Emoti-bots turn household objects into mopey machines (video)

Some emotional robots dip deep into the dark recesses of the uncanny valley, where our threshold for human mimicry resides. Emoti-bots on the other hand, manage to skip the creepy human-like pitfalls of other emo-machines, instead employing household objects to ape the most pathetic of human emotions -- specifically dejection and insecurity. Sure it sounds sad, but the mechanized furniture designed by a pair of MFA students is actually quite clever. Using a hacked Roomba and an Arduino, the duo created a chair that reacts to your touch, and wanders aimlessly once you're rump has disembarked. They've also employed Nitinol wires, a DC motor, and a proximity sensor to make a lamp that seems to tire with use. We prefer our lamps to look on the sunny side of life, but for those of you who like your fixtures forlorn, the Emoti-bots are now on display at Parsons in New York and can be found moping about in the video after the break.

Emoti-bots

E Ink shows concepts galore at SID 2011: snowboards, radios, thermostats, oh my!

E Ink's 300ppi 9.7-inch panel -- touting "laser print quality" and a ridiculous 2400 x 1650 screen resolution -- was just the tip of the e-paper iceberg here at SID 2011. The aforesaid display isn't shipping in any commercial products just yet, but given that OEMs are already accepting 'em, we were told to expect ultra-fine print devices in the not-too-distant future. The screen, which was jointly developed by Epson, truly did look astonishing up close, forcing us to get awkwardly close to see the pixels behind the pictures. Outside of that guy, though, the outfit's booth was splattered with concepts -- everything from an E Ink-infused snowboard (shown above) to a rugged radio. There was even a prototype sheet music reader (dreamed up by Lenart Studios) that looked downright outstanding, not to mention a thermostat that would have any Home Depot junkie swooning. Have a gander at the galleries below, and peek past the break for a brief video tour. Oh, and Burton -- you should seriously get on this.

E Ink snowboard concept eyes-on at SID 2011

E Ink's concept sheet music holder at SID 2011

E Ink's 9.7-inch 300ppi display at SID 2011

 

Samsung's 10.1-inch plastic LCD showcased in concept laptop, tablet at SID 2011 (video)

Fumble your phone much? Samsung may have a solution for clumsy gadgeteers with screen shatter fears: a lightweight, ultra-durable, plastic LCD screen. Tucked into laptop and tablet concepts at SID 2011, this 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 wunderpanel could be the next innovation in durable mobile devices -- cutting thickness by as much as two-thirds at one-fifth the weight of a glass LCD. Lighter, stronger devices sound awesome, but the tech has its drawbacks; it suffers from poor off-axis viewing angles, and the entire surface has a visible, but not entirely off-putting, wavy texture. Cracked LCD bending art enthusiasts can rest easy for awhile, there's no word yet on pricing or availability; easy-to-bust displays aren't going anywhere. Hit the gallery and the video (after the break) for an eyes-on look.

Samsung's 10.1-inch Plastic LCD prototype eyes-on at SID 2011

Source: Engadget

UDC shows off serpentine OLED lamp concept at SID 2011 (video)

We've seen flexible OLEDs and OLED lighting solutions before, but none of them conjured our sweaty club-hopping fantasies quite like this concept from Universal Display Corporation (UDC). The flexible OLED makers weren't particularly forthcoming on the specs for this color-changing apparatus, but we can tell you that it uncoils and recoils with the help of a motion sensor, and requires very little energy to power -- note that tiny wire supplying 100 percent of the required juice. UDC used this flashy lamp specifically to show off its own brand of low-energy flexible white OLED lighting, which means you won't see it popping up in B.E.D. anytime soon (if ever), but it certainly has us thinking of new ways to light up our nights. Gratuitous amounts of bouncing and beaming can be found after the break.

UDC OLED lighting concept eyes-on at SID 2011

OLED Display

Toshiba Write-Erasable Input Display hands-on at SID 2011 (video)

Sure, we've seen oodles of light pen drawing boards, and e-readers that support doodling, but Toshiba's "R&D project" at SID Display Week just... struck us. Weighing far less than the notepad used to jot down notes about it, this encapsulated device evidently sports a built-in battery, E Ink tendencies, a microSD card slot, proprietary charging port, an on / off toggle switch and support for stylus input. Drawing on it was both enjoyable and simple, and we were actually able to erase our typos with the press of a button (and a bit of eraser work with the pictured pen). Enough chatter -- have a look yourself in the video past the break.

