Philips Electronics’ spin-off Polymer Vision – aka The rollable display company – recently introduced Readius, a reading device with a rolled-up 5-inch screen the size of a mobile phone (but why not in a phone?).

About a year ago Wired Magazine published an article titled E-paper’s killer app: packaging, featuring Siemens‘ rapid progress in the development and production of cheap, dynamic, highly flexible e-paper.

Surely the e-book will not be e-paper’s killer app and one wonders why the focus of so many companies is still in that corner? Perhaps more interesting than the technology itself is the increasing impact of the paper metaphor on the design of new and the redesign of old technologies. Paper is not only a means to display information, but also to write information on it, to ‘memorize it’, to print on, to express oneself, to create works of art etc. It is this web of connotations that is driving technological development in new directions. Think printable RFID-tags, batteries, integrated circuits, solar cells, billboards … but also inkless printing for example.

Human centred design philosophies and methodologies, supported by developments in miniaturization, new materials etc. are enabling ‘a move towards more human dimensions’ of interaction, more poetic interfaces, away from ‘mechanical age’ machinery (e.g. keyboards). Not that all these ‘classics’ will disappear, but many will shapeshift into more ‘human(e)’ formfactors and modes of interaction.

As for times ahead … Taking the paper metaphor a step further would mean being able not merely to display things but also write on it, interact with ‘our creations’ on e-paper with e-ink just as with normal paper or even in new, more intuitive ways, leapfrogging old hindrances. Qualitatively speaking, the metaphor of paper with different types of paper, the look and feel of paper, its whole aura of experience from taking it, writing on it, folding, ripping and shredding it … offers a plethora of angles for innovation.

Further insights into growing materials and circuits organically would not only render the production process more efficient, yet also enhance the level of sustainability of the product/materials lifecycle.

Via Slashdot

Related posts:

1. loud, interactive (e)paper
2. more on new printing
3. new building materials

This entry was posted on Monday, February 19th, 2007 at 11:03 and is filed under future, technology, trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.