Techno gadget » Display device

HP shows off flexible displays

krish — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:45:25 +0000

McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer for HP’s Personal Systems Group, kicked off the MobileBeat 2010 conference with a brief presentation followed by a question-and-answer session in which he reaffirmed the current goal of the personal computing industry: To figure out what the hell people want in a device bigger than a smartphone but smaller than a notebook PC. Now armed with Palm’s webOS operating system following its completion of that acquisition two weeks ago, McKinney promised that HP would build slates and phones that are both “open” in terms of application development and consistent in terms of the user experience across multiple devices.

He didn’t have anything new to discuss, such as whether or not HP is still planning to build slate devices based on Microsoft’s Windows 7. But one technology that could make a difference in how consumers adopt these middle-of-the-road devices is a flexible display, which McKinney unrolled from a cardboard tube to show off to attendees. Flexible display is one of those tech-industry ideas that has been about five years away from becoming reality for around 10 years. We’re still pretty far away from the ultimate goal of a computing device you can roll up and stick in your pocket, McKinney said, but HP Labs has been doing a lot of work on this technology over the past few years and has gotten to the point where it can marry its investment in transistors and printing technology to literally print these kinds of displays.

World’s Largest Curved Plasma Screen

krish — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:44:30 +0000

Globetrotters passing through Japan’s Kansai airport should check out its giant plasma screen setup showcasing the air transport hub and traditional Japanese culture. Hailed as the largest of its kind measuring 4m high by 3m wide, this 200-inch plasma is also unique for its curved surface. If you look close enough at the above photo, it seems like the mammoth display is pieced together from six small panels, though it’s still difficult to explain how the screen is wrapped.

Ultrafast X-ray pulses capture images at atomic level

krish — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:16:35 +0000

Particle acceleration has been the focus of research at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center since the early 1960s, but a relatively new project at the US Department of Energy facility at Stanford University called the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is giving scientists a unique opportunity to capture images of single molecules. With the use of microwaves, electrons are accelerated along a two-mile path where they are oscillated back and forth, generating radiation and ultrafast X-ray flashes that capture images of molecular events with a “shutter speed” of less than 100 femtoseconds.

Notion Ink Tablet First With Pixel Qi Display

krish — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:45:20 +0000

The birth of the Apple tablet, there is another touchscreen device which may have more impact technologically. US-based Notion Ink has announced that Adam, an Android-based tablet PC, will ship in June 2010 for around US$325. However, what is really exciting is that this machine may be the first to sport the new 10.1-inch Pixel Qi display. What’s the big deal with Pixel Qi technology? While it can perform like a standard LCD display, the Pixel Qi panel has a low-power transflective display, which allows ambient light to illuminate the screen, and an epaper mode. The latter resembles a black-and-white eReader and is meant to be used under bright environments. This allows the Nvidia Tegra machine to consume 90 percent less power than conventional panels.

Epson’s Portable Printer With Digital Photo Frame

krish — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:54:46 +0000

Epson’s new PictureMate Show compact photo printer brings images to life with a dual purpose: You can also use it as a digital photo frame. The Show works as both a digital photo frame and a compact photo printer thanks to its small size and 7-inch WVGA tilt screen that beautifully displays hi-res photos. Transferring pictures to the viewer is made easy using the 270MB of internal memory, but there’s also a media card reader and a USB port on the side for downloading images from any digital camera. Once you have the photos loaded, you can perform simple edits like cropping or resizing, but you can also set the device to automatically correct your photos before printing. Unlike other portable dye-sublimation printers, the Epson PictureMate Show uses the company’s own proprietary “Advanced MicroPiezo” technology, optimized for photo printing.

DIY Film Machine

krish — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:46:22 +0000

Flickr user dark orange has posted a set of images documenting and teaching interested readers how to make their own film-making machine. Being a film user myself, one advantage I can think of for having such a piece of hardware is the ability to create the type of negatives I like. This is especially important as I’m not sure when Kodak will stop producing its Tri-X black-and-white negatives, considering it has halted Kodachrome earlier this year. Instead of making this a solo project, why not gather a few friends to make this machine? Who knows, you may even be able to sell a couple of rolls for a decent profit.

Water Torch

krish — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:03:08 +0000

Here we’re going to see about the new torch light which gets power the water stored in it, Japan Trend Shop has started selling the Water Powered Torch. The cool factor of this torch is that it uses AA NoPoPo hydrogen-powered batteries (included) that can be recharged using beer, sake, cola, or even urine. Measuring 3.75-inch x 1.08-inch, the Water Powered Torch.

New Mitsubishi Beamer With Contrast Boost

krish — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:51:04 +0000

The new Mitsubishi Electric HC6800 sports the same curvy shell as its predecessor, this 3LCD home theater projector is a different creature altogether underneath its glossy skin. The HC6800 offers a 30,000:1 dynamic contrast, which is twice that of the HC6500’s performance, while improving brightness output slightly to 1,500 ANSI lumens. There’s also an enthusiast-grade HQV Reon-VX video processor to upscale your DVDs and two HDMI 1.3 inputs to cover multiple HD decks for your home theater system.

3D-Ready PS3 Scheduled For 2011

krish — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:17:17 +0000

Sony has a strategy for upping the quality of its content and providing an incentive for gamers to upgrade their home entertainment systems next year, and it involves the PS3 going 3D. A presentation to investors yesterday underlined that the PlayStation 3 will be a fully 3D-capable game console by the end of 2010, and that a firmware update would share this upgrade across all existing PS3s. A few demos of PS3 3D gaming have been shown previously, but the news of an across-the-board firmware update is new. Of course, a gamer would still need a 3D-capable Bravia HDTV and glasses, the latter of which haven’t been announced yet. We’re curious how the quality will be–Nvidia’s 3D game technology, now being embedded into laptops, looks great, but requires a 120Hz monitor for fluid motion. But it’s a smart idea, if manufacturers want anyone to adopt 3D tech, to include it as a Trojan horse inside laptops and game consoles. And we hope it works on HDTVs other than specific Bravias.

Mobile Projector

krish — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:33:49 +0000

Pico projectors are great, but they are also prohibitively expensive. The HypnosEye Projector compromises a little on the experience with an old-school technology, and at US$80, costs only a fraction of the amount you’d typically fork out. Unlike most ultraportable projectors which take a direct feed from the source (for example, a mobile phone), the HypnosEye uses a specially coated mirror to reflect the screen on the handset, i.e. it doesn’t require a power source. It has a projection distance of between 0.5m and 2m on an area up to 45 inches. The only drawback is that the brightness level on the handset affects how much you see on the projection. The accessory will work with any handset with a backlit screen and is available at Japan Trend Shop.