs the display in your laptop, among other devices. Here, we show that these cadmium selenide nanocrystal devices can move electrons 22 times faster than in amorphous silicon," said professor Cherie Kagan from the University of Pennsylvania." via Xbit Laboratories

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Digital signage technology: Nine tips for success in your video wall deployments "9. Perform colour calibration as part of system maintenance. This will ensure a consistently good-looking video wall for years to come. Also make sure you budget maintenance and cleaning of your video wall to ensure functionality and a great look for the long term. If you don’t vacuum vents, for example, the ensuing heat accumulation can destroy the monitors. Maintenance contracts should be discussed upfront." via Screen Media Mag

E Ink persistency record - this E Ink panel was last refreshed on November 2000! "This panel was developed by Philips, with the front panel made by E Ink and the back plane (AM) made in Philip' LCD plant in Kobe, Japan. The reader says that this is actually the world's first active-matrix E Ink panel, and is probably the oldest one that still shows an image." via E Ink Info

Surprisingly, touchscreen laptops don't suck "If you want to launch a program on your desktop, which makes more sense? Reach down to a special glass surface and drag a finger across it just long enough to land a floating pointer arrow on top of the icon, and then tap? Or simply reach up to a visible icon and tap it? Why try to aim that pointer at a little X icon, or remember keyboard shortcuts like Alt-F4, when I can just swipe down from the top of the screen to close a Windows 8 program?" via The Verge

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The world's first heads-up display for alpine goggles "The ingenious optics behind the MOD Live ensures that you do not need to refocus when viewing your Heads-up Display. Due to the innovative prism technology, all your stats and data will appear as though you’re looking at a fourteen inch screen from a distance of five feet." via Recon Instruments

Boeing’s flight simulator display gets ultra high-res upgrade "Three years after first displaying its Constant Resolution Visual System (CRVS) at the 2009 Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference in Orlando, Boeing has chosen the 2012 conference to unveil an upgrade. ...With the use of JVC’s e-Shift technology, which essentially uses a special algorithm to generate subpixels to fill the black spaces between pixels, the projector resolution and density is nearly doubled both horizontally and vertically, providing an image of nearly 8K resolution from a 4K projector." via Gizmag

Are IGZO backplanes the answer for the display industry? "The over-arching trends in the industry are also changing the backplane requirements on several fronts. Product differentiation is resulting in multiplicity of lighting/display technologies, with each demanding a different power output and refresh rate from the backplane. For example, OLED is being increasingly adopted as a means of differentiating products. This in turn is changing the power out and spatial uniformity requirements that the backplane technology must satisfy." via Printed Electronics World

Solvay shows polyester film for brighter LED displays "To get more light from fewer LEDs a higher current is fed through the emitters, resulting in junction temperatures in excess of 150oC which in turn triggers thermally-induced aging. To solve the problem Solvay developed its new Lavanta grade, which can operate at high junction temperatures while retaining high reflectivity." via Plastics & Rubber Weekly

What is the biggest engineering challenge facing touch technology? "I feel the biggest challenge for large format multi-touch technology is the cost vs. scale vs. technology problem. Large format devices cost higher as the volumes from consumers are lower. Also, the cost and technology used in manufacturing various large size displays is high along with the materials and techniques used. There is some serious scope for innovation in this space." via Display Alliance

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The Display Industry News Roundup For 11.29.2012

Image via Hagley Museum and Library / ieee spectrum

How RCA Lost the LCD "Today, liquid crystals are one of the most widespread technologies of the information age and the foundation of a multibillion-­dollar industry. Nevertheless, RCA’s abrupt exit from the field has largely obscured the pioneering contributions of its chemists, physicists, and electrical engineers. The events and decisions that drove the company to abandon its efforts are worth revisiting for what they reveal about the unpredictable nature of innovation—and about the tendency of large corporations to fail to capitalize on it." via ieee spectrum

Sony unveils a new monochrome 20.5" OLED monitor for the medical industry "Sony unveiled a new 20.5" monochrome OLED monitor for the medical industry. This monitor offers 2048x2560 resolution, high luminance, wide viewing angle, high contrast and deep, rich black reproduction (the black level is less than 0.001cd/M2 and 500 cd/M2 luminance)." via OLED-Info

Growing pains for new touch-sensor technology in latest iPhone, iPad "DisplaySearch said that there were production issues with the DITO film and lamination. In addition, aligning the sensors on film is more difficult than with glass, the report says. The iPad mini is the first tablet to use the DITO film touch sensor." via ZDNet

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Head-mounted displays for reality augmentation: a survey "One question worth keeping in mind when evaluating the new crop of head-mounted devices is whether they will end up broadening the augmentational capacity of the human eye or narrowing it." via Rough Type

Knuckles and nails get invite to the touchscreen party "A modified Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone, fitted with a small vibration sensor and running Harrison's FingerSense software, listens for the acoustic and vibrational differences between the three different types of touch. A fingertip could select an object while a knuckle tap could work like the right-click on a computer mouse and open up a submenu, for example." via NewScientist

A New Chip to Bring 3-D Gesture Control to Smartphones "The controller works by transmitting an electrical signal and then calculating the three-coordinate position of a hand based on the disturbances to the field the hand creates. Whereas many camera systems have “blind spots” for close-up hand gestures and can fail in low light, the Microchip controller works well under these conditions and doesn’t require an external sensor (its sensing electrodes can sit behind a device’s housing). " via MIT Technology Review

