It all started with a simple test of 200 students who replaced a majority of their hard to carry college textbooks with the Sony E-Reader. The idea was to see how viable it would be for students to stop using print textbooks, and what the drawbacks to going fully electronic could be for the student body. The first trial was...

An application for e-paper technologies is rapidly gaining momentum in the mobile electronics marketplace - the e-reader, which makes it possible to carry entire books with you in a small device. Currently being offered by Amazon.com, the Kindle is the first popular e-reader. But look out, technology improvements may make...

Since last October, Samsung has been making one announcement after another involving upcoming e-paper products. Most of what we’ve seen leaked to the internet and trade shows have been conceptual designs, with promises of products to come in the near future (2009-2010). Samsung Papyrus and E Ink Technology Gottabemobile...

By all accounts, 2008 was a particularly bad year for newspapers. Ad revenues are down, subscription rates are dwindling and classified ad sales are virtually non-existent. Online competition has decimated the black and white lady, although most news junkies attest that the web doesn’t offer the same reading experience...

The newsboy e-reader by Swedish design studio Propeller (see bottom of post for full credit info) is the best color e-reader concept design I have seen thus far. Three videos have been released that demonstrate what the e-reader of the future might look like. Its e-paper touch screen displays in full color and it is flexible....

HP has just turned the whole e-paper community upside down by showing off their new prototype for a thin, flexible plastic display. This new display can handle some pretty powerful stress tests, and even boasts a nice resolution. The current prototype is only in black and white, but they expect a high color version ready to...

The Tima Watch is a concept design by French designer Julien Bergignat. It utilizes an e-paper display for the digital and analog visual elements and the characters can be displayed on the curved surface of the watch. I love that the screen is high in contrast and displays less instead of more. Watches like this will soon become...

Although it has not been released, the eSlick e-reader is getting a lot of attention. Why? Its lovely $229 price tag undercuts Sony’s e-Reader and Amazon’s Kindle by a whopping $100! Like most e-reading devices, the eSlick Reader utilizes E Ink Corporation’s Vizplex technology for its display. It displays in 8 levels...

E-paper technology has recently captured the public’s attention with the release of Amazon’s Kindle, an eBook reader that allows users to view text and graphics on a display that mimics the surface of paper; i.e., it only relies upon ambient light for visibility. Although the technology has recently come to the...

Maybe it is easy being green. More display manufacturers are making a case for the environmental superiority of electronic reading devices. Even industry confab FPD International has gotten on board, billing this year’s event as a green technology incubator for the display industry. After all, 2009 might be the year...

While e-readers are the most visible application for e-paper technology, smart shelves in retail stores are another excellent fit. Smart shelves would integrate a display in the retail store, which would allow for instaneous price information updating. Studies have shown that retailers could increase revenues if shelf pricing...

E Ink has hit new ground by offering Point of Purchase advertising. They’ve dubbed this new product Ink in Motion. By removing refresh time and using color displays, they can attract a buyer’s attention with sharp, eye catching advertisements that flash. In addition, the displays use no backlight or frontlight and...

Musician or not, it’s quite impressive to see a design that eliminates page flipping of a music score. Designer Serina Sung has come up with the EMS (E-paper Music Score), a flexible e-paper display that can syndicate music scores via Bluetooth. The design also implements a foot pedal to assist the musician with “page...

The Origami DVD Player is a concept design by Inventibles. It uses a full color e-paper display which can fold down to fit in your palm. I was surprised that the inventors were able to come up with something this cool, yet limit its potential function to only DVD playing.  It is pretty clear that the trend in the market is...

Duck Image Studio has come up with a brilliant concept design, an e-paper scale. While the shape resembles a traditional scale, it is much more functional and aesthetically pleasing. In addition to the e-paper scale being as thin as a bath mat, it is waterproof and can also be rolled up for storage. This concept design exemplifies...

Ahhh….. 80’s Nostalgia. Similar to those slap bracelets from the past, this high-tech version from Chocolate Agency features a bendable E-paper display with multimedia controls. The length of the strap can be adjusted by adding magnetic snaps to each end. As an added bonus, the bracelet requires no charging – it is powered...