5 ms·

Does anyone have a link to a good behind the scenes history of E Ink? I've loved following them over the years. They were one of the first "startups" I read ab

by breck 10y ago

Does anyone have a link to a good behind the scenes history of E Ink? I've loved following them over the years. They were one of the first "startups" I read about (in the Boston Globe) as a kid growing up outside Boston in the 90's. It seems like it's been an incredible uphill battle to make the tech work. I love my Kindle screen and do hope that someday passive color screens can rival light emitting ones.

my_username_is_ 10y ago
I think I remember that article (or at least a similar one)! I can't seem to find it on the Globe's site, though.
Animats 10y ago
It was way oversold at first. It was going to be really cheap, and flexible, like a sheet of paper. It ended up being a front layer on an LCD-like device. Early versions were dark grey on light grey, like cheap newsprint. The contrast has been improving, but it's still not as good as printed paper. Other than E-readers, the big application has been retail price signs.[1] With a passive display, they can be battery powered and have a long battery life. They only need to wake up and rewrite when the price changes. (Most of the ads for these displays show something like "30% off!") [1] http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/ http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/
- ArtDev 10y ago
  The Kindle PaperWhite and Newest Kobo readers both sport 300dpi resolution. My new reader is like reading on a something that came through a printer. Its amazing!
  - Animats 10y ago
    Nice! They finally fixed that.
    - Turing_Machine 10y ago
      Yep. The Paperwhite isn't as good as the art-quality print job you'd see on an heirloom book, but it's certainly within range of mass-market paperback quality (or even better, as another poster noted... some of the more cheaply-made paperbacks look like they were rubber-stamped on paper towels).
      - shimn 10y ago
        When I purchased my Paperwhite, it was in small part due to the frustration that came with variable font sizes from different books. Giving up the high quality lettering so that I can read without losing my line has made the act so much more enjoyable. Now if only they supported some form of quick stylus based highlighting (and easy on device access).
- copperx 10y ago
  > it's still not as good as printed paper. Perhaps not as good as a glossy full-color textbook, but a few days ago I bought a paperback and I was surprised how much I wanted to read it on my Kindle instead. Paperbacks often have terrible resolution, and the contrast isn't much better (paperbacks often have ivory-ish colored paper).
  - lallysingh 10y ago
    Okasaki's Functional Data Structures book, as an example?
    - goldenkey 10y ago
      Theres nothing like a good hardcover book easy on the eyes. I just ordered 3 hardcovers circa 1940. Cost me a bit but worth the nostalgia and ease of reading
- protomyth 10y ago
  I really wish they would start using it on ATMs. Outside in the sun is a pain. They light the things well at night so it shouldn't be a problem.
- stillworks 10y ago
  Haven't seen those in use a lot but I believe some of the larger stores in Europe and Japan had use for those "Dot Matrix Pricing Labels". One of my first jobs involved run length encoding the 2-bit BMPs to be transferred to these labels. The label itself had code embedded in it to decode them. Fun times...
- arviewer 10y ago
  > The contrast has been improving, but it's still not as good as printed paper. You're right about contrast. For normal reading this can be compensated with setting the font (a lot) bigger. This makes reading a lot easier on the eye. The only problem is that PDFs and tables or bullet lists get messed up. Speed and CPU power then can become a problem.
- cwillu 10y ago
  They make it really hard to purchase the displays for development or small volume of things _other_ than retail price signs though. Overpriced tiny development kits aren't enough to test lots of interesting applications, and they won't talk to you otherwise unless you're buying very large volumes.
aamar 10y ago
Have you seen this WIRED article? http://www.wired.com/1997/05/ff-digitalink/ http://www.wired.com/1997/05/ff-digitalink/ I worked on one of the fairly early E Ink use-cases in '96 for a really interesting summer job, as part of a DARPA-funded project. Wrote a graphics driver for it in assembly; learned how to use an oscilloscope to debug.

by breck 10y ago

my_username_is_ 10y ago

I think I remember that article (or at least a similar one)! I can't seem to find it on the Globe's site, though.

Animats 10y ago

It was way oversold at first. It was going to be really cheap, and flexible, like a sheet of paper. It ended up being a front layer on an LCD-like device. Early versions were dark grey on light grey, like cheap newsprint. The contrast has been improving, but it's still not as good as printed paper. Other than E-readers, the big application has been retail price signs.[1] With a passive display, they can be battery powered and have a long battery life. They only need to wake up and rewrite when the price changes. (Most of the ads for these displays show something like "30% off!") [1] http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/ http://www.pervasivedisplays.com/

ArtDev 10y ago
The Kindle PaperWhite and Newest Kobo readers both sport 300dpi resolution. My new reader is like reading on a something that came through a printer. Its amazing!
- Animats 10y ago
  Nice! They finally fixed that.
  - Turing_Machine 10y ago
    Yep. The Paperwhite isn't as good as the art-quality print job you'd see on an heirloom book, but it's certainly within range of mass-market paperback quality (or even better, as another poster noted... some of the more cheaply-made paperbacks look like they were rubber-stamped on paper towels).
    - shimn 10y ago
      When I purchased my Paperwhite, it was in small part due to the frustration that came with variable font sizes from different books. Giving up the high quality lettering so that I can read without losing my line has made the act so much more enjoyable. Now if only they supported some form of quick stylus based highlighting (and easy on device access).
copperx 10y ago
> it's still not as good as printed paper. Perhaps not as good as a glossy full-color textbook, but a few days ago I bought a paperback and I was surprised how much I wanted to read it on my Kindle instead. Paperbacks often have terrible resolution, and the contrast isn't much better (paperbacks often have ivory-ish colored paper).
- lallysingh 10y ago
  Okasaki's Functional Data Structures book, as an example?
  - goldenkey 10y ago
    Theres nothing like a good hardcover book easy on the eyes. I just ordered 3 hardcovers circa 1940. Cost me a bit but worth the nostalgia and ease of reading
protomyth 10y ago
I really wish they would start using it on ATMs. Outside in the sun is a pain. They light the things well at night so it shouldn't be a problem.
stillworks 10y ago
Haven't seen those in use a lot but I believe some of the larger stores in Europe and Japan had use for those "Dot Matrix Pricing Labels". One of my first jobs involved run length encoding the 2-bit BMPs to be transferred to these labels. The label itself had code embedded in it to decode them. Fun times...
arviewer 10y ago
> The contrast has been improving, but it's still not as good as printed paper. You're right about contrast. For normal reading this can be compensated with setting the font (a lot) bigger. This makes reading a lot easier on the eye. The only problem is that PDFs and tables or bullet lists get messed up. Speed and CPU power then can become a problem.
cwillu 10y ago
They make it really hard to purchase the displays for development or small volume of things _other_ than retail price signs though. Overpriced tiny development kits aren't enough to test lots of interesting applications, and they won't talk to you otherwise unless you're buying very large volumes.

aamar 10y ago

Have you seen this WIRED article? http://www.wired.com/1997/05/ff-digitalink/ http://www.wired.com/1997/05/ff-digitalink/ I worked on one of the fairly early E Ink use-cases in '96 for a really interesting summer job, as part of a DARPA-funded project. Wrote a graphics driver for it in assembly; learned how to use an oscilloscope to debug.