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Sharp wins customers for new display technology "It is important for Sharp - and its deepening partnership with Apple - to keep innovating in LCD, since so many mobile display advances are centering on the alternative AMOLED technology, which is dominated by Samsung. Sharp's future success depends heavily on reducing the market power of Samsung and LG in screens, while fending off the rise of low cost Chinese suppliers." via Rethink Wireless

Chinese panel makers lobbying for higher import tariffs "Panel import tariffs are currently 5 percent, but tariffs on panels 32 inches or larger may increase to between 8-12 percent." via Morning Whistle

Flexible AMOLED display development still possible in Taiwan "ITRI said that between its upstream and downstream resources, Taiwan could have a sufficient supply chain for developing flexible AMOLED displays and could compete with Korea-based panel makers. However, that largely depends on whether upstream suppliers can boost production facilities and material amounts to create the technology, added ITRI." via DigiTimes

Taiwan touch panel suppliers pursue single-glass solutions "iDTI’s in-cell panels incorporating photo sensors in the TFT array substrate between the color filter and the polarizer can be applied to LCDs up to 100in and with 1920x1000-pixel resolution. The company is among the few that can manufacture such products using the hydrogenated amorphous silicon process. The last is compatible with current display production techniques, enabling fabrication on a mass scale." via Global Sources

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Next-Generation Anti-Reflective Coatings "The next generation of antireflection (AR) coatings has arrived and could help bump solar cell efficiency considerably by employing a promising new class of optical nanomaterials that allow for near-arbitrary control of the refractive index, conceivably the most important materials constant in optics and optoelectronics." via Solar Novus

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The Display Industry News Roundup For 11.21.2012

Image via Sony / Flat Panels HD

5 display technologies of the future "One of the most promising next steps is tactile – or haptic – technology. In a tactile touch screen you add a separate layer that can provide feedback to your fingers when touched. In other words; it can imitate physical buttons and textures dynamically on the screen surface; for example sandpaper or dirt. It happens dynamically and the device can make buttons or surface textures pop up and go away everywhere on the screen." via Flat Panels HD

Samsung Stretches Lineup "South Korean conglomerate Samsung is pushing ahead with plans to start mass production of displays using plastic rather than glass, a move that will make mobile devices unbreakable, lighter and bendable." via The Wall Street Journal

What is one problem in the display industry that engineers and manufacturers must address? "LCD part numbers can go into "end of life" status as display manufacturers eliminate the production of a specific part number from their production. The forecast and alert of this type of change is crucial to a company supporting a project that utilizes that particular display." via Display Alliance

Touch-sensitive plastic can ‘heal itself’ "The particles of nickel were added to the polymer to increase its mechanical strength and help make the material conductive. "This resulted in a polymer that was not only a good insulator, but an excellent conductor," Wang added. ...The team's goal now is to make the material stretchy and transparent, so that it can be used for wrapping and overlaying electronic devices or display screens." via Eureka Magazine

The Emergence of NFC in LCD screens "NFC like any other emerging technology is only really being exploited by true innovators such as Audi. However, it is likely that NFC will become somewhat of a standard within digital signage and display solutions, especially since over one third of us have smartphones. This means that digital signage projects will no longer rely on customers engaging with the displays through touch, scanning or QR codes but instead invite customer to simply stand a bit closer?" via Acquire Digital

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An IPS Competitor Emerges "While similar to IPS, PLS is designed to have a advantages over traditional IPS. First, it has a higher level of transmittance, so more light gets through each individual cell. ...Second, as each cell allows more light though, you can pack them tighter allowing for displays with a higher pixel-per-inch count while keeping light output higher." via AnandTech

Domestic LCD TV Consumption in China Retreats Dramatically "Other dramatic changes are sweeping the LCD TV supply chain in China. For instance, so-called semi-knockdown (SKD) and complete knockdown (CKD) service providers have emerged, producing TV boards with integrated chipsets and displacing traditional TV manufacturers from their own game in the process. Another development has seen the weakening of traditional design houses—their role taken over by semiconductor suppliers now able to provide total solutions for TV manufacturers." via iSuppli

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More is Better in LCD specs? "As display professionals, we know, that especially in small displays, more pixels = less aperture which equals a dimmer screen. The challenged performance of the screen in daylight, as seen in the image would be that much worse with a "retina display" per the author's terms. However, in the minds of many, more is always better even when their eye's tell them such is not the case." via Flat Panel Display Blog

iPad mini Teardown (3)] Film Substrate Employed for Touch Panel "The touch panel of the iPad mini uses a film (resin) substrate instead of a glass substrate. One of the advantages of replacing a glass substrate with a film is that it becomes possible to reduce the thickness of a touch panel." via Tech-On

Foxconn hunting for LCD manufacturing sites in USA "According to research and consulting firm NPD DisplaySearch, the industry is poised to increase revenues this year to $85 billion, a 12 percent jump over last year. In order to feed that demand, LCD makers have been building larger factories. Even older facilities are large. Sharp, Japan's biggest LCD maker, built a 4.8 million-square-foot LCD factory in 2004. That facility, in Kameyama, uses 48,000 tons of water a day, or 11 million gallons, nearly three times Fab 8's current requirements." via Times Union

Industrial displays get consumer technology "Links forged with Taiwanese glass suppliers has already paid off in the form of KOE 'Lite+' branded display modules. Although intended to be lower-cost options in its range, some of these have better than average specifications - including operation beyond the normal industrial temperature range." via ElectronicsWeekly

