Sony i rolowany ekran

Nieco w nawiązaniu do poprzedniego postu dotyczącego koncepcji komputera Sony na 2020 rok. Jak poinformowała akurat dzisiaj firma Sony, jutro jej inżynierowie zaprezentują prototyp zwijalnego (!!!) ekranu OLED. Nawet, gdy arkusz ekranu jest nawijany na rolkę, może on odtwarzać film video. IMHO SUPER!

Rollable OLED display by Sony

4-calowy ekran jest w stanie wyświetlać obraz o rozdzielczości 432 na 240 pikseli. Wynalazek zostanie zaprezentowany jutro podczas Międzynarodowego Sympozjum SID (Society for Information Display) 2010 w Seattle.

Tutaj można przeczytać pełną informację prasową poświęconą wynalazkowi.

Komputer na rok 2020?

jak można się było ostatnio przekonać, rzeczywistość opisywana w powieściach science fiction wcale nie jest tak odległa. Na fali futurystycznych pomysłów chciałam Wam pokazać NextStep – koncepcję komputera na rok 2020 r. autorstwa Hiromi Kiriki.
Komputerowi (laptopowi? komórce? MIDowi? sami dobierzcie najbardziej odpowiednie określenie) nadano formę bransoletki wykonanej z elastycznego tworzywa. W zakładanym na nadgarstek pasku mieści się i odchylana klawiatura i ekran (może OLEDowy?). Do korzystania z prostych funkcji nie trzeba zdejmować NextStep z ręki. A gdy chcemy napisać np. maila wystarczy rozpiąć sprzączkę, odchylić panel z klawiaturą i ułożyć gadżet na stole.

NextStep, autor: Hiromi Kiriki

Autor projektu opisał go jako komputer na rok 2020 r. I moim zdaniem nie wykluczone, że podobne gadżety (choć imho niekoniecznie całkowicie zastępujące tradycyjne laptopy – podobnie jak nie zastępuje ich iPad) mogą się za dziesięć lat pojawić. Już dzisiaj coraz granice między gadżetami poszczególnych kategorii się zacierają,a niektóre telefony komórkowe nie tylko funkcjami, ale nawet nieco formą przypominają mini-mini-netbooki. Mamy też gadżety z dotykowymi ekranami, mamy komórki “upchnięte” w zegarkach. Nie wykluczone, że w niedalekiej przyszłości komputery staną się tak osobiste, że będziemy je nosić na ręce.

NextStep

IFA – Part 2

IFA 2009

So, as I’ve promised, the second day of the IFA show in Berlin. And TV. LOADS of TV’s. But in the center of attention – as it was during the CES in Las Vegas – were the 3D TV’s. You could find them for example on Sony’s and LG’s stands and people were literally waiting in ques to watch U2 concert in 3D or to play in some racing games on PS3 connected to the 3D screen. On the Panasonic stand again You could see the first ever Plasma TV home theater system. Of course to watch the 3D movie or play a game You need to put on special glasses, looking like regular sunglasses. And I must say that despite this little discomfort the sensation is grand! (of course the best way to watch/listen to U2 is a live concert- thanks Mac ;-).  It is said that 3D HD TV’s are going to hit the market the next year. However now You have really just a few movies/concerts to watch in such form.

Another yet-to-be technology are OLED screen – amazingly flat and energy-saving but amazingly expensive as well. The only commercially available OLED TV comes from Sony and is just 11 (XEL-1 model for ca 2,500 $). Now, on the IFA, LG has presented it’s own AMOLED TV – slim and nice looking  15″  thing, which is just 3,2 mm thick. It will debut in November. Of course companies are racing in making even bigger OLED’s but for know a mass production of let say 40-inch screens is very complicated and impossible to run on commercial, mass basis.

Sharp Aquos LCD LED TV

So, for now it is better to invest in big falt screens with LED backlight. Sharp has brought to Berlin its new Aquos TVs with full LED backlight (LE700E and LE600E), made in the 10th generation technology process. Though those TVs aren’t so flat as the LCD with frame-like, side LED arrangement, their producer claims that only this way You can get better colours and real black on the screen. And as far as my eyes are working correctly, this is true – colours on the new LED TV are perfect. What’s more those TV are highly energy efficient and made without toxic substances such as lead.

Other interesting LED LCD are the LG’s Borderless TVs, where it is really hard to find the border between the frame and the screen. Nice looking thing, really.

IFA 2009

LG 15″ AMOLED TV

Sony 3D HDTV

LG 3D LCD TV

LG 15″ AMOLED TV

LG SL8000 Borderless

Sharp Aquos LCD LED TV

Sharp Aquos LCD LED TV

IFA – Part 1

For me IFA is not a “consumer electronics show”, but rather a festival of biiig TV’s – LCDs, LEDs, Plasma TVs and so on. That is why I’ve decided to start with most non-TV-like things revealed in Berlin today.

