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Sharp Develops 4 Primary Color 3D LCD: Based on the time-sequential technique where the left and right eyes are shown different content through active-shutter 3D glasses resulting in a 3D effect. Sharp improves upon conventional 3D displays by increasing brightness by 1.8x and reducing crosstalk leading to a significant decrease of double-contour ghost images. Sharp combined many of its technologies: UV2A (read Sharp UV2A Technology), four primary color (Red, Green, Blue and Yellow), FRED (Frame Rate Enhanced Driving), edge-lite LED backlight. The four primary color technology improves light transmission efficiency and allows for a wider color gamut.
PVI March Revenues Increase 19% M/M: Prime View International’s March consolidated revenues increased 19% M/M and 94% Y/Y to NT$1.87 billion (about US$59 million) and includes results from E Ink and Hydis. First quarter revenues were NT$5.01 billion. PVI supplies E Ink-based e-book displays to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony and others. The company expects to maintain its leadership as the largest e-paper supplier in 2010. With the advent of Apple’s iPad, I am not certain that E Ink-based e-book readers will continue to enjoy rapid growth.
Chimei Innolux Announces March Revenues and Shipments: Chimei Innolux (CMI) announced unaudited consolidated revenues of NT$38.38 billion (about US$1.22 billion), 9.81 million large-area and 25.31 million small/medium LCD panel shipments for the month of March. These results exclude results from Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) and TPO Displays prior to the merger date, which was on March 18, 2010. CMI’s results do include LCD panels, LCD modules and LCD systems.
Corning Taiwan Running at Full Capacity: Corning Taiwan’s glass production is running at full capacity to meet customer demand and restore optimal inventory levels. If the LCD TV market continues to grow Corning will consider expanding glass manufacturing capacity including Taiwan’s. In 2009, worldwide glass substrate shipments increased 20% Y/Y to 2.45 billion square feet. For 2010, the world’s largest LCD glass supplier expects shipment growth of 21% Y/Y to 2.8 to 3.0 billion square feet. Corning also shared that glass supply will be tight throughout 2010. LCD TV share of the global TV market is expected to reach 80% in 2010 and grow to over 90% in 2010 according to the company. Corning’s Taichung, Taiwan-based glass facility has been completely recovered from the October 2009 power disruption and currently is running at full capacity. China’s LCD TV demand is expected to reach 37 million units in 2010 and capturing 21% of the global LCD TV market. Next year, Corning expects China to become the largest LCD TV market.
Samsung Follows LG Display to Supply Panels Used in iPad: According to Taiwan-based LCD suppliers, Samsung will be the second LCD panel supplier to Apple’s iPad program following LG Display (LGD). Samsung’s S-PVA (Super Patterned Vertical Alignment) LCD panels will be used. LGD shipped 300,000 – 400,000 9.7-inch IPS LCD panels for the iPad in February and almost 500,000 in March. Sources claim that Samsung’s LCD panels meet Apple’s requirements. I call B.S. And the main reason being that Apple has made it clear that one of the main features of the iPad is the use of IPS LCDs. I am fairly certain Apple will not be making use of S-PVA LCDs in its iPad.
ENGADGET
Flip Slide HD: The Flip Slide HD sports a 3-inch pop-up resistive touch LCD. Other specs include a headphone jack, stereo speakers, and HDMI output. Video capture is the same as the Flip Mino HD at 720p w/o image stabilization. Storage has been increased to 16GB for four hours of video or 12 hours of compressed video storage. Price is US$279.99. Buy through this Amazon link
Neofonie WePad: Neofonie revealed its 11.6-inch WePad in Berlin. The WePad is based on Linux, powered by Intel’s Atom Z450 and will have two versions: 16GB / WiFi for €450 and 64GB / HD for €569. Neofonie promises Full HD support in the larger version. Unfortunately NVIDIA is not part of the video solution on the WePad. Flash is supported on the WePad, which is slated for an August release.