Rise of Chinese LCD firms threatens Taiwan makers "It is useless to hire a bunch of engineers from Taiwan to build a factory [in China]. The real valuable knowledge is how to operate a factory efficiently, which is much more complicated than people think,” AUO president Paul Peng told reporters in July. AUO has invested heavily in research and development, and has about 10,000 patents related to LCD panel manufacturing, Peng said" via Taipei Times

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The Display Industry News Roundup For 11.12.2012

Image via MasterCard

MasterCard Introduces ‘Display Card’ Technology with LCD screen "The MasterCard Display Card, manufactured by NagraID Security, looks and functions almost exactly like a regular credit, debit or ATM card, but features an embedded LCD display and touch-sensitive buttons which allow a cardholder to generate a One-Time Password (OTP) as an authentication security measure." via MasterCard

Will Apple Keep Upgrading Display Resolution? "Exceeding 300 ppi in a tablet PC display may require new technologies, particularly oxide TFT (such as IGZO) because of the high electron mobility required to drive small pixels at low power consumption. Sharp was the first to mass produce oxide TFT panels, but Samsung, LG Display, AUO and Chimei are all working on oxide TFT as well, for the sake of readiness for Apple’s requirement." via DisplaySearch Blog

Surface Thermography Liquid Crystals "The TLC-100 Kit from Advanced Thermal Solutions (Norwood, MA) features spray-on thermochromic liquid crystals which change color at different temperatures to reveal heat issues on chips and other electronic components. By applying these liquid crystals, engineers can visually find hotspots and temperature fields." via Product Design & Development

Samsung drops another demo for flexible AMOLED screen "The new LEDs are made from plastic instead of glass, making them transparent and nearly indestructible. The plastic-based tech allows the screens to be super thin, light and flexible enough to bend, roll and fold without breakage." via TechRadar

End-of-life (EOL) notices "LTM08C355S (EOL date 2008), LTM220M2-L01 (EOL date 2009), NL6448AC33-18 (EOL date 2009), M240HW01-V0 (EOL date 2010), LTM240CT06 (EOL date 2010)" via Display Alliance

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Expanding the possibilities of multitouch functionality "The current breed of mutual capacitive touch screens usually relies on Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) as the conductive sensing medium. ITO is already widely used throughout the display industry and provides the benefit of being near-transparent. Though ITO has been a successful choice in touch screens, it has certain limitations when applied outside the consumer arena." via Embedded Computer Design

Why the digital signage industry will grow in 2013 "Price reductions are being realized in every area of digital signage. For example, as hardware is getting more specialized for media playback on consumer-type products that are mass produced for a worldwide market, the digital signage industry either directly or indirectly benefits from the use of this mobile and media-centric technologies that have a considerable scale of economy in production. This scale of economy is being reflected in today’s prices of media players and displays used for digital signage." via Display Alliance

The Touching History of Touchscreen Tech "Multi-touch technology began in 1982, when the University of Toronto developed a tablet that could read multiple points of contact. Bell Labs developed a touchscreen that could change images with more than one hand in 1984. Around the same time, Myron Krueger developed an optical system that tracks hand movements. This was the beginning for the gestures we’ve adapted to so easily today." via Mashable Tech

Panasonic profits plunge, Zatec production stops "Japanese electronics giant Panasonic will halt production of LCD panels in the Czech town of Zatec in December ...She said the operation would be halted for "strategic reasons" and that production from a plant in Malaysia would wind down as well because Panasonic wants to focus on small-format panels from now on." via Biz Community

LCD panel with 5 second refresh designed to stop eye strain "At the FPD International 2012 show in Japan SEL introduced a 6-inch version of this LCD panel. The panel stops eye strain by greatly reducing the refresh rate of the screen. Typically this can be 60 times per second for a normal LCD. With a still image, SEL only needs to refresh this new panel once every 5 seconds. " via Geek.com

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Inkjet printing tech used to make displays even thinner "Ever since we moved from CRT to LCD as our main display tech, manufacturers have been reducing their thickness to the point where a 50-inch+ displays that’s under 10mm thick isn’t uncommon. That reduction in thickness is set to continue with Japanese company Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd. announcing that it has used inkjet printing technology to develop a thinner light guide plate." via Geek.com

LCD Market: Technology Directions and Market Analysis "This technology-marketing report examines and projects the technologies involved in the fabrication of Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD). This report discusses the technology trends, products, applications, and suppliers of materials and equipment. A market forecast for AMLCD equipment and materials is presented." via Electronics.ca

Fraunhofer is Demonstrating Augmented Reality Glasses "The display is built on top of a CMOS chip that also incorporates a transmitter and receiver. They call this setup a bidirectional microdisplay, that not only displays information but also records images of the eye at the same time. This unique setup allows them to record the movement of the eye while they display information to the user." via Display Central

Mary Lou Jepsen of Pixel Qi Talks LCD Screen Tech (Video) "Mary Lou Jepsen, co-founder of OLPC and Pixel Qi, was at the conference and she spoke on the current state of the LCD industry. She revealed that almost no screen manufacturer was making money in this industry (there’s an excess of production capacity). Of course, neither Apple and Samsung actually make the screens they use, so they aren’t factored into that statement." via The Digital Reader

Paper Computing technology the first step to paper-based Google Docs "The paper is coated with a photochromic material, which changes color when it absorbs light, and a DMD-driven UV projector with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels is used to print the image onto the paper." via DigInfo TV

