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Scientists drew fittingly from Roman mythology when they named a unique class of miniscule particles after the god Janus, who is usually depicted as having two faces looking in opposite directions.

For years, scientists have been fascinated by the tantalizing possibilities of these particles for their potential applications in electronic display devices, sensors and many other devices. However, realizing these applications requires precise control over the positions and orientation of the particles, something which has until now eluded scientists.

Duke University engineers say they can for the first time control all the degrees of the particle's motion, opening up broad possibilities for nanotechnology and device applications. Their unique technology should make it more likely that Janus particles can be used as the building blocks for a myriad of applications, including such new technologies as electronic paper and self-propelling micromachines.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090811143719.htm

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have moved a step closer to displays and simple computers that you can wear on your sleeve or wrap around your couch. And they have opened up the possibility of printing such devices, which would make them cheap.

Takao Someya, an electrical-engineering professor, and his colleagues make a stretchable display by connecting organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic transistors with a new rubbery conductor. The researchers can spread the display over a curved surface without affecting performance. The display can also be folded in half or crumpled up without incurring any damage.

In a previous Science paper, the researchers used their elastic conductor--a mix of carbon nanotubes and rubber--to make a stretchy electronic circuit. The new version of the conductor, described online in Nature Materials, is significantly more conductive and can stretch to more than twice its original size. What's more, it can be printed. Combined with printable transistors and OLEDs, this could pave the way for rolling out large, cheap, wearable displays and electronics.
Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22632/page1/

Over the past few years, the world has fallen in love with multitouch displays. But today's consumer interfaces have some drawbacks: touch screens such as those on the iPhone and Plastic Logic's upcoming e-reader only work with a finger, not a stylus or even a gloved hand. Other displays, such as Microsoft's Surface and Perceptive Pixel's wall-sized screens, are rigid, relatively expensive, and currently fairly bulky.

New research from New York University, however, promises to make multitouch interfaces that are cheap and flexible and can be used by fingers and objects alike. The technology, called Inexpensive Multi-Touch Pressure Acquisition Devices (IMPAD), can be made paper thin, can easily scale down to fit on small portable devices, or can scale up to cover an entire table or wall. The researchers will present IMPAD next week at the Computer Human Interaction conference in Boston.

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22358/?a=f

The first affordable, flexible electronic displays were recently revealed by HP and Flexible Display Center (FDC) at the Arizona State University (ASU). Plastic was predominately used to develop these paper-like computer displays, which makes the device portable and more energy efficient than most conventional computer displays. The creation of these high-resolution flexible displays is a milestone for both companies as it represents an opportunity to manufacture for the mass market. The flexible displays were also created in collaboration with DuPont Teijin Films and E Ink.

The process of manufacturing the display starts with FDC producing stacks of semiconductor materials and metals on flexible Teonex Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) substrates from DuPont Teijin Films. Using the patented Self-Aligned Imprint Lithography (SAIL) process, HP patterns the substrates and consequently incorporates E-Ink’s Vizplex imaging film to result in an actively addressed flexible display on plastic. The Vizplex is a bi-stable electrophoretic imaging film, which allows images to be continuously displayed even when no voltage is applied. This considerably decreases the power consumed by the display.

Source: http://thefutureofthings.com/news/6245/hps-unbreakable-flexible-display.html

Researchers at MIT have recently created “‘6D”’ images which are extraordinarily realistic, with a full three-dimensional look, but are able to also respond to their environment. The images produce natural shadows and highlights relying on direction and intensity of the illumination around them. This process could be used to create images that change over time as illumination varies, without the need for electronics or active control. For instance, depending on the sun’s position, this revolutionary invention is able to alter the image displayed, thus creating animated videos.

Present three-dimensional images are created using a collection of systems which imitate separate images for each eye, but the new 6-D image uses a similar concept to the inexpensive 3-D images applied in postcards and novelty items. It uses an overlay of plastic that includes a sequence of parallel linear lenses that form an obvious set of vertical lines over the image. As the image is viewed in one single motion, from side to side, the sequence of images changes. This can reproduce simple motion; for example, a car travelling along a road.

Source: http://thefutureofthings.com/news/5804/mits-6-d-display.html