What is Digg?49 Comments
- WarMachineWCLH, on 10/27/2008, -2/+23I can't wait for the day of nice crisp color e-ink so I can read digital comics everywhere. I basically wand Kindle for comics.
- RipleyIsDead, on 10/27/2008, -2/+16Plus, it's e-paper... doesn't use power until the image changes.
- BigDaddyBucyk, on 10/27/2008, -2/+15 Wrong! This can be read easily in high or low lighting.
- GawtMilk, on 10/27/2008, -2/+12Give it 8GB / 16GB of memory and FLAC support, and you've found yourself a customer.
- Origin415, on 10/27/2008, -0/+9Still orders of magnitude less power, Jeffler.
- rolf, on 10/27/2008, -2/+10What does bury mean?
- Origin415, on 10/27/2008, -0/+8It shouldn't be any more readible in low light as a piece of paper would. i.e. slightly, but my mom keeps telling me not to do it.
- generalsticky, on 10/27/2008, -0/+5Wont that work fine for XKCD?
- robthom, on 10/27/2008, -0/+4I wonder if this can evolve into high enough resolutions for a laptop screen.
- Timmmm, on 10/27/2008, -0/+3This isnt e-paper. It works in a totally different way and has very different properties. It is actually called IMOD:
http://www.qualcomm.com/qmt/ - Origin415, on 10/27/2008, -0/+3Normally the screen is (maybe not if its a hard drive player), particularly because of the backlight if it has one. Thats why playing video on an mp3 player has pretty pathetic battery life, while music lasts for days. A screen has to be constantly lit, and it makes no power difference if it is refreshing or not. This only has to use power once a second as opposed to continuously, and at least theoretically, only needs power for the specific areas that are changing.
- WillyWonka, on 10/27/2008, -0/+3Well a back light wouldn't work, but a light on the front like the Gameboy SP would probably work fine. You would be able to turn it on and off as well.
- Peko, on 10/27/2008, -0/+3@Origin
I'd say you're mostly right, for most practical purposes, it'll be fine on an mp3 player.
but but but, when seeking/FFing through a song, my mp3 player updates the time index of a song faster than 1 fps. - Seph7, on 10/27/2008, -14/+17I'm pretty sure my gameboy color did that and looked about as good as that display 10 years ago.
- TheScotsman1980, on 10/27/2008, -4/+6Looks basic so far, but I can see the benefits.
- thescimitar, on 10/27/2008, -0/+2Up until recently, it was still waaaaay slow, about 1 cycle per second.
- inactive, on 10/27/2008, -0/+2 Except now I need a penlight to read it in the dark. Seriously can't these things have a backlight that turns on and off?
- positron, on 10/27/2008, -1/+3But what's the refresh rate like?
- MindTrigger, on 10/27/2008, -0/+2Living in SoCal, I would really like a laptop with a screen that works in bright sunlight. They are all but useless year round here for outdoor use. I know the e-paper screens don't refresh like LCD's but who knows what will happen a few years down the road. I look forward to seeing this technology evolve.
- Origin415, on 10/27/2008, -1/+3Shouldnt need any faster than that, for an mp3 player the fastest thing changing is the time.
- govsucks, on 10/27/2008, -1/+3This stuff is the future. I just get all funny feeling when I think about the stuff I could use this for if it ever gets a good resolution and refresh rate. The amount of paper that could be saved is fantastic. Of course the guys that work in the print houses all over the nation won't care for it very much. But imagine a movie poster made of this stuff. When a new movie comes out, walk up, plug a thumb drive into the movie box and a new poster loads without having to print anything. All kinds of signage could now be reused and updated for a fraction of the cost.
- Origin415, on 10/27/2008, -0/+2The refresh rate would be horrendous. I doubt the technology would be useful for that for many years to come.
- Jektal, on 10/27/2008, -0/+2Refreshing the screen once every second, or refresh the screen 29 times per second and keep a backlight running constantly.
Which one do you think uses more power? - diggdatt, on 10/27/2008, -0/+1I got tired of waiting for e-paper devices to have good resolutions, support all the filetypes I need and just bought a tablet pc. Sure its a little heavier and thicker, but I dont have to fiddle with any converters or whatever.
- kpkpkp, on 10/27/2008, -0/+1The major power consumption of a 'regular' display is in its backlight. E-Paper displays are bistable, which means they only require power to change. The downside of mirasol is that the displays Qualcomm has ready to go are relatively tiny - in the case of the color one in this article, only .9 inch. Also, they do not appear to be flexible.