The Cost of a Touch "As a mobile application developer, I interact with my mobile devices a lot—touching, swiping, pinching, and zooming. One trick I've adopted is adding secret shortcuts to skip past portions of my app so I do not have to keep touching my device while I am developing. This led me to consider the amount of touching we all do with our devices, the physical toll it takes, and our overall user experience with mobile devices and their applications." via UX Magazine

Butterflies and eReaders "The Mirasol display uses an array of microscopic interferometric modulators beneath its glass surface. The depth and angle of these tiny reflectors defines the wavelength interference pattern that is reflected back to viewer. QualComm has one-upped the butterfly and can drive the parameters of the modulators at microsecond intervals to change the different color pixels for live video display." via The Visualist

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The Display Industry News Roundup For 11.6.2012

Image via The Digital Reader

Project Vivit Shows Off Video Playing on Color E-ink Screen "Okay, seeing the video in color is kinda interesting, but in the long term it doesn’t have much use. The low-power benefit of E-ink screens is lost when you have to refresh the screen 30 times a second. And the quality and resolution of the video is much lower than you would find on most any LCD screen." via The Digital Reader

iPad Mini Display Under The Microscope "Repair Labs says that the pixels of the 4th-gen iPad are 16 percent larger relative to the iPad mini than the iPad 2, making the difference between the two screens less noticeable, and in fact, “to the naked eye, it’s negligible,” the gadget repair site says." via Tech Crunch

Yole Développement sees a $1.7 billion OLED lighting market in 2020 "Yole says that traditional lighting makers will not choose to invest in OLED mass production - as the costs are high and the production difficulties are numerous. OLED lighting development will therefore depend on bottom of the supply chain companies that will need to offer more vertical integration." via OLED-Info

University of Tokyo turns real paper and ink into a display "The division's new research has budding artists draw on photochromic paper with Frixion's heat-sensitive ink, turning the results into something a computer can manipulate. A laser 'erases' the ink to fix mistakes or add effects, and an ultraviolet projector overhead can copy any handiwork, fill in the gaps or print a new creation." via Engadget

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New E-Reader Display Aims at Video and Color "Of course, the liquid crystal displays on tablets already show color, but they do so by shining colored lights out of the screen. E-readers, on the other hand, create colors by reflecting incoming light. They use much less power, are easier to read in sunlight and are thinner than LCDs." via Live Science

LCDs, Aperture Ratios, and Hummingbirds "The area ratio of the opaque transistor and the transparent electrode is a key metric called the aperture ratio. So let’s make the transistors smaller. Obvious, right? Easier said than done." via Applied Materials

LTPS AMOLED is Coming on Gen 8 "In the production tool, the laser beam is optically broadened to a line that can be as large as 1300mm, and is swept along the substrate in the long direction (see figure). The 55-inch displays are produced 6-up in a 3×2 matrix. The line beam makes one pass from the top and one from the bottom, so the sweep edge does not cross any display and stitching in not needed." via Display Central

Applied Materials unveils new PVD, PECVD tools for display manufacturing "The Applied AKT-PiVot PVD for metal oxide-based thin-film transistors (TFTs) enables a transition from aluminum to copper interconnect bus lines leading to faster pixel response and lower power consumption in LCD TV panels. It overcomes the problem of "mura effect" that reduce display quality, which the company says has hindered metal-oxide technology's inroads into mainstream LCDs. The "breakthrough" stability of the IGZO films deposited by the tool offers the promise of metal oxide backplanes for OLEDs which would significantly lower their cost as well, the company adds." via Solid State Technology

Why bigger is better for FPD recovery and growth "“The average diagonal sizes of key FPD applications have increased over the past three years, and every inch of growth in flat panel display applications results in growth in area demand and thus capacity utilization,” points out David Hsieh, VP of Greater China Market Research for NPD DisplaySearch. Consumers won't want to go back to smaller displays and lower resolutions, so average (diagonal) sizes will accelerate in 2013, spurring long-term growth for the entire flat-panel display industry." via Solid State Technology

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Research to expedite LCD monitor recycling "Recycling LCDs currently entails a high labour cost because mercury in the back of LCDs requires proper disposal. Without recycling, LCDs are incinerated using expensive emission control equipment or are discarded in landfills where their potentially hazardous materials may contaminate the soil and water. The units also contain gold and indium tin oxide, which are valuable and scarce resources but are difficult to extract. The project is funded by a US$ 15 000 grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s P3 project." via Recycling International

Patent Issued for LCD Panel Having Improved Response ""The present disclosure relates to reducing response time, decreasing driving voltage and/or increasing transmittance of an LCD. In accordance with the present disclosure, the LCD may include a liquid crystal layer having liquid crystal molecules. A chiral dopant may be dispersed within the liquid crystal layer and configured to bias the liquid crystal molecules toward a twisted state that facilitates light passage through the LCD. Such a configuration may reduce response time and/or decrease driving voltage. ..." via Equities.com

iTomb design offers mourners touchscreen tributes from the grave "The iPad – inlaid into a stone slab – is powered using solar energy and comes with a protective cover to ward off the elements and theft." via Macworld

Sharp is on the verge of collapse, IGZO technology remains only hope for survival "It was not, however, the smartphone venture that caused so much trouble; it was the company’s overzealous turn to produce LCD panels for large TV screens. As part of the company’s restructuring plan, it will turn its focus on the booming smartphone and tablet market and product small- to medium-sized LCD panels keeping IGZO (named after indium gallium zinc oxide semiconductor) technology aboard. IGZO is believed to be a power-saver but what if other companies, like LG and Japan Display, could develop a display technology better than what Sharp offers?" via The Droid Guy

