OLED

If Sony wants to be effective in this mystery marketing game, it's going to have to be more patient. Unlike B&O's "Serenata" campaign, which made us wait weeks before letting the secret out, Sony's latest product went live only days after its teaser site began to circulate in earnest.

But no matter. It turns out that the box under wraps was what it called the world's first OLED TV, referring to its ultra-thin and flexible screen technology that uses organic light-emitting diodes. The energy-efficient TV is just 3 millimeters thick and will … Read more

It's taken awhile, but that whole thin-vs.-thick thing between LCD and plasma TVs will soon be a thing of the past at this rate. The most extreme example of the LCD crash diet is a prototype that Sharp is reportedly calling the "future of television."

The reason for the boast is in the numbers: A 52-inch screen with a contrast ratio of 100,000:1 that weighs 55 pounds and measures only 20 millimeters thick (about 0.78 inches), about 80 percent thinner than most LCDs of that size on the market today. And just for … Read more

Sumitomo Chemical has agreed to buy Cambridge Display Technology (CDT) for approximately $285 million, giving the OLED industry a shot in the arm.

OLEDS, or organic light emitting diodes, are light sources made form organic materials. With OLEDs, you could turn a wall or a window into a light fixture, according to Universal Display, another OLED company.

OLEDs don't use a lot of power, but they can degrade over time. So far, companies like Samsung have mostly used them for screens in cell phones. Sony is coming out with a small OLED TV for the Japanese market and may … Read more

Today I take my lead from a Reuters article that describes two alternative display technologies that may some day replace (or at least augment) LCDs in mainstream computer systems.

Both are on the market today. OLED (organic light-emitting display) technology, used on some cellphones, creates what amounts to an array of tiny LEDs. This approach is theoretically superior to the way LCDs work, which is to combine a white backlight with colored filters and tiny shutters (the liquid crystals) for each pixel. All the light generated by the OLED is visible to the user, but most of the light in … Read more

Like many other TV makers, Sony has been working on screens made with organic light-emitting diodes for some time to produce paper-thin displays as well as save energy. But ratcheting up the competition even further, it just unveiled what it calls the world's first flexible version.

The company claims to have developed a new technology that uses plastic instead of glass to make OLED screens that can actually bend (hopefully without breaking), according to Pink Tentacle. Its 2.5-inch prototype weighs only 1.5 grams--that's 0.053 ounces for the metric-challenged among us.

There's no specific product … Read more

Sony is working on a generation of sickeningly thin OLED displays that make today's LCDs look morbidly obese by comparison. At the cleverly named Display 2007, an international show in Tokyo dedicated to (you guessed it) flat screens, the company showed off a high-definition display with 1080p resolution that is a ridiculous 9 millimeters thick, or just over one-third of an inch, according to Gizmodo. You've really got to see the photos to truly appreciate what that means.

Even thinner, if you can believe it, is another display that measures 3 millimeters thick--about one-tenth of an inch--though its … Read more

Sony's gargantuan booth at CES 2007 covers a lot of real estate, and it's always packed full of onlookers soaking up the sights and sounds. But the flashy booth hides a dirty little secret: Aside from a handful of headline products, very few of the devices on display are actually new. Instead, the company waits until late February to announce a detailed product plan for the forthcoming year (at which time CNET will have in-depth coverage).

In the meantime, there are a few gems on display in the form of prototypes. Designed to showcase a technology or a … Read more

The day may soon come when treating some forms of skin cancer is as simple as putting on a Band-Aid.

Researchers in Scotland have come up with a "light bandage" that contains its own light source and is so portable patients can go about their daily business while undergoing treatment. The invention is the brainchild of University of St. Andrews physics Professor Ifor Samuel (pictured) and dermatology consultant Professor James Ferguson, head of the photobiology unit at Ninewells Hospital Dundee.

The bandage puts a new technological twist on Photodynamic Therapy, a two-step process involving the application of a … Read more