Netflix on Wii: Netflix and Nintendo announced that the discs and service are fully available to all Netflix subscribers. If you have not received a Wii disk you can contact Netflix and request one.
Microsoft Kin One, Kin Two: These two phones are the result of Microsoft’s purchase of Danger. Built by Sharp the two social media heavy Windows Phones sports a custom browser based on the Zune’s. There is absolutely no support for third-party apps. Both sport capacitive multitouch displays with gesture support such as pinch and zoom in the browser. Kin One is square, sports a 320×240 pixel format LCD, 4GB of internal storage, a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and a full QWERTY keyboard. Kin Two is rectangular, has a 480×320 pixel LCD, an 8 megapixel camera, and 8GB of internal storage. Both feature Bluetooth, WiFi, and 3G. Cloud storage is in: all photos and videos will be seamlessly synced to an unlimited storage account.
Meizu Mbook Tablet: The Mbook from Meizu is an 8.4-inch tablet sporting a 1024×768 pixel format and capacitive touch. Other specs include 3G, WiFi, a 12-hour battery, HDMI out supporting 1080p. No word on the OS, price, or ship date.
Best Buy to Carry Nook on April 18: Best Buy will start carrying Barnes and Noble’s Nook on April 18. The retail price will be US$260.
Archos to Introduce Six Internet Tablets in Summer 2010: Prices will range from US$100 to $350. ARM Cortex CPUs will run between 800MHz and 1GHz while display sizes will range from 3 inches to 10 inches. The six will include support for multitouch and 3G OpenGL.
Hitachi Unveils 3.1-inch 3D IPS Display: Hitachi’s 3.1-inch 3D IPS display sports a brightness of 400 cd/m², a 854×480 pixel format, a contrast ratio of 1000:1, and does not require glasses. This development is interesting in light of Sharp’s recent mobile 3D panel announcement (read Sharp 3D Touch LCD) and the upcoming release of Nintendo’s 3DS at the E3 conference held in June.
Palm Up for Sale: According to Bloomberg, Palm is up for sale. Palm has already retained Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners to search for potential suitors. HTC, Lenovo and Cisco have expressed interest in purchasing the maker of the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus smartphones.
WIRED
Apple Lays the Original iPhone to Rest: The very first iPhone was sold on June 29, 2007, almost three years ago. This iconic iPhone will no longer be compatible with future iPhone OS upgrades, starting with iPhone OS 4.0. This comes directly from Steve Jobs.
Google Android Tablet Imminent: According to the New York Times, Google is working on its own tablet that will sport an e-reader and function like a computer. Google’s tablet is expected to run Android and be intimately connected to the cloud as current Android smartphones are. Integrating Google books, Google Reader, Google Voice, etc. could very well pose a serious threat to Apple’s iPad that is cloud-challenged.
Panasonic Announces Micro Four Thirds Camcorder: Panasonic announced a M4/3 camcorder, the AG-AF100, able to make use of all M4/3 lenses. Video is recorded in AVCHD/H.264 format in 1920×1080/24p. Storage is via two SDHC cards. The AG-AF100 sports a built-in stereo microphone, a pair of XLR inputs, and supports Dolby AC3. Pricing is yet to be determined and will be available by the end of the year.
John Kumahara, graphic designer:
@digitalinfant and I have been working on an infographic since the iPad was released last week, and we’ve finally finished it. Our goal was to look at the iPad from all the different ‘data angles’ we have been seeing’ and use design to highlight the more interesting bits.
@digitalinfant is Johnathan Bonnel.