First – PC -Z1 Netwalker from Sharp. It is very hard to say whetehr it will be a bestseller or is it some kind of artifact from old days. It is even hard to say what it is in a fact., Netwalker is something between a PDA and a netbook. I would called it a mini mini notebook, as it is as small as a bar of chocolate. It has a laptop form, has a 5-inch touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard. It even has a smart mouse-like device – an optical port on the upper right corner, that behaves as a tiny touchpad. To click on something you must use one of the two buttons (as for right and left mouse buttons) placed in upper left corner.
Netwalker runs on Ubuntu (it behaves really good -well at least during my 15 minutes test), has 4 GB of internal memory, microSD card slot (allows you to upgrade the memory for another 16 GB) and a USB port and WiFi, that allows you to connect to the internet. And ttta’s it. Not so much yet everything what You need to surf in the net, write an e-mail or post something on WordPress. Yet I don’t know if such a device has its right to exist in the world of mobiles with full keyboards (IMHO it is easier to write on slider with QWERTY with your thumbs than with your both hands on Netwalkers keyboard but maybe it’s just a matter of training).
Netwalker is available in Japan. No word whether it will arrive to Europe.

One more thing from Sharp – mobiles with solar panels. This clamshell (very Japanese in its form – rather big for European standards, rectangular, no round edges, everything…well, sharp ;-), has a tiny solar panel (the size of phone’s screen) placed on the outside of the as the solar panel is able to recharge the dead battery to 30 percent.

Moving on in computer-mobile subject. Toshiba has showed on IFA it’s foirst tablet or rather a MID (mobile internet device) with 7″ toushscreen . It’s called JournE and it looks – for me at leats – as to big GPS gadget you’d put in your car. It has an ARM processor, 1 GB internal flash memory (with possibility of upgrade with microSD cards) and it runs on Windows CE 6.0 Pro OS. Furthermore JournE has been equipped in two 0,5-Watt speakers, WiFi, HDMI and USB ports. It is said to cost ca. 249 Euros and arrive to Europe in the end of this year.

From MID let’s jump to classic laptops -brand new extra slim Sony Vaio X, presented on 2nd September here in Berlin. It’s a typical bag-size lapto – 11,1″ screen, just 14 mm thick and less than 700 g in weight. It is not sure whether it has Intel Atom or CULV processor and is said to have 120 GB memory and 2GB RAM. Caseing is said to be made of carbon fibre – very taugh yet light and trendy.

Another nice new thing from Sony is it’s pocket HD camcorder MHS-PM1. It is a small gadget the size of a typical mobile that captures 5MP still images and records 1080p HD video in MP4 format videos. It has  individual ‘MOVIE’ and ‘STILL’ buttons for quick capture and a ‘SHAREMARK’ button for easy and fast Web upload. For your freedom and comfort it has a rotating lens (270 degree) and comes in shiny, vibrating colours.

More on different things (means TVs and other home cinema stuff 😉 tomorrow.

Sharp PC-Z1 Netwalker

Sharp Solar Mobile

Toshiba JournE MID

Sony MHS PM1 HD Camcorder

That Is How We Will Read Newspapers

By saying that traditional newspapers are becoming obsolate (or at leat that they are loosing publicity in favor of more up-to-date internet) I won’t discover wheel or even America. As well as claiming that the future of newspapers are e-newspapers, read on screens of specially designed gadgets, that could be updated more frequently than once in 24 hrs. But till now there was no such a gadget compatible with newspaper-ish layout – those available had usually too small screens. Good for reading paperbacks, but not for big pages of dailies. Some time ago Amazon has showed us Kindle DX with huuuge (as for e-book readers) 9,7″ screen, small keyboard and again huuuge price of 489 USD. And now here comes the new Sony Reader called…Daily. It has a big, 7 ” touch screen. For comfortable lecture of newspaper one would hold the Reader in landscape orientation, so half of the regular newspaper page should look nicely on the screen. Together with the WiFi module it will hold a 3G module, so one could update the content of the reader even outside the WLAN range.  In its memory Daily could hold up to 1000 e-books, with possibility of expanding with memory card.

What papers would be available on Daily? That is going to announced in following weeks. The Daily itself will hit stores 7th December with 399 USD price-tag.

Inside of the (hypothetical) Microsoft Store

About week ago Microsoft has officially announced that it will open his first reatil store as early as Fall this year. What’s more, as the comany’s COO said, the firs MS shop will open just next door to the Apple flagship iStore. And how will it look inside?

Gizmodo has just published some concpetual visuals of the shop prepared by the Lippincott branding company. According to this this concept, the shop is divided on few zones, dedicated to particular products, for example Windows OS, Xbox 360, PC’s or Home Media Centre. Whole shop would be surrounded by the interactive wall, on which You would see information about promotions, coming-up workshops and demos. If You would have any problems, You should hit the Answer Bar (vide Genius Bar @Apple), where the employees of the store would answer your questions.

Moreover in the shop You could not only buy things, learn something or look for help, but even make your own private birthday party.

Here are some pics, more in the gallery here.

Should You have any questions, hit the Answer Bar

The shop would be divided on few product specific zones

Digital Wall running all around the shop would inform You about what's happening in the shop