LG Display (NYSE: LPL) and Samsung will be launching a joint research and development project for OLED deposition equipment. This is according to an announcement on May 15, 2009 by the Korea Display Industry Association (KDIA). Last year these two companies worked together on manufacturing digital exposure equipment. In the future, LG Display and Samsung will expand their R&D cooperation into next-generation display processing technology and core materials source technology.

OLED deposition methods must be suited for large-area and roll-to-roll processing to significantly improve the chance for OLED to realize widespread commercial use as a light source or display. It is somewhat strange that LG Display and Samsung are working together to research and develop OLED deposition equipment, which will undoubtedly be a crucial step toward commercializing OLED technology for displays and lighting. All major LCD manufacturers are racing to develop OLED, touted as the next-generation display technology.

The benefits of OLED displays are clear: low-power, extremely high contrast, ultra-thin and organic. There are many challenges that remain including: differential aging of organic materials, fast and stable electron manipulation across large substrates, cost of manufacturing, etc.

Source: The Chosun Ilbo

Green And if that wasn’t enough: halogen-reduced laminates. Kudos to Dell for bringing out three very green LCD monitors: P2210 (pictured above), E190S, E170S. The E170S and E190S have a chassis composed of 25 percent post-consumer recycled plastics while the P2210 makes use of halogen-reduced materials.

4:3? I’m looking at Engadget’s site and for some reason it states that the E190S and E170S are 4:3 models. Actually they are 5:4 models sporting a 1280 x 1024 pixel format. Anybody can make mistakes and this one is common.

Budget Price The P2210 is a 22″ (21.5″ to be exact) monitor with a 16:10 aspect ratio featuring a 1680 x 1050 pixel format and three connections: VGA, DVI-D with HDCP, DisplayPort. Like UltraSharp models the P2210 also has USB connections–four of them. The 17″ E170S and the 19″ E190S sport only VGA connections but is targeted toward the eco-conscious budget-minded consumer at just $110 and $130 respectively. The slightly larger P2210 is priced at $240.

Mercury I do have one gripe: the CCFL backlight in all three of these models have mercury. As we all know mercury is a big problem that is seeping into our food source especially large fish such as salmon and tuna. I would have liked to see these models sport LED backlights instead, even if that meant slightly higher upfront costs. With LED backlights mercury is eliminated and there are energy savings down the road. I wonder how you get an EPEAT Gold rating with stuff that has mercury in them…

Source: Dell Europe

Apple announced that Phil Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing would be leading a team of Apple executives for the keynote at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference that will be held on June 8 at 10AM PDT. Apple will concentrate on iPhone OS 3.0 and a final Developer Preview Release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

This news is somewhat disappointing as I was expecting Steve Jobs to make the keynote at WWDC. Jobs is on medical leave until June and more accurately late June. There is a chance that Jobs might be there but just not in a keynoting role. I have a feeling that a small press event in Cupertino will be scheduled a bit after WWDC to unveil some nifty products (i.e. third generation iPhone, netbook, etc.) by Jobs himself.

via MacRumors

I’m fairly certain that I won’t be able to answer the question of, “What does US retail sales data really mean?” What I will attempt is to poke enough holes in the data and present the idea that US retail sales is not the definitive indicator that shows whether US consumers are buying or not.

The US Census Bureau announced on May 13, 2009 at 8:30AM EDT advance estimates of US retail and food services sales for April that are adjusted for seasonal variation, holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes. US retail and food services sales for April was US$337.7 billion, a decrease of 0.4 percent (+/-0.5%) from the previous month.

Let’s just look at this carefully. First, this is an advance estimate. It’s not final; just an estimate. Second, the estimate was not adjusted for price changes. There could have been large-enough price changes in retail and food services to have made an impact in overall sales. We will have to look at changes in CPI in April to figure that out. Third, the Census Bureau did not have sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change (0.4 percent decline) is different than zero. What that means is that April retail and food services sales could be in the range of -0.9 percent to +0.1 percent. That’s a range that can generate despair or happiness. But the world’s stock indexes got carried away anyway… (more…)

Seven of China’s major TV manufacturers will travel to Taiwan on June 1 to procure TFT LCD panels. The seven companies include Konka, Hisense, Skyworth, SVA-NEC, XOCECO and Xiong Mao. This will the first time that this group of seven companies will conduct a joint procurement activity in Taiwan. The two LCD manufacturers that will benefit are AU Optronics (NYSE:AUO) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics (TPE:3009), the two largest LCD suppliers in Taiwan.

AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics will certainly benefit from a likely long-term supply agreement to these Chinese TV manufacturers. The LTAs will also help streamline the ups and downs in these two LCD suppliers’ revenues and profits.

Source: The China Post

Remember the Samsung OMNIAHD disappearing trick I posted about a while ago? Well, Samsung has revealed how they did the trick. Pretty nifty!

via Phone Dig

Paul Thurrott (@thurrott), a fairly well-known Microsoft blogger, tweeted this:

Just to be clear, the June Zune rumors are *not* about the Zune HD. Which is coming out in September. :)

The fourth-generation Zune was expected to be unveiled by Microsoft later this fall. If you believe Thurrott, the much anticipated Zune HD now has a date: September. Some have already guessed September as the launch month for the Zune HD but coming from someone within Microsoft seems to solidify those rumors.

What is all the fuss about? How does a large multitouch OLED display coupled with Windows Mobile 7 encased in sexy aluminum sound to you? More importantly it gives some much-needed competition to Apple’s iPod franchise. I’m a true believer that fair competition leads to better products at lower prices leading to more value to the customer. Thank you Aaron for the tip!

Source: Ars Technica

Tight Components LCD panels require a lot of components: PCBs, driver ICs, CCFLs, LEDs, optical sheets, liquid crystal, glass, color filter, etc. And the supply for components are tight right now. Some LCD manufacturers are reporting that they have not been able to deliver on orders they have received 1 1/2 months ago. In turn there is a LCD panel shortage that is driving up prices. This is good news for LCD manufacturers for the short term: LCD panel prices have dipped below cash cost levels and recent increases must allow LCD manufacturers to make a profit for sustained growth. In the long term LCD suppliers will need to gradually increase their utilization rates to match demand and that is what seems to be happening right now. If LCD manufacturers wait too long to match supply to growing demand, LCD panel prices will continue to increase and will eventually lead to price increases in end products such as netbooks, notebook PCs, LCD monitors and LCD TVs. If that happens, the more-than-ever price-sensitive consumer will pull back. The LCD supplier might enjoy a month or two of increased revenues and profits but the dropping demand at the retail end due to price increases will eventually make its impact felt through the supply chain. (more…)

Power consumption is becoming extremely important. At the same size and pixel format (also known as resolution) I would choose the TV that consumes less power even if that meant a little bit more money up front. You undoubtedly have heard from somewhere that plasma TVs consume more power. Is it true?

Background Info This topic materialized after reading David Pogue’s “apology post” about his passing comment concerning plasma being on the way out. Pogue wrote the apology post after getting slammed on by Gary Merson, editor of HDGURU:

Despite plasma’s superior picture quality and lower large screen pricing, many tech writers like New York Times columnist David Pogue who recently wrote that plasma is “on the way out,” consider it a dying technology. Are they correct? Or are they in need of a fact transfusion?

Merson then asked executives from LG, Samsung and Panasonic (three companies that continue to manufacture plasma TVs and are heavily invested in manufacturing plasma display panels) to answer some questions about plasma. What he asked isn’t as important as this point I will make: I don’t think asking executives from these three companies will yield any objective information that will help in assessing the future of plasma. It was probably somewhat naive of Merson to think that these executives from LG, Samsung and Panasonic would give him objective answers. But there were some interesting answers from these executives. One in particular got me interested in finding out more about power consumption. (more…)

Monitor & TV Samsung‘s 70 Series P2370HD is a P2370 with an integrated TV tuner. The P2370HD has a 23″ TFT LCD TN panel sporting a 1920 x 1080 pixel format. The TN LCD panel is quite fast with a 2ms GTG (gray-to-gray) response and 5ms on/off. GTG response times are important as it indicates how nice the video will look while the on/off response time will tell you how good your work stuff will look. Seems like you’ll be treated to decent video. Not excellent though.

Connections Galore For that you’ll need at least a 120Hz frequency to reduce motion blur and a LED backlight with local dimming. Of course you’ll be paying quite a bit more for those features too. With the P2370HD, you get a very good 1000:1 contrast ratio (ignore the 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio), a brightness of 250 cd/2 and viewing angles of 170/160 (just don’t invite your friends to watch a movie with you on the P2370HD). The 23″ LCD monitor/TV sports a lot of connections: VGA, DVI-D, HDMI, component, and composite.

Source: Samsung

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