On March 30 Pixel Qi and OLPC signed a permanent and royalty-free display technology cross license agreement. As a result OLPC receives full license to all Pixel Qi’s 3qi display technology, more than 70 patents in process and all current and future IP related to multi-mode displays. Pixel Qi will receive full license to OLPC’s dual-mode indoor/outdoor display technology that is used in the XO. This is probably the largest blanket technology license of current and future IPs between a commercial firm and a non-profit organization according to Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child. The cross license agreement almost means that the next-generation XO will make use of Pixel Qi’s 3qi display technology. One of the best features of 3qi is the ability to completely turn off the backlight at which point the reflective display makes use of ambient light, allowing for great visibility even in direct sunlight. Read Pixel Qi Easy To Read In Bright Light for more information.
LED SHORTAGE
Many sources point to a current shortage of LED chips. DIGITIMES has reported Epistar not being able to fully supply demand even though the company is running at full utilization. Demand is higher by 30-40%. In recent talks with a major LED chip supplier the company indicated a doubling of LED chip manufacturing capacity in the second half of 2010. iSuppli also reported that the LED shortage will last throughout 2010 and into 2011. Where is all of this LED demand coming from?
LED DEMAND
LED demand is coming from two primary sources: general lighting and backlight units (BLUs) for LCDs. I will focus on LCDs in this article. LED as a light source for LCD BLUs offers many advantages. LED is green and does not include mercury, a carcinogen, that is in CCFL BLUs. LED also offers enhanced durability, reliability, instant-on, and slimmer designs. The slimmer designs not only offers design flexibility but just as importantly leads to smaller and lighter packaging, which in turn leads to considerable savings in transportation and storage. Displays in mobile phones have completely shifted to using LED as the light source for many years. Now we see LED penetration in BLUs used in notebook PC LCDs to rapidly move toward 100%. But these applications are not the main source of demand for LEDs as they require on average less than 100 LED chips per LCD. The biggest source of LED demand comes from LCD TVs: a large 40-inch or 50-inch class LCD TV can require hundreds if not thousands of LED chips in its BLU. Approximately 2.5 million LCD TVs using LED BLUs were shipped in 2009. That number is expected to grow 10x to 25 million in 2010 with opinions reaching as high as 39 million. By 2014 some estimate total sales of LED-backlit LCD TVs to reach 100 million.
LED OVERSUPPLY
I mentioned a leading LED chip company doubling manufacturing capacity by the second half. This and other LED chip suppliers expand capacity by adding more systems, usually MOCVD (Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition) systems that grow LED materials into LED chips. Major MOCVD system suppliers have experienced substantial growth in sales in the first quarter and the second quarter looks just as upbeat. It takes roughly 4-6 months lead time to build the systems and another 3-4 months for LED chip manufacturers to customize and ramp to volume production. Because of the strong demand for LED, LED suppliers are rapidly adding manufacturing capacity all the while doing their best not to build out too much. Fortunately the LED suppliers have not established an OPEC-like consortium to manage global supply of LEDs. What I see happening is a probable over-supply situation in 2011 due to intense competition by LED suppliers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as LED prices will in all likelihood tank and in turn lead to a significant increase in LED adoption for LCD BLUs. Personally, I would like to see products such as LG’s LE9500 come down in price significantly in the near future.
Note: This post is 100% iPad, with Apple’s wireless keyboard.
I am currently using the WordPress app for iPad. Unfortunately it is not as robust as I would have hoped: it ate my rather long first attempt at blogging when I started messing around with adding pictures. I’m not going to do that again, not here anyway.
At 10AM I was one of a dozen people who entered the Apple Store. I promptly walked up to an iPad and started playing with it. It was certainly fast. The screen was beautiful. At 1.5 pounds it wasn’t featherweight but it was light enough. I then wanted to make sure I was able to type, well, on the virtual keyboard. I’m a touch-typist running at around 80WPM and I did not expect what happened. Typing on the landscape virtual keyboard was extremely difficult at best. I spent a good 10 minutes typing. I think there are two reasons why the experience was bad. First, there is no tactile feedback. When I’m using all 9 fingers (my left thumb doesn’t get much action) to type I need to feel the physical boundaries to the keys. Without that feedback I wasn’t looking at the content but at the keyboard and even then I wasn’t doing so well. Second, the virtual keyboard is small, around 80% of Apple’s wireless keyboard. Those two reasons convinced me that I wouldn’t be able to blog using the iPad without an external keyboard. Thankfully the Bluetooth wireless keyboard works with the iPad. I didn’t like the angle at which the iPad sat with the docked keyboard (too upright) so I decided to get the Apple case and the keyboard instead.