Toshiba Write-Erasable Input Display hands-on at SID 2011

Mirasol showcases 4.1-inch smartphone concept at SID 2011, promises 'converged e-reader' this year

Another week, another look into the wild, mysterious world of Mirasol. We met with the company for an extended period here at SID 2011, and while the smartphone concept shown above was certainly intriguing, it's the behind-the-scenes story that truly piqued our interest. If you've kept even a loose eye on display technologies, Qualcomm's Mirasol branch has no doubt caught your eye -- in fact, the company seemed overwhelmingly sure that it'd ship consumer products soon after we met with 'em at CES 2010. Yet here we are, nearly 1.5 years later, without a single Mirasol product available on the open market. It begs the question: why? We found out. As the story goes, Mirasol's been shipping displays to partners for years, and it really did have confirmation that partners would be punching products out onto the market soon after 2010 began. But then, the iPad happened.

No, seriously -- that's the story. Apple's sudden and calculated tablet launch caused Mirasol's stable of partners to "reevaluate" their launch strategies, and that reevaluating led to the shelving / delaying of every single promising product in the pipeline. One angle in particular seemed to catch everyone off guard; prior to the iPad's launch, most companies (and consumers, for that matter) reckoned that people wouldn't even consider reading on an LCD. Digital bookworms would want E Ink, or better still, a colorized alternative like Mirasol. Come to find out, people actually don't seem to mind reading on LCDs, and in fact, they seem downright appreciative of the extra functionality baked into modern day tablets. As you can imagine, all of that spelled trouble for a display technology like Mirasol. So, where do we sit today? Read on to find out.

Mirasol concept smartphone eyes-on at SID 2011

Thankfully, we're in a much different place than the one we sat in 2010. Contrary to popular belief, Mirasol actually has no control over the shipment of end products. All it can do is ship panels to partners; it's on them to actually bring wares to market. The good news, however, is that the company's 5.7-inch, low-power display actually will see the light of day by the end of 2011, with at least one "converged e-reader" slated to bring a 3x battery life improvement to a mobile reader format.

We've reason to believe that the company's not just blowing smoke -- it's not too hard to imagine what kind of 5.7-inch tablet(ish) device could hit the market in the months to come, and with one Google-powered OS finding itself just about everywhere these days, we're also hazarding a guess that the e-readers that never materialized in 2010 will gain all sorts of new tricks when they try again in 2011. Oh, and if you're wondering why a Mirasol panel never made it to the Kindle? You didn't hear from us, but it's probably a matter of Qualcomm's single fab plant not being able to produce the kind of volume Amazon required.

And that brings us to smartphone concept we mentioned earlier. Debuting for the first time here at Display Week, this 4.1-inch mockup was seen sporting a WVGA resolution, and while the panel is as real as it gets, there were no brains powering any motion. In other words, we were left with a frozen image, albeit one that looked better than we expected. The company asserts that something like this may become a reality in three to four years -- a bit after its new Taiwan-based fabrication facility goes online in 2012 -- but one has to wonder just how big the market is for something like this. Sure, it'll increase battery life by a few orders of magnitude, but it also looks markedly less impressive than your average Super LCD / AMOLED. Have a gander at the gallery below, and keep your eyes peeled for more as the year develops.
Source: Engadget

Eole concept watch has turbine bezel, shows time when you blow

Traditional electronic watches may be practical, but there's nothing elegant about battery power. With the Eole watch concept, designer Julien Moise envisioned a device that's powered by blown air, displaying the time only when you want to see it. Sure, compulsively blowing on your watch in a meeting is less discrete than sneaking a peak under the table, but you'll still have your BlackBerry around for when you need to count down the minutes until freedom. There's also a weather indicator and alarm function, so we assume there's a battery in there that's doing more than keeping time -- an alarm that only sounds when you blow wouldn't work too well if you're asleep.

DVICE

Julien Mo�se

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