OLED

NISKAYUNA, N.Y.--When you're listening to someone explain a new scientific method and just about the only thing that goes through your head is "This is going to win a Nobel Prize," you know you're in good company.

That was my experience recently while I was listening to Fiona Ginty, a project leader in computational biology in General Electric Global Research's biosciences group, explain her work. Ginty's project is all about finding new and better ways to spot cancer in a patient's body, ideally as early as possible. And as a member … Read more

Art Lebedev Studios made waves a few years ago when it introduced the Optimus Maximus. The QWERTY keyboard had individual OLED screens under most buttons, meaning it was almost infinitely customizable. It was thought to be nothing more than vaporware by some until it actually shipped. It remains a sought-after luxury keyboard.

And now, via its Live Journal (!?) the same studio has previewed a new slim, minimalist keyboard that also includes LCD keys, called the Optimus Popularis. It's slimmer and smaller than the Maximus, and the design's more modern. It shares more with laptop keyboards than with most … Read more

Editors' note: Updated June 3, 2010

I've written articles in the past explaining various TV technologies, including the differences between 720p and 1080p and 120Hz and 240Hz LCD TVs. But with Samsung, LG, Sony, and other manufacturers pushing so-called LED TVs these days, it's high time that I--with an assist from our resident video guru, David Katzmaier--sort through all the marketing mumbo jumbo and provide some insight into just what an LED TV is. Here goes.

1. An LED TV is not a new kind of TV.

I appreciate a good marketing ploy as much as the next guy, but an LED TV is just an LCD TV that's backlit with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of standard cold-cathode fluorescent lights (or CCFLs). And though they became well-known last year with Samsung's ultrathin models, LED-backlit LCDs have been on mainstream store shelves since 2007, when Samsung's LN-T4681F debuted.

Unlike plasma and OLED, which are emissive technologies where each pixel is its own discrete light source, LCD is a transmissive technology where each pixel has to be illuminated from behind, or backlit.

2.There are two LED backlight configurations

Initially, LED-based displays like the Samung LN-T4681F were backlit by what's referred to as a "full array" of LEDs behind the LCD, across the back of the panel--just like a standard CCFL backlight. But to create even thinner TVs, engineers needed to eliminate that extra layer of LEDs and move it to the sides of the display. With this form of backlighting, the LEDs are affixed to all four sides of the TV and light is projected inward to the middle of the TV via "lightguides." These types of TVs are commonly referred to as "edge-lit" LED-based LCDs, and are by far the most common available today.

3. Each configuration may also offer "local dimming."

All current LED-based LCDs with rear-placed, full-array LED backlighting--except the Sharp LC-LE700UN series from 2009--feature a technology called "local dimming." With local dimming, portions of the backlight can be dimmed or brightened independently when different areas of the picture get darker or brighter. For example, the LEDs behind the words in a credit sequence can illuminate while the ones behind the black background remain dim.

Being able to dim portions of the screen helps reduce the amount of light that leaks through to darkened pixels, and the end result is blacks that appear darker and more realistic. Since black levels are crucial to contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks, the more the picture--and colors--appear to pop. Also, the image as a whole will seem crisper. A couple of examples of local dimming done right are Samsung's UNB8500 series and LG's LH8500 series--respectively the best and second-best LCDs we've ever tested.

One downside to local dimming is an effect called "blooming," where brighter areas bleed into darker ones and lighten adjacent black levels.… Read more

This week, Donald's back in the studio, joined by Eric Franklin and Dong Ngo from Inside CNET Labs. We ponder Japan's plans to turn the moon into a playground for robots, and tackle OLED displays that roll and vanish. Dong drops some knowledge on recent hard drive innovations and a waterproof case for his Flip Ultra HD. The iPad meets Velcro. And the hoverboard makes a comeback (kinda).

A new AppleTV may cost $99, run the iPhone 4.0 operating system, and stream media through the cloud

Motorola bets big on Android and Verizon for its summer line of phones

Sirius XM satellite radio can now be played on Android devices

Sony shows off a bendable OLED screen

Facebook rolls out its new privacy changes live during our show! How nice of them. In a nutshell, near as we can tell, everything is going to be simpler and Facebook is really sorry that they really mean it about the whole privacy thing. And we get that, but we need some time to get over it, you know? Also, the DOJ may be looking into Apple's iTunes monopoly and we have a big discussion about the future of American space shuttle. Get your emails ready now.

Sony on Wednesday unveiled a flexible OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display so thin it can wrap around a 4mm cylinder--roughly the diameter of the average pen or pencil.

The 80 micrometers-thick OLED display (about the width of a human hair) can continuously display moving images even while being rolled up, as Sony demonstrated in a video below.

The working flexibility is possible because engineers have managed to lose the rigid driver IC chips usually used in the substrate of a screen in exchange for a gate-driver circuit with OTFTs (organic thin-film transistors), according to Sony.

The 4.1-inch display, which … Read more

The book "Gruen Produzieren" (aka "Green Production Technologies") came out this week sporting a little solar flair.

It's a who's who of green-tech innovators in Germany that includes corporate leaders as well as current green-tech projects at research centers.

The book, which was edited by the German Engineering Association in conjunction with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, was packaged with a limited-edition cover embedded with a solar-powered organic light-emitting diode.

The OLED system, which is powered by a single solar cell embedded in the book's spine, was developed by the … Read more

Named for a rapidly moving plant, and not the sweet cocktail, Jason Bruges' Mimosa art installation explores the artistic possibilities of small OLED displays.

Unveiled for the 2010 Milan furniture fair, Mimosa makes use of Philips Lumiblade OLED panels, networked together in a series of flowerlike modules that open and close in the presence of visitors.

Is it art? Sure. But it's also the most mesmerizing coffee table we've ever seen.

(Via Dezeen)