I wish I could show you a picture of my setup but I’m afraid: afraid that WordPress will eat this second version for dinner. The iPad is slanted up using Apple’s iPod case, but that’s not enough of an angle unless I want to strain my neck blogging. So what I did was use the wireless keyboard box to prop it up even more. Now it is angled just right, for me. I also use that box as a case for the wireless keyboard. No need to spend even more money on a keyboard case, though I’m sure some company will tempt me in the very near future.
The display is simply brilliant. 9.7 inches of supreme LCD technology. Gotta thank LG Display for what it has done with IPS (In-Plane Switching). Thanks to IPS viewing angles are extremely wide. Colors, contrast and brightness do shift but they are barely noticeable. Try that on your JooJoo. With an almost 132 PPI the modified iPhone OS UI is more than usable. The buttons and icons have been expertly tuned for the average finger.
Back at the store I wanted to import a chart made in Numbers into an email I was sending to myself. Actually it turned out it was Mr. Appleseed that sent that email. After experiencing it, I wouldn’t want to enter much data into Numbers. Creating a chart took many more minutes than I’m used to but then here’s the kicker: I could not, for the life of me, get the UI to pop up the thingamajig that allows me to copy it. I am sure many people walked by thinking I was a baboon in human clothing as I concocted my fingers every which way. Finally, after some bit of magic, I was able to copy it. Phew. I really don’t want to do that again. I’ll stick to text on the iPad for now.
I lamented the lack of tabbed browsing on Safari on the iPad and stated with confidence that blogging would not happen. Well, I was wrong. It is happening but you have to grind at it. Because you’re moving in-and-out of Safari and WordPress all the time it is difficult to have the source material in front of you. Always an optimist-wannabe I will take this opportunity to hone my memory skills. My wife will be appreciative. My short-term memory is terrible, and that is why you don’t see any hyperlinks in this post.
This is just a first impression of the iPad, especially as it relates to a bloggers primary tool. I must say the iPad is quite usable but in my case I must have a physical keyboard. Of course, the iPad is much more than just a blogging tool. I think I will enjoy the calendar: it has such a nice design you just want to look at it from time to time. Email will definitely help, but again, I’ll want my physical keyboard. The iPad does quite well as a surfer: the direct connection to the world’s information feels very different than when you’re mousing around. All in all, I look forward to spending considerable time with my iPad. One goal will be to use it as my primary blogging tool and a means to simplifying my life. I want less things to carry when stepping out the door.
Sharp has developed a 3D touch LCD sporting using a parallax barrier system. That means you don’t need 3D glasses. The CGS (Continuous Grain Silicon) based 3D LCD sports a brightness of 500 cd/m2, double that of typical 3D implementations. Thickness is about the same as conventional 2D displays. 3D works equally well in portrait and landscape modes. Akihabara News seems to be fairly smitten with the 3D effects.
$11.67. That’s the cost of subscribing to the print and online versions of the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ app for iPad better be a lot more for that price. Source: Wall Street Journal
5×7 card trumps the iPad. The video is hilarious.
Microsoft has now changed Windows Phone 7 Series to just Windows Phone 7. What kind of company changes the name of a major initiative mid-way? Idiots. BTW, does this new smartphone OS have anything to do with Windows? No. Microsoft just wants to milk the Windows brand. I recommend the company change the name, again, to simply Phone 7. Source: Twitter
Stephen Fry of Time has an iPad unboxing video. And a video review. Everything seems to be fast.
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