Electrofluidic imaging e-paper has no pixel borders "In current electrowetting displays (devices that use electricity to move pigmented fluids around), colors maintain their image-forming distinctiveness via pixel borders that ensure that the pixel's color does not bleed over into the next pixel or color. This matters because pixel borders are dead areas that dull any display of information, whether a display of text or image. Leading electronics companies have been seeking ways to reduce or eliminate pixel borders to increase display brightness." via Laser Focus World

New Ideas in Digital Signage "The visceral adoption of tap, swipe, and zoom interactivity has set the stage for how people will interact with digital signs. Beyond simple touch interaction, scan, RFID, and NFC will deliver personalized information to displays and even grant or deny entry access to users interacting with electronic room signs." via AV Network

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The Display Industry News Roundup For 10.23.2012

Image via Tech-On

Japan Display Develops LCD Panels With Its Latest Technologies "For automotive devices, Japan Display developed a 12.2-inch 1,920 x 720-pixel LCD panel featuring a semielliptical shape called "corner round cut." For its display mode, a new IPS technology was employed. The panel has a low power consumption and an embedded touch sensor function." via Tech-On

Samsung Confirms It Will Continue LCD Panel Supply To Apple "Samsung has debunked the report from last night that claimed to terminate their LCD supply contract with Apple. Samsung’s spokesperson confirmed to CNET that the deal is still on and will supply panels to the Cupertino giant for their iPhone and iPad devices." via Sammy Hub

LG and Samsung won't be able to ship OLED TVs in 2012 "The article actually says that DisplaySearch expects the companies to start producing TVs in 2012 - but only a handful. 500 units, in fact - that's hardly mass production. In July, DisplaySearch estimated that the two companies will sell 20,000 units in 2012 - which is also a very low amount." via OLED-Info

Do you need display panels? Email jason@displayalliance.com to source with Mass Integrated, Inc.

Blue Phase LCD Are Coming "Polymer-stabilized blue-phase LCD promises to solve many of the problems that face large and small panel makers today. As Dr. Wu explained, clever mixtures of nematic host molecules, chiral dopants and stabilizing monomers can stretch the temperature range of double-twist blue phase LC operation to more than 70º C. More important, they’re fast: switching time can be less than a microsecond!" via Display Central

End-of-life notice "Sharp LQ050Q5DR01 has been discontinued. To source this end-of-life panel email jason@displayalliance.com." via Display Alliance

How it works: The technology of touch screens "According to touch industry expert Geoff Walker of Walker Mobile, there are 18 distinctly different touch technologies available. Some rely on visible or infrared light; some use sound waves and some use force sensors. They all have individual combinations of advantages and disadvantages, including size, accuracy, reliability, durability, number of touches sensed and -- of course -- cost." via Computer World

Want to submit news to Display Alliance or be interviewed about your expertise in the display industry? Email jason@displayalliance.com.

Roll-to-roll plasma etch equipment project completed "The purpose of this FlexTech Alliance funded project was to create a plasma etching tool for dielectric films that offers a number of manufacturing advantages for flexible electronics. For example, plasma etching is cleaner than a wet etching manufacturing process due to the lack of chemicals to dispose after use. Additionally, incorporating the system into a roll-to-roll process allows large area and flexible products to be fabricated at low cost. " via Solid State Technology

Large-Sized LCD Panel Pricing Stabilizes in September After Strong August Panel Shipments "Overall, price stabilization and an improvement in demand for large-sized LCD panels are factors helping the industry recover after multiple quarters of financial loss. Prospects for the months ahead will depend on the prudence of panel suppliers against overproduction, as well as on the all-important consumer making those much-needed purchases for the upcoming holidays." via iSuppli

What did you think about today's news? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

The Display Industry News Roundup For 10.16.2012

Image via PC World

Fingerprints everywhere! Are we ready for 4 million dirty Windows 8 touchscreens? "Researchers pursue two strategies for making better oleophobic screens (oleophobic literally means “lacking affinity for oils”). Some scientists try to advance the chemical treatment approach now used by Apple and others, while others work on applying new physical textures on screen surfaces, textures that are unfriendly to oil and liquid." via PC World

3D displays: three centuries in the making (interview) "3D technology already existed in the 19th century. However it really took off in 2009. The reason for this was on the one hand the technological possibilities of digital processing / media, availability of content (Avatar), and display technology. It started in digital cinema where the difficulty to create a high-quality 3D image was presented. It then got to the TV market with high refresh rates making it possible to introduce active glasses, especially on Plasma." via Display Alliance

Display technology from AU Optronics stolen and given to Chinese firm, alleges investigation "The two former executives, surnamed Li and Wang, worked in developing panels and OLED technology for AU Optronics, but were lured away with new positions from TCL's China Star Optoelectronics Technology business unit, which also builds displays, according to MJIB. In exchange for supplying the technology, both Li and Wang were also compensated with annual salaries of over US$1 million. ...While China Star Optoelectronics has yet to reach the influence of international rivals AU Optronics, Samsung SDI and LG Display, the company is gradually building up the technology to compete on a wider-scale." via IT World

The 8.5G LCD panel project of China Star Optoelectronics Technology reaches full capacity earlier than scheduled "China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd., a business union of TCL Corporation -- a world leader in consumer electronics industry, announced that its 8.5G LCD panel production line has reached full capacity three months ahead of the original schedule. ...The success of China Star Optoelectronics Technology is a realization of TCL's strategic goal to completely build its entire LCD display industry chain. Reaching full capacity is also a demonstration of Shenzhen's production speed and quality to the world." via Melodika

