The market for flexible Active Matrix (AM) displays will finally
be open for business this year, according to an iSuppli report.
We’ve seen paper-thin prototypes for a while now, but the quality
and diversity of products is good enough to get the public’s
attention. In fact, the worldwide market revenue is estimated to
reach $2.8 billion by 2013, up from $80 million in 2007.
Gamers are already drooling over the new curved monitors that
were showcased by Alienware at this year’s Consumer Electronics
Show in January. The first of its kind, the screen is the
equivalent of two 24-inch monitors, and promises a richer, more
immersive visual experience. Check out the video, then get in line
– we should be seeing these on store shelves later this year.
Using 160 white LEDs to backlight the LCD screen, Eizo Nanao Corp managed to cut power consumption by 72%.
When you consider that a simple 19-inch LCD screen uses about 34W in it’s average daily use, dropping it down to about 9.5 is an incredible step down. It’s like if next years model of your gas-guzzling SUV came out with a minor addition which made its MPG jump from 18 to 31. It also comes with another great energy-saver. “The monitor also features an “Auto EcoView” function that automatically adjusts the backlight’s luminance in accordance with the external brightness detected by the luminance sensor equipped on the bottom of the monitor.” This way the screen will always be bright enough to see, but not so bright that it will melt your eyeballs along with the polar ice caps.
Although it may be more difficult to position LEDs into big-screen LCD TVs (due to the increased area), I wouldn’t be surprised to see some hitting the market in the next year or so. Especially when you consider “a newer 20-cu.-ft refrigerator cost approximately $50 annually to run, and a 50-inch 1080p plasma set costs approximately $110 annually.” Our appliances need to reduce power consumption down just as much as our cars do.
AU Optronics Corp, one of the top three manufacturers of thin film Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), have developed a LCD screen which has the ability to take your fingerprint or monitor UV levels on the environment (the UV thing is kinda weird, they hope to market it to women worried about too much skin exposure to UV rays).
The LCD screen is able to scan a fingerprint due to the high amount of sensors built into the pixels themselves. “The LCD panel is mounted with optical sensors and a detection circuit. Each pixel is equipped with four sensors.” The high pixel to sensor ratio allows it to scan a fingerprint only a few seconds after a finger is placed on it.
The scariest issue about all of this is the fact that surfaces, which we thought were simple, are becoming even more complex. This is a huge issue when you consider biometric information (fingerprints, DNA, iris scan) can easily be gained by technology that used to just make thinner TVs possible. It makes you wonder how decades from now people are going to protect their identity when the technology around them records everything about them.
Using 160 white LEDs to backlight the 