November 2015

Oxford University researchers developed new technology based on phase-change materials (similar to ones used in re-writable DVDs) that can be used to create non-volatile highly-efficient e-paper displays. Oxford established a new company called Bodle Technologies to commercialize this new technology.

The phase-change materials can manipulate light - by electrical, optical or mechanical means - they can be used to filter, steer or dim light using very little power. Bodle already demonstrated a sub-100nm pixel size and a very rich color gamut (they say it exceeds "other display technologies"). David Fyfe (the executive chairman of Oxford Photovoltaics and the former CEO of Cambridge Display Technology) will serve as executive chairman.

A new crowdfunding campaign at IndieGogo aims to raise $75,000 to produce Smart Stickers, a 40 grams real-time display that uses a 2.7" E Ink display and connects to any smartphone to display notifications, missed call, reminders or any other information you can think of via the API.

The Smart Sticker costs only $30, and if the campaign is successful, the first products will (hopefully) be available by February 2016.

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Perovskites are a fascinating group of materials that share a similar structure and display a myriad of exciting properties like superconductivity, magnetoresistance and more. These easily synthesized materials are considered the future of solar cells, as their distinctive structure makes them perfect for enabling low-cost, efficient photovoltaics. They are also predicted to play a role in next-gen electric vehicle batteries, sensors, displays, lasers and much more.

UK-based Plextek Consulting is developing E Ink based panels to cover drones with an aim to make them invisible. Plextek is using 8 inch by 10 inch E Ink panels that are monochrome and lightweight (probably flexible panels). The panels can change their pattern and design and by adding a camera can help camouflage the drone.

Plextek actually wanted to cover military vehicles, but this was too difficult and they switched to drones. Making military vehicles and aircraft invisible using flexible displays is an old idea - I remember the US military playing around with flexible OLEDs back in 1998 or so.

According to a new report, e-reader ownership in the US is falling. 19% of adults in the US own a dedicated e-reader - down from 32% two years ago.

But people are still reading e-books - in fact a different report says that 27% of Americans have read an e-book in the past year up from 17% in 2011. This means that people are reading e-books, but not on dedicated e-readers but rather on other platforms (mostly tablets and smartphones, I guess).