Fraunhofer and POG co-developed micrometer-coated OLED structures on glass "The advantage the new design is that the active luminous area is integrated directly into the glass substrate which results in a better field of view, and the whole system is much more simple - and hopefully will result in cheaper designs." via OLED-Info

AUO to take on tablet panel leaders "LG Display and AUO are the two major display suppliers for the iPad mini, the research company said. The mainstream in-plane switching technology was from LG Display, while the advanced hyper-viewing angle technology was from AUO, it added." via The China Post

Possible 2013 Tax Hike May Hit Digital Signage "The new Section 179 of the IRS tax code enables businesses to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software purchased during the tax year. Previously, depreciations were spread out over multiple years. ...In other words, it makes it easier for them cost-justify digital signage deployments. However, the law is set to expire at the end of 2012." via Digital Draw

Do you need display panels? Email jason@displayalliance.com to source with Mass Integrated, Inc.

Micro Optics Display, The Screen In Your Glasses "The MOD (for Micro Optics Display) is straight from the future. It's a mini-screen that clips into your ski goggles and gives you real-time stats about your performance (speed, jump height...) in your field of view, as though it were 14 inches big and 5 feet away." via Digital Versus

Next-gen touchpads respond to pressure "Synaptics gave the forcepad to more than two dozen academic research groups, which were challenged to come up with novel uses for the device. It's like a touchpad, but in addition to the usual swiping gestures it can sense how much pressure is being applied, adding another dimension for control. ...Another project took a novel approach to puppetry, with a marionette controlled not by a puppeteer but by a forcepad." via PC World

The tech defining next-gen computing "Of the different autostereoscopic technologies we've seen, parallax barrier has the most traction, and can be found in the likes of the Nintendo 3DS and LG Optimus 3D. It uses an array of slits in front of the display that mean that each eye views a different set of pixels - a systems that works reasonably well with handheld devices, but is a little less convincing on larger displays like TVs." via Tech Radar

China pushes local adoption to support LCD industry expansion "One such factor that increased domestic panel consumption is the adjustment in the open-cell import tariff that China imposes on 32in and larger LCDs. From 3 percent, it was raised to 5 percent beginning April this year, hitting most panel suppliers as they ship their products in this configuration. This has benefited homegrown companies such as CSOT and BOE Technology Group Co. Ltd. Both provide panels in this size, with BOE also offering 37in units." via Global Sources

Want to submit news to Display Alliance or be interviewed? Email jason@displayalliance.com.

$3 million for Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State "The award will be used for development of new liquid crystal technologies at the Kent State University Liquid Crystal Institute in collaboration with regional businesses. The Liquid Crystal Institute was founded in 1965 and is a comprehensive research and educational center. Kent State will collaborate with four local companies: Kent Displays Inc., AlphaMicron Inc. and Crystal Diagnostics Inc., all of Kent, and Akron Polymer System Inc. of Akron. " via Recordpub.com

Panasonic to Display Smart Solutions and Eco Innovations at GITEX 2012 "GITEX Technology Week 2012 takes place at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre from 14-18 October. ...A key focus for Panasonic this GITEX is its projectors. Panasonic projectors are true multifaceted, multimedia tools, featuring breakthrough innovations such as daylight view technology, and easy-to-use LCD and DLP technology models. Plug-and-play projectors ideal for classrooms, conference rooms or bigger venues like auditoriums will also be on display." via Panasonic

Carl Zeiss Cinemizer 3D OLED Head Mounted Display Starts Shipping "Carl Zeiss explains: “Rich colors OLED displays create crisp images with very vibrant colors, true black and thus very good contrast. Wearing comfort Emphasis was given to a low weight and optimal wearing comfort during development of the cinemizer OLED..."" via Geeky Gadgets

Magic Finger turns any surface into a touchscreen "Created in collaboration with the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto, the Magic Finger relies on a high resolution RGB micro camera and an optical sensor to allow contextual actions to be carried out based on the particular surface being touched. " via Eureka Magazine

What did you think about today's news? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

The Display Industry News Roundup For 10.12.2012

Image via Sean Follmer / MIT Media Lab

What Comes After the Touch Screen? "One was a malleable interface that can be shaped somewhat the way clay can, developed by a team at MIT's Media Lab. Sean Follmer, a PhD student in the lab of Professor Hiroshi Ishii, demonstrated several versions, including a translucent bendable touch screen laid flat on a table." via MIT Technology Review

Nanotubes Presage Holographic Displays "Holographic displays came one step closer as researchers at Cambridge University’s Centre of Molecular Materials for Photonics and Electronics (CMMPE) used carbon nanotubes to produce the smallest ever scattering elements (pixels) to create a static holographic projection of the word CAMBRIDGE." via Display Central

Hands-on with the first IGZO panel smartphone, Sharp's SH-02E "In short, the world’s first phone with an IGZO-based display is a bit of a letdown. But on the plus side, the high-density IGZO displays that Sharp has been teasing us with are now that much closer to market — something that we can all look forward to." via The Verge

Disney Uses 3D Printed Optics for Displays "At the recent ACM conference on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST ’12), Disney Research (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ) and Carnegie Mellon University presented a paper on the production of optics for user interfaces and displays using 3D printing technology." via Display Central

Do you need display panels? Email jason@displayalliance.com to source with Mass Integrated, Inc.

