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Gadget Gurus

Wednesday
Jan 07th
Home arrow Embedded arrow NTera White LCDs - No More Dingy Greys
NTera White LCDs - No More Dingy Greys Print E-mail
Written by Rich McComas   

tn-nteraclock.jpg For years, we have been reading the promise of paper-white electronic displays, a future of books and newspapers with ink-on-paper readability delivered on super-thin LCD displays. For the tree-huggers among us, the ultimate eBook technology may remain a distant promise, but at least one company is making a practical step toward commercializing white-background LCDs.

At DEMO in Phoenix, we previewed a white Apple iPod retrofitted with an NTERA NanoChromatics display, and the result was no less than stunning. They say that "white is the new black," due in large part to the success of the iPod, and NTERA takes Apple's design brilliance to a new level. According to company President, Nick How, "working at the molecular level using nanotechnology design allows NanoChromatic pixels to be changed individually without refreshing the whole screen, which decreases the power consumption dramatically." Add to this the fact that white-background displays have four times the contrast ratio and do not usually need a backlight, and the power consumption is much lower than current LCD technology. Most importantly, these LCDs can be built in the same or smaller footprint and manufactured in the same factories as today's LCDs. Even though NanoChromatic LCDs are a bit costlier to build, the final product is comparable in cost to the 30 year-old gray LCD with a backlight, and significantly less expensive than the new OLED technology.

ntera_300.jpgAlso, once charged, the pixels remain black until actively bleached, which means that these displays remain stable over a period of several hours even when turned off. For displays that do not change frequently, this suggests even-lower power consumption than has been previously imagined. In the near future, we hope to see a lot of white LCD text and numeric displays, most likely in white kitchen appliances, thermostats, automotive display consoles, and the myriad of atomic clocks produced by companies like Oregon Scientific, and hopefully the folks at Apple will soon get excited about the new cosmetic possibilities for their category-shattering iPod.

What didn't we love about the NanoChromatic display? Although we were only looking at prototypes and reference designs, we noticed some speed problems in refreshing the display, and on the large displays, the middle of large black areas were not as dark as we had hoped. All previous attempts at white-background displays seem to be plagued by these same problems, and the folks at NTERA assured us that their technology is better at resolving this than any other solution, although apparently not perfect. Also missing was the hoped-for shades of gray. With such incredible contrast ratios, we thought that these displays might finally offer real shading, but I think we were hoping for too much.

For more information on this product visit www.ntera.com.

 
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TECH2 LAKE HOUSE to be Completed Spring 2009

techhouse-1208.jpg

DEC 2008 UPDATE - Ron Rosberg's current project home, the Technology Lake House, is currently under construction on the shores of Clearlake in Northern California.  The new high-tech dock is complete, and the roofline is beginning to take shape.  So far, more than a dozen technology vendors have stepped up to sponsor this project, which has been simmering in Ron's head since he attended the first CES show in New York in 1967.  The 7,500 square foot project (plus two existing rustic cabin guest houses) is being built on a six-acre Honeymoon Cove resort with 500 feet of beach directly across from Konocti Harbor Resort.  This summer retreat will host two technology gatherings annually, inviting Western states home builders, contractors, and technology consultants for a live open house.  There is room to park up to twelve boats in the main dock and the guest dock, so plan on coming up for some lake fun after the project is complete.  For more info, send email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call 650-342-5642.  To see the latest photos, visit Ron's Flickr gallery.

We are currently looking for products to evaluate in these areas:

  • Home automation: lighting, security, HVAC and entertainment
  • A/V technology for the 500 SF home theater media demo room
  • Remote video (needed ASAP for monitoring construction live)
Hot News on Cool New Features: The ENTIRE front of the home will be made of sliding NanaWall glass panels that fold into the walls, opening the entire home up to the lake during demo days.

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NEWS: In 2009, you will see a number of exciting announcements from Gadget Gurus, including podcasts, our syndicated "Gadgets-in-a-Minute" broadcasts, and our ever-expanding "Best Of" lists.   Also, you will be seeing our portfolio of magazine "gadget pages" growing into a number of vertical markets.