6 ms·

Super-Flexible Liquid Crystal Device for Bendable and Rollable Displays

24 points by renafowler 10y ago

creaghpatr 10y ago
That graphic of the screen rolled around the person's wrist would be cool upgrade for football quarterbacks- would allow for more complex game plans since the coordinators could display whatever they want on the screen in real time during the game. Of course there are probably more important applications of this technology too.
- woliveirajr 10y ago
  I'm not sure whether this would be allowed. In soccer, for example, using earphones and so on was forbid based on the rule that it wasn't part of the allowed equipment.
  - PerryCox 10y ago
    I believe creaghpatr was talking about American Football. The coaches already use radios which have speakers inside the quarterback's helmet to relay the plays to them. It seems like this would be a logical jump as they could get more information and crowd noise would not be a factor.
    - woliveirajr 10y ago
      :) yes, I thought so, that's why I used soccer to make the distinction... but I didn't knew football allowed such intense communication during the game, and it would be funny to see a quarterback trying to read his pulse while he's being tackled.
- mholmes680 10y ago
  Thought the same thing immediately -- but then again, why not just have a thing that flashes a few LED lines with text; no need for bendy tech. My second reaction -- if i'm reading it right -- the solution was to remove inflexible glass, and replace it with flexible plastic?! What took so long? (i'm sure there's some cool technical challenges here, but this was one of those articles where i was expecting really cool solution, but instead got... "duh, plastic")
24gttghh 10y ago
Is my long-dreamed-of, papyrus scroll -> cellphone screen scroll, full-circle-moment finally at hand?
mojomark 10y ago
"The plastic substrates are poor gas-barriers for oxygen and water vapor, and the OLED materials can seriously be damaged by their gasses. " Incidentally, polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals make an excellent passivation layer and are highly flexible thinfilms. I've always wondered why flexible OLEDs (FOLEDs) never adopted. Maybe HN knows?

24 points by renafowler 10y ago

That graphic of the screen rolled around the person's wrist would be cool upgrade for football quarterbacks- would allow for more complex game plans since the coordinators could display whatever they want on the screen in real time during the game. Of course there are probably more important applications of this technology too.

woliveirajr 10y ago
I'm not sure whether this would be allowed. In soccer, for example, using earphones and so on was forbid based on the rule that it wasn't part of the allowed equipment.
- PerryCox 10y ago
  I believe creaghpatr was talking about American Football. The coaches already use radios which have speakers inside the quarterback's helmet to relay the plays to them. It seems like this would be a logical jump as they could get more information and crowd noise would not be a factor.
  - woliveirajr 10y ago
    :) yes, I thought so, that's why