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The future of e-paper: The Kindle is only the beginning
Thin, flexible, low-power digital paper is just around the corner. Will your next book or newspaper be 'e'?
David DeJean, Computerworld, June 6, 2008
Excerpts from the article:
Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle has turned a long underperforming category of tech gadget -- e-book readers -- into an overnight hit, and in the process has boosted interest in electronic paper display (EPD) technology. The Kindle and its rival, the Sony Reader 505, both boast e-paper displays that look unnervingly like printed pages and consume next to no power. However, today's EPDs -- and today's e-book readers -- are only the beginning...
A display technology based on electronic 'ink'
The first successful demonstration of e-paper technology was made by Nick Sheridon at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the 1970s. His technology, called Gyricon, used tiny rotating spheres of electrically charged plastic, black on one side, white on the other, suspended in bubbles of oil between transparent electrodes.
Gyricon technology never delivered the contrast and resolution that a display screen for personal electronic devices requires, but it was used for signs. (Xerox and PARC are now looking at other ways to combine paper and technology, including papers whose printed images fade away over a short period of time -- like a day.)...
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