** Gyricon, The Electronic Paper of the Future..

Occasionally, we do deviate from the Macintosh to report on awesome new technology, this report is one of those times. Well, it seems those people from the Xerox Palo Alto Advanced Research Center (PARC) are up to something again; the same people who let the GUI slip through their fingers to Apple and eventually Microsoft. What could that be? A new display or maybe I should say electronic paper technology called Gyricon. The new technology is being created for a multitude of uses. One possible use might be for electronic books, or any other print surface that would benefit from the ability to be easily changeable. The technology was first worked on in the 1970s by Xerox for about a year and half. Then management decided to abandon the project to focus on other technologies. Although, the project head, Nicholas Sheridon, never stopped thinking about the technology since first working with it in the 1970s. Then when the need for such a technology became apparent once again in the 1990s, Xerox put Sheridon back on the project. A Gyricon display actually works by controlling the rotation of thousands of tiny bichromal balls, meaning one hemisphere of a ball is white and the other an opposite color, usually black. Gyricon paper is made by putting a cured elastomer sheet containing the bichromal balls in the middle of two glass or plastic substrates. The produced electronic paper is then only the thickness of poster board. A sheet of Gyricon paper is made to work by having each ball rotate inside its own oil-filled cavity formed in the elastomer between the substrates.

Each bichromal ball is able to rotate according to an electrical field. The balls will turn to show either their colored or non-colored side, depending on the polarity of the field. In addition, Gyricon uses very little power, unlike LCDs that need constant power to produce light that forms the images on the screen, power is only needed to rotate the balls.

It was said that Gyricon could last 6 months on a couple of AA batteries in a laptop size display. Presently, Gyricon will only display images in black and white, but in the future they expect to be able to produce full color, while researching a method with 3Com to do so now.

Don’t get too excited yet, this technology may not be readily avialable for a year or two, so have patience, but it is an exciting look into the near future……

And spreaking of displaying……

** Higher-Resolution, and More Power Efficient LCDs from Samsung..

Also in display news, it’s seems there could be more good news from Samsung for Apple. Apple recently invested $100 million in Samsung to ensure a healthy supply of LCD displays especially for the introduction of the iBook. Now Samsung has partnered with National Semiconductor Corporation in a licensing agreement for use of their Reduced Swing Differential Signal (RSDS) technology. The RSDS technology will enable Samsung to create larger displays with higher-resolutions without needing to increase power consumption. Can you say, large inexpensive displays?

The technology will also allow TFT-LCD displays to use significantly less power, creating increased battery life in portable models. This can also mean less expensive, larger displays for your desktop computer as well. I think Apple is on the right track. Consumers are always looking for larger, less expensive, and thinner displays.

And finally, how about a USB modem……

** USB Call Waiting Modem..

Actiontec released information that they will begin selling a USB Macintosh compatible call waiting modem. The modem will enable you to surf the net without needing to disable your call waiting. When someone calls, you have the option of ignoring the call, or answering it without disconnecting from the internet, by actually putting your internet service provider on hold. If you choose to answer the phone, you have approximately 7 seconds to find out who is calling, after that you can be disconnected from the internet, depending on your service providers ability to be put on hold.

You also have the option of picking up the phone, and putting the person calling on hold while you finish what you’re doing on the internet. Although, one question still remains, does the call waiting modem support caller ID? In some areas you have the ability get a call waiting caller ID service, whereby when on the phone and you hear the incoming call beep, you can look at your caller ID box to see who is calling and choose to answer. It would be great if the modem would support this option, increasing your ability to choose whether you want to take the call or not.

I can hear it now, finally even if we have only one phone line, we can be on the internet and still receive those important calls. Even though this is a breakthrough, it still is not as good as a second phone line. Lets face it, most of the diehard internet users stay online as long as they can.