Paper Computers: The Next New Thing?

Researchers at the Queens University Human Media Lab in Canada recently showcased a new flexible display that looks like paper while offering a fully interactive touch screen.

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May 11, 2011 by Uncategorized 9

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9 Responses

  1. Walt says:
    May 11, 2011 at 11:21 pm

    Two to five years from whenever you ask
    That same story, changing only the company/lab name, could have or did appear five years ago, four years ago, three years ago, maybe even six or seven years ago–always with the product Just About to Hit the Streets and Certain to Change Everything in Five Years.

    And, like other classic vaporware, it could some day come to pass–but it won’t be a “paper computer,” it will be a flexible tablet.

    Reply
    • Bibliofuture says:
      May 12, 2011 at 5:25 am

      Flexible tablet
      >>And, like other classic vaporware, it could some day come to pass–but it won’t be a “paper computer,” it will be a flexible tablet.

      Article mentions this technology being used in smart phones. That would not be a tablet. If these flexible pages are stacked we would have a flexible ebook reader in a codex format. Which would also not be a tablet.

      I am assuming this article got your knickers in a bunch because there have been similar prototypes in the last two years. If you read the article they actually mention this. Do you understand what a prototype is? It allows you to test a new technology. I don’t understand why in Walt’s world no one can talk about a product until it is on the shelf ready for sale.

      Reply
      • Walt says:
        May 12, 2011 at 3:50 pm

        “Knickers in a bunch?”
        Of course I read the article. Which included this item from the scientist:
        predicting that in five years, everything “will look and feel this way.”

        It was that and the absurd “paper computer” headline that generated my comment. Let’s see, I’ve been writing about new technologies for more than 20 years now. In that time, I think I may have heard of prototypes once or twice (or a few hundred times)…and I think I may have snarked about absurdly overdone market projections and a few other times.

        In the case of flexible displays, there have been such a stream of “any day now” announcements that vaporware seems like an appropriate comment.

        OK, the technology could be in flexible tablets or flexible phones or flexible ebook readers–all, in essence, varieties of flexible tablets. (A stack of them as a booklike device? Sure, anything’s conceivable…)

        Your final paragraph is simply insulting, and suggests to me that you don’t deal well with dissent. Since you seem to be contributing the bulk of the new material on LISNews these days, maybe that’s a sign…

        Reply
        • Bibliofuture says:
          May 12, 2011 at 4:31 pm

          First comment
          In your first comment you talk about articles 5-7 years that were making vaporware like assertions. The articles about displays 5 years ago were primarily about e-ink. E-ink is now here and it is not vaporware.

          In regards to the comment by the scientist – predicting that in five years, everything “will look and feel this way.” So he is engaging in a little hyperbole. Should we not post the story because of that?

          Reply
        • Bibliofuture says:
          May 12, 2011 at 4:50 pm

          Of course you read the article
          I do not agree with the “of course you read the article.” If you say you read the article I don’t doubt you but I don’t get that you read the article from your comment.

          You jumped in with a Onion comment about another story I posted. I commented to your comment that if you read the post I linked to that your comment did not make sense. Never was a response from you on that. So from my point of view I have a history of you jumping in with snarky comments and likely have not read the article. It is your right to make snarky comments. I just like to kick them around a bit.

          In regards to not dealing with dissent well how are you doing with me commenting on your comment? The reason I used the “knickers in a bunch” comment was that you seemed to be more wound up about the story than you needed to be.

          In regards to me posting to LISNEWS why don’t you talk to Blake. It is likely that you could post whatever you want as an author.

          Reply
          • Walt says:
            May 12, 2011 at 5:32 pm

            The Onion comment? Really?
            I didn’t think my comment here was at all “wound up,” but I do get tired of all the equivalents of “in five years, EVERYTHING will be this way” crap. And wildly inaccurate post titles.

            The Onion comment was dismissing Shatzkin, which I do, as being worth taking seriously…that I regard the Onion as a more thoughtful source than Mike Shatzkin. And yes, I thought his “hard to find a public library in 15 years” was so extreme and so ignorant of what public libraries are that it further lowered my opinion of him. Given that your response actually took his nonsense seriously, there was little point in my responding…

            Just as this response to your response is clearly a waste of time. You’re going to keep doing what you do, which is as it should be. If I find it tiresome or uninteresting, there are lots of other places to go.

          • Bibliofuture says:
            May 12, 2011 at 6:57 pm

            Yes, really
            Shatzkin like any consultant is going to say some things that people are going to disagree with. But to compare him to “The Onion” I think is unfair. He and his family have been in the book and publishing business for a long time.

            You say “Given that your response takes his nonsense seriously”

            I did more than just look at the headline. In the LISNEWS piece with the Onion comment that I linked to above I asked you to respond to what Shatzkin did say in the post that you disagreed with. I included in my comment what I thought was the core of his argument. I hardly think that is was unhinged commentary.

            So here is another chance. Here is the link to Shatzkin’s piece on Public Libraries: http://www.idealog.com/blog/it-will-be-hard-to-find-a-public-library-15-years-from-now

            Other than the headline what do you disagree with?

      • Anonymous says:
        May 13, 2011 at 2:28 am

        I am assuming this article
        I am assuming this article got your knickers in a bunch because there have been similar prototypes in the last two years. If you read the article they actually mention this. Do you understand what a prototype is? It allows you to test a new technology. I don’t understand why in Walt’s world no one can talk about a product until it is on the shelf ready for sale.

        You’re coming across as a jerk. Maybe get some fresh air?

        Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    May 12, 2011 at 12:11 am

    what about scratch-n-sniff?
    I want my tablet screen to smell like strawberries when I swipe across it.

    Reply

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