Sony is developing a new fold-up display that could herald the production of fold-away computers.
According to The New Journal of Physics, researchers from Sony and the Max Planck Institute are exploring the possibility of creating, and are working on the development of, bendable optically assessed organic light emitting displays.
When fully developed, this technology could lead to the production of electronic poster displays for advertising as well as digital newspapers that can be folded and televisions which can be bent.
Additionally, the “upconversion” full-colour displays have several other advantages than flexibility over current display technologies. These include faster response times, almost unlimited viewing angles, and a virtually unlimited possibility of shapes and sizes.
Sony originally announced news of a similar development in 2006, but that early development ran into problems such as distortion when bent and size-limitations. Their new technology isn’t beset by any of those previous problems and therefore makes the development open to many further possibilities.
It certainly appears that technology is providing some amazing gadgets and gizmos that we never even dreamed of only ten years ago. Amazing developments are occurring lately, such as the one above, that can only change society for the better if used correctly.
It appears, to the untrained eye, that the depth of development of technological gadgets and gizmos is unlimited. However there is just one thing that puts the brakes firmly on one avenue of development - that being component miniaturization.
Current technologies have made it possible to build microelectronic devices out of almost infinitesimally-small transistors as small as 45 nanometers across - considerably less than the width of a human hair. You can pack millions of these devices into a small package, such as the processor chip of the computer that you are using right now.
There is a limit beyond which it appears impossible to go though. 45nm is only the distance across a small number of atoms of the doped molecular substrate used in the transistor’s construction, and we’re already getting close to as small as all possibility will allow these devices to be built without massive fabrication costs, electromechanical breakdowns, and current-leakages in the individual transistors themselves. In short, we’re nearly at the point where technology is as small as we can make it.
Nevertheless, even if we do ever actually reach that limit, there still seems to be almost endless possibilities in utilizing the available technologies.
Do you think that there may be a limit at which we have to stop developing all technologies and accept defeat? A point when humanity has developed every technology possible? If so, do you think there will ever come a point when we’ve also invented every possible practical device imaginable? Will geeks die of boredom at that point?
Besides, until we have a jet pack, a robot chick worth a darn and the ability for everything to be NetZero energy, we will never stop. And where is my time machine/ teleporter?
“We will never be smarter than those who come after us”
I’m kind of confused as to why this article was posted? This is old news and was reported on around 18 months ago.
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2007/05/sony_unveils_new_flexioled_display.html
It’s not a matter of Sony “exploring the possibility of creating, and working on the development of, bendable optically assessed organic light emitting displays” - it’s already been created and developed.
The article was written firstly to highlight the further recent developments in the technology by Sony. The original development of the technology ran into a number of minor issues which have now largely been resolved.
In addition the latter part of the article highlights the impending problems associated with further miniaturisation of electronic components, as well as encouraging the reader to give their opinions.
The first part of the article wasn’t written with the intention of announcing news of an original development, it was aimed at announcing the further development of a technology already under development.
I hope that sets your mind at rest.
The second part I got, but I think the first part should be changed to make it sound more like a ‘developing news’ story vs a ‘Hey, check out this exciting technology’ story. It just sounds more like ‘News just in!’ based on the way it’s written in the first couple of paragraphs.
Just my 2 cents.
“Do you think that there may be a limit at which we have to stop developing all technologies and accept defeat? A point when humanity has developed every technology possible? If so, do you think there will ever come a point when we’ve also invented every possible practical device imaginable? Will geeks die of boredom at that point?”
In my opinion, the world will either end once we’ve created all we can, or we’ll start over and reinvent everything billions of years later when we think it’s something new. All of our cities will have been buried under layers of rock and ocean, and we’ll all be sailing the oceans looking for new countries, wearing caged dresses, and driving carriages with horses.
You know the saying, reinvent the wheel? We’ll do exactly that - reinvent the wheel of time.