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ANALYSIS ON SOME RECENT TRENDS IN CYBER MEDIA |
In the 1990s Joseph Jacobson invented another type of electronic paper. This used tiny microcapsules filled with electrically charged white particles suspended in colored oil. In early versions, the underlying circuitry controls whether the white particles were at the top of the capsule (so it looked white to the viewer) or at the bottom of the capsule (so the viewer saw the color of the oil). This was essentially a reintroduction of the well-known electrophoresis display technology, but the use of microcapsules allowed the display to be used on flexible plastic sheets instead of glass. There are many approaches to electronic paper, with many companies developing technology in this area. Other technologies being applied to electronic paper include modifications of liquid crystal displays, electro chromic displays, and the electronic equivalent of an Etch-A-Sketch at Kyushu University.
In April, 2004, Sony announced the first commercially available electronic paper device, the LIBRIe, sold only in Japan. On January 6, 2006, Sony announced the Sony Reader, a successor to the LIBRIé for the US market.
On July 14th and 15th 2005 Fujitsu showcased their jointly developed electronic paper at the Tokyo International Forum. It boasts low power consumption in that it does not require electricity except during screen image changes, making electronic paper especially suited for advertisements or information bulletins in public places for which paper is currently used.
The development of electric paper (ePaper) has proved to be a surprisingly difficult challenge.
Electric paper should be paper-like: reflective and easy to read. You should be able to write on it, and magically, your writing would be transformed into the ascii characters you'd written. Electric paper should have pleasing tactile characteristics - pliable, bendable, and foldable - it should feel like a sheet of paper. Given these requirements, it's not surprising that so little progress has been made. E Ink announced in October 2005 that it would begin shipping developer kits of 6 inch, 800x600 resolution electronic papers on November 1st, 2005.
Another electronic paper device to be introduced in April of 2006 is the iLiad produced by iRex Technologies BV (a spinoff from Royal Philips Electronics). It would be able to render content without DRM based restrictions, and supports PDF, XHTML, TXT and MP3 formats. It also has standard connectivity features for transferring content, namely USB stick/cable, Compact Flash, SD Memory Card, WiFi, and Ethernet access.
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