Japan Electronics Emulates Detroit Autos Before Bankruptcy: Tech "Prices for 40-inch LCD panels fell from about $2,700 in the beginning of 2004 to $1,300 in 2005 and kept dropping until they reached $250 at the start of this year. Samsung steadily gained market share, moving to 29 percent in 2012 from 10 percent in 2004. ...“Japanese companies innovated primarily on hardware and the device and they were fantastic at that,” Kenevan said. “The problem is, the key engine of innovation in the world has shifted from hardware to software, to systems, to solutions.”" via Bloomberg Businessweek

Interactive system detects touch and gestures on any surface ""Imagine having giant iPads everywhere, on any wall in your house or office, every kitchen counter, without using expensive technology," said Niklas Elmqvist, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University. "You can use any surface, even a dumb physical surface like wood. You don't need to install expensive LED displays and touch-sensitive screens."" via R&D Mag

Panel Makers Re-Adjust 4Kx2K Panel Plans "As LCD TV panel makers reshuffle their 4K panel plans, it is becoming clear that 4K is a necessity at certain sizes." via DisplaySearch Blog

Flat Panel Display Price Erosion and Performance Improvements Drive Increased Demand, Expediting Industry Recovery "However, with the exception of LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon, a form of microdisplay) all other display technologies, including plasma and passive matrix forms of LCD and OLED, are declining in 2012. In a sharp reversal, AMEPD (active matrix electrophoretic display), which is used in monochrome e-readers, swung from strong growth in 2011 to even stronger decline in 2012, due to competition from TFT LCD-based tablet PCs." via DisplaySearch

Touchscreens: How they work "Capacitive screens sense the tiny amount of electrical charge on your skin that is produced when your finger interacts with the screen's electrical field." via The Washington Post

AU Optronics reaches patent cross-licensing agreement with E-Ink, Hydis "The ten-year deal largely centers around LCD technologies, including Fringe Field Switching (FFS). AUO and E-Ink claimed in a statement that the agreement will “sharpen their competitive edge” in the industry." via TNW

Less business for Korean-based tablet panel makers? "Analysts predict that global tablet users will reach 124 million by 2014, and Apple currently holds nearly 70 percent of the tablet market share. Taiwan is a hotspot for PC OEMs, but the PC market is shrinking, hence, Apple’s move may give Taiwan the much needed boost in its tech sector." via VR-Zone

Want to submit news to Display Alliance or be interviewed? Email jason@displayalliance.com.

Google 10-inch tablet would push display tech envelope "In fact, Samsung is the only company that successfully manufactures both high-volume advanced AMOLED and LCD screens. But the high-density PPI action is currently centered on LCDs -- not AMOLED. Sharp, for example, announced the start of production of a 5-inch 443 PPI display last week. But if Sharp is able to make those kinds of LCDs, you can bet Samsung probably can too -- and will." via CNET

Capacitive Touch Case Makes Your iPhone Very Sensitive "[Canopy] introduced the Sensus iPhone case with a capacitive touch back at the 2012 GDC (Game Developers Conference) on Wednesday. ...Touch-capacitive sensors are located on the back and right edges of the case. From the looks of the video on Canopy’s pre-order page, the company is clearly courting gamers and game developers. The case moves fingers off the front of the iPhone and out of the way of the action." via Wired

High-directionality backlight for head-up displays "A head-up display (HUD) shows signals, data, or messages in front of the windshield of a vehicle and allows the driver to keep their line of sight while looking at the display unit. HUD has been successfully adopted commercially1,2 and has the most potential for use as the human visual interface for vehicles.3 In addition to concerns related to reliability, particularly with HUDs with a large display size, there are two major issues with current HUD design. One is high power consumption. The other is the volume of the display unit." via SPIE

The Display Industry News Roundup For 10.9.2012

Image via Slash Gear

Futaba showcases flexible OLED watch "The Display has a size of 3.5 inch and a 256×64 Pixel resolution with a pixel pitch of 0.34×0.34 mm. The brightness is about 100 lumen/m²" via OLED-Display See video here in the Tube section of Display Alliance.

Evaluating molecules within a sealed organic light emitting diode device "The developed method uses an advanced laser spectroscopic technique that has been improved to measure the molecular vibrational spectrum at the interface of a specific organic layer inside an OLED device. By employing a signal enhancement phenomenon that occurs at the interface with a concentrated electric field, the method can be used to evaluate the molecular condition of the organic layer during light emission without destroying the device." via Phys.org

Key milestone reached in OLED development: cynora presents new flexible prototype "“Using solution processing to produce components instead of conventional vapor deposition is a prerequisite for bringing production costs down to a level where flexible OLEDs are viable for mass-market applications,” explains Dr. Tobias Grab, the other cynora CEO. In addition, the cynora emitters used are based on readily available copper precursors which in itself further support the material’s suitability for mass production." via Cynora

Do you need display panels? Email jason@displayalliance.com to source from Mass Integrated, Inc.

