Ah the future is now, people! Well, to be accurate, the
future was yesterday as that’s when word came out in the press that Arizona
State University’s Flexible Display Center has crafted the world’s first
flexible touchscreen with an integrated active-matrix display. Unfortunately,
due to a certain financial backer, the technology is headed to the battlefield
before your local Best Buy.
The bendable, rollable, twistable prototype is based on
technology developed by E Ink Incorporated, a company that, you may recall, is
spearheading a transition from ‘regular’ to ‘electronic’ paper. E Ink
technology is perhaps most notable as the driving force behind
Amazon’s Kindle (now in its second iteration). But the technology was also
recently featured in the October 2008 issue of Esquire magazine where digitized, undulating letters proclaimed
that “The 21st Century Begins Now”. But through research at Arizona
State the technology is embarking on its greatest feat yet.
The university’s Flexible Display Center has been making the
most out of E Ink’s active-matrix electrophoretic display technology by using
it to create a flexible touchscreen that’s even capable of taking input
from a stylus.
One of the challenges faced in making a bendable touchscreen
is that traditionally glass has been used in nearly all major applications of
the technology. And I don’t know if you’ve tried to bend glass recently, but it
ain’t easy. The solution to this complication comes from DuPont Teijin Films, a
company that manufacturers a thin, durable plastic that can then be used as a substitute
screen cover.
The testing software for the flexible touchscreen provides a
rudimentary UI for navigating menus and receiving pen-strokes from a stylus.
Scrawled notes can be stored and then erased at will (crossword anyone?)
All of this is backed by the sheer ingenuity of E Ink’s original
design; just like the first prototype, the flexible touchscreen only requires
power when users are interacting with it, meaning that anything displayed
on-screen is being done so without drawing from the battery.
Due to the financial backing from the US Army, the military
has dibs on the flexible displays. However, E Ink vice-president Sri Peruvemba
speculates that the technology could be ready for commercialization in as
little as 18 months.
Could this be the the savior of print publications? Subtract
the printing and distribution costs from newspapers and magazines and consumers might just be enticed enough
to stop freeloading news from the net and subscribe to a service that delivers content right to that rolled up
screen you’re carrying under their arm.
Whatever application they find, it’s nevertheless exciting stuff!