- Midtowner, on 10/27/2008, -0/+1Too bad this won't be done by the time I finish school. I use an 8-color highlighting system to 'book brief' the cases I have to prepare for class. Black and white would have killed me. I absolutely hate carrying heavy books around campus. Ah well.. c'est la vie. Maybe Thompson West will come out with statute books and case reporters as updatable e-books which I can keep in my briefcase...
- thereaintnojust, on 10/27/2008, -0/+1Just use a kindle and then use highlighters.
http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&resnum=0&q=hi ... - spaceman84, on 10/27/2008, -1/+2EPD tech will never be used for laptops because the of the super slow refresh rate, very poor contrast and the fact that the screen is not lit in any way means. TV and computer screens are supposed to glow, something that EPD displays will never be able to do. You're far more likely to see OLED displays for laptops.
- Jektal, on 10/27/2008, -0/+1I don't think we'll see it on the boxes anytime soon, but the advertising materials will be all over this. Not just the large sign installations like govsucks mentions, but throw-away promotions and signage
- trevordj, on 10/27/2008, -1/+1So 2 years, 5 years? I wish they'd give an update of when something similar for a reader would be available. I've got a lot of Graphic Novels and Web Comics I'd like to travel with.
- spaceman84, on 10/27/2008, -2/+2Because the material is reflective, a backlight won't shine through. It has to be lit from the front. Which is *****.
- fistulator, on 10/27/2008, -2/+2Woot! I can't wait for color e-paper digital picture frames...now if they'd just make one in a square format.
- rbrodkin, on 10/27/2008, -1/+1Last I checked the point of ePaper displays is to extend battery life, but I don't see how using such a display in an MP3 player accomplishes that. If the display has to refresh every second to update the progress of the song, that's near constant energy being used. At that point we've defated the purpose.
That's not to mention that the screen is not the most energy consuming part of players, something has to play the music. - MindTrigger, on 10/27/2008, -1/+1We will see this stuff everywhere. Imagine what cereal boxes will look like with this stuff is cheap. Walking down the breakfast isle at the store will be like driving down the strip in Vegas. hehe.
- spaceman84, on 10/27/2008, -1/+1AND they must be lit from the front. Personally, I'm not going to be buying a device that I can only use in broad daylight.
- spaceman84, on 10/27/2008, -1/+1You can use an LCD screen in sunlight to some degree. You cannot use an EPD screen in the dark without providing some form of exterior lighting.
- slimxdi, on 10/27/2008, -0/+0I disagree. Think Winamp-like visualizations or even screen transitioning with E-ink
- ebeastie, on 10/27/2008, -0/+0Why is qualcomm developing this and not Amazon or sony. R&D people!!
- dacheetah, on 10/28/2008, -1/+1We have already established that the American's can't spell colour, nor a long series of other words. But given that the majority of diggers, I suspect, are American, there is little point making fun of them for it, you'll wind up buried.
- dacheetah, on 10/28/2008, -1/+1It doesn't necessarily have to be 100% transparent, it may still be possible to have it backlit, although it did say that it used interference between two reflected beams to create the colour, so it could be triksy.
- slimxdi, on 10/27/2008, -0/+0damn it, i meant this as a reply to the response rate comment.
- zosX, on 10/28/2008, -1/+1EXACTLY what I just thought! I was really underwhelmed. I can see the light advantages, but is power savings on the display such a big deal? I mean my display is set to power off after 10 seconds, so unless I'm changing songs a lot (rarely) it is never really on anyways. Plus I get a good 10-12 hours out of my player anyways. Who needs headphones on more than 12 hours a day?
- Jektal, on 10/27/2008, -3/+3I'm pretty sure you're in no position to fix spelling and grammar, and "color" is just as legitimate a spelling as "colour", in the same sense that "bonjour", "aloha", and "hello" are all valid.
- EtherGnat, on 10/27/2008, -2/+1If you read the description it doesn't sound like this is the same technology at all as traditional e-ink displays at all. I wouldn't make any assumptions about battery life and power consumption (nor any other factors such as refresh rate), although obviously eliminating the backlight should have advantages.
- Jeffler, on 10/27/2008, -5/+3Which means nothing on an mp3 player because its going to change to reflect seconds on a song...
- AWicher, on 10/27/2008, -6/+1Im pretty sure its colour!
- Slade605, on 10/27/2008, -13/+3I EAT BABIES
- inactive, on 10/27/2008, -17/+3What does "Color" mean?
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