ISE 2013 To Host MegaPixel Summit "“By hosting the MegaPixel Summit at ISE 2013, we hope to create a forum in which the challenges arising from creating large-scale, multiple-component displays are addressed by a mix of different stakeholders: manufacturers, distributors, integrators, rental companies and end customers.”" via Display Central

Smart pill bottle measures meds using touchscreen technology "AdhereTech's battery-powered smart pill bottle measures the amount of liquid or solid medication in a bottle using capacitance, the same technology used in touch screens. The sensors are between plastic in the bottle's walls so they never touch the meds, but can accurately measure down to one pill of solid medication or one millileter of liquid medication." via The Verge

Chip-on-Glass LCD Driver Technology "NXP has developed a Chip-on-Glass LCD driver approach whereby the integrated circuit mounts directly on the display glass, with the overall impact being a reduction in system cost. COG is a very reliable and well-established technology, which is often used in the automobile industry." via EE Times

Want to submit news to Display Alliance or be interviewed? Email jason@displayalliance.com

CGS not IGZO Adorn New Sharp 5-inch HD Panel "Truth be told, although an older technology CGS is still a good choice. The older CG-Silicon uses crystalline silicon with electron mobility up to 600 times faster than ordinary amorphous silicon and up to six times faster than low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS-the current technology in the iPhone retina class iPhone4) according to Sharp." via Display Central

Projected-capacitive touch panels: Coming to a hospital near you "The optical clarity of projected capacitive touch panels made with all-glass construction makes them ideal for incorporating touch interactivity into demanding medical applications that require high-end LCDs with superior contrast, resolution, luminance and sharpness. Touch panels made from PET film instead of glass typically have lower transmissivity, greater haze and often exhibit interference patterns, or Newton’s rings, all of which make them less suitable for medical devices." via ECN Mag

The Information Display News Roundup For 10.4.2012

Image via Tech Hive

Is Sharp showing high-res iPad mini screens? "The Japanese manufacturer, which has been mass producing the screens since August for an unnamed customer, is showing working tablet displays in 7-inch, 10-inch, and 13-inch form factors at its booth, though they are sealed off behind glass. IGZO technology, named after the indium gallium zinc oxide semiconductor on which it is based, can be used to make screens with smaller pixels that draw far less power than current models with more accurate touch sensitivity. Sharp is pushing the technology for smartphones and tablets." via Tech Hive

What Is the Society for Information Display For? "What sort of information should be presented and how can we prevent human overload? These and many more questions seem relevant to the Society for Information Display. SID should not just be about displays, but about display-based solutions." via Display Central

Sharp tackles reflected light with 'moth eye' LCD "Sharp applied an anti-reflecting coating to its LCD panels based on technology similar to the nanostructure of a moth’s eyes. Scientists have long understood that moth eyes have a special property that eliminates reflection. The surface of a moth's eyes is covered with bumps and valleys that absorb oncoming light, enhancing night vision." via EE Times

Average Size of LCD TV Panels Increases by 2 Inches in 12 Months "Overcapacity in the TFT LCD industry remains an ongoing concern for panel makers. Capacity expansions have been slowing down, with few new investments in Korea, Taiwan and Japan. ...In addition to shrinking capacity, an important factor in bringing supply and demand into balance is area growth. One key trend to watch here is average screen size, especially for TV panels." via DisplaySearch Blog

Do you need display panels? Ask Jason. I'm the managing editor of Display Alliance but I also source panels for Mass Integrated, Inc. Just let me know what you need: jason@displayalliance.com

Reading on LCD vs e-Ink displays: effects on fatigue and visual strain "Since research has shown that, compared to reading on electronic displays, reading on paper is faster and requires fewer fixations per line, one would expect differential effects when comparing reading behaviour on e-Ink and LCD. In the present study we therefore compared experimentally how these two display types are suited for reading over an extended period of time." via NCBI

Hitachi Electronic Devices becomes KOE-Americas "“Hitachi has a long history of firsts in LCD technology” says Keith Brown, vice-president of operations and sales for KOE Americas. “From the first commercially available in-plane switching technology, to the first ultra-wide-temperature range displays, Hitachi has been an industry innovator for over three decades. KOE-Americas hopes to build on that legacy by partnering with product developers to utilize LCDs in new and innovative ways.”" via Electronic Products and Technology

CEATEC 2012: Docomo demos hands-free video-conferencing prototype with digitized avatar "Docomo came with something rather interesting in the shape of a pair of glasses that comes with 7 different 720p cameras. Not only these cameras will digitize your face, but will also capture in real time your surrounding environment and movements to your calling partner." via Akihabara News

HDTV buying guide: How to select the right set "Though the majority of LED sets you’ll find are edge-lit, meaning that the array of LED backlights behind the LCD panel are positioned around the edges of the set, more-expensive LED sets use full-array or backlit LED light sources. Backlit or full-array sets are more expensive to make (and buy), and they’re generally quite a bit thicker than edge-lit LED sets. Some of these higher-priced backlit LED sets feature a technology called local dimming." via TechHive

The future of brain-computer interfaces revealed ""A BCI is a system that enables interaction with a computer based on changing electrical signals that occur in the brain," Carmichael tells us. "The signals can be taken invasively or non-invasively either from inside the brain or from the scalp. Non-invasive BCI takes signals that are present at micro-volt levels on the scalp and then amplifies them using an EEG. These signals are then digitised so that they can be used by the computer."" via Tech Radar

Minority Report Touch Gestures A Terrible Idea, Says Top Industrial Designer "In the movie, Tom Cruise is doing a lot of object selection, sorting, and editing. Those things work best with small hand movements. We require more motor control for that kind of work. But there is an emerging field of computing that does take advantage of more ‘phatic’ interactions." via Sixteen:Nine

Want to submit news to Display Alliance or be interviewed? Get in touch with us: jason@displayalliance.com

New Technologies and Methods Push Imaging Capabilities "Imaging used to be simply defined as the representation of an object's external form. That definition no longer holds true as researchers now look for more than just an image. They look for more information within an image, such as fluorescent tags, mechanobiological parameters, internal structures, fabrication while imaging and the characterization of materials as yet undefined. " via Laboratory Equipment