Zazzle Shop

Screen printing

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The amazing bendy TV screen that folds up to fit in your pocket

By Cher Thornhill

Bendy screen

In operation: A snapshot of the running all-organic 2D-display

Traditional flat-screen televisions could soon become a thing of the past, as scientists have revealed an ultra-thin, flexible screen that could fold up and fit in your pocket.

The bendy screens - less than a millimetre thick - could be used for televisions, computers and phones, and may pave the way for easy-to-carry digital newspaper displays, which readers could upload their news on to daily.

Some speculate that the technology could even lead to wearable TV jackets, flexible laptop screens, and TV blankets.

Sony worked with researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany to create the design. They say it is flexible and transparent, and has an extremely low energy requirement, allowing laptop and phone batteries to last longer.

The screens are made up of organic molecules that emit light in all directions to produce an image, which gives an almost infinite viewing angle.

Stacking up the transparent screens may produce 3D effects, the scientists say.

Other possibilities include moving images on posters, like those seen in films such as Minority Report, and talking pictures on cereal boxes.

The researchers told the Journal of Physics: 'The displays have excellent brightness and are transparent, bendable and flexible.

'There are practically no display size limitations and they could be produced relatively easily and cheaply compared to today's screens.'

An earlier version of the work was demonstrated by Sony in 2006, but technical and design issues stopped it from being mass produced.

Watch video of the bizarre bendy screen here...



0 comments: