Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
The last edition of the Economist 24th January to 30th January has a fascinating article in the Science and Technology section. It tells us that; ‘electronic screens as thin as paper are coming soon.’
I remember being fascinated by Nicholas Negroponte’s promise that electronic paper would replace ordinary paper ‘soon’ in his book: Being Digital which was published in 1995 and that, need I remind anyone, was almost 14 years ago. I thought the technology he described was long forgotton but it wasn’t. It has taken a while to emerge using a lithographic process invented by HP called an electrophoretic process and an electronic ink made by EInk ( a spin off from MIT, so there is a Negroponte link) and special plastic film made by DuPont.
So far only black and white screens are possible but colour is on the way. So flexible roll up screens in colour using a fraction of the power of LCD screens at a fraction of the weight. It will transform our lives.