Reflecting on Flexible Electronic Displays.

This article focuses on the emergence of digital paper or epaper. The foundation of epaper is based upon the idea that it is easier for your eyes to read text from reflective surface than backlit displays. The broader, long-term goal is to develop a display technology that parallels paper in its readability, familiarity and portability while incorporating the ability to update the display wirelessly. The U.S. Army has established the Army Flexible Display Center to test the variety of existing epaper technology possibilities. Early in 2004 Gyricon announced that it had begun trial testing of its rigid-backed SmartPaper technology for use in grocery and retail stores. Replacing static pricing and unintelligent cash registers, Gyricon's system allows stores to update price displays wirelessly, simultaneously doing the same at the checkout lanes.