Originally published December 8 2005
Future of computer displays previewed with roll-up monitor
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
HP scientists are trying to create a computer display that is "very lightweight, very thin and potentially flexible." Last year HP scientists created a prototype of a printed, plastic color display (electronic paper) for use in advertising.
Nowadays, many of us read or listen to the news on computers.
That soon may change as companies close in on one of technology's holy grails: a highly flexible computer display that one can roll up the way one handles a newspaper or a magazine.
A team of Hewlett-Packard scientists showed off their version of that future one recent morning at HP Labs in Palo Alto, Calif., as they stood next to a machine about the size of a large refrigerator.
As the slow-moving machine churned out a thin sheet of plastic, John Meyer, director of HP's digital printing and imaging laboratory, talked about his team's efforts to create a new kind of computer display that is "something very lightweight, very thin and potentially flexible."
Scientists and tech companies such as HP, Xerox and Philips have been trying to come up with flexible displays for more than 20 years.
A year ago, HP scientists in Palo Alto and Bristol, England, unveiled a prototype of a printed, plastic color display that could be used for making electronic books and magazines as well as digital posters and televisions.
Two years ago, Gyricon, a subsidiary of Xerox, released an electronic paper product for use in advertising displays.
advertising "I have something like a sheet of plastic that you put into an electric paper printer, and when it comes out or when it gets disconnected, it has an image," said Raj Apte, a researcher at Xerox PARC.
HP's work on electronic paper technology is part of the company's efforts to come up with new computer displays, such as e-books.
"We believe the way to do that is with a roll-to-roll process, a continuous web-based process like that used to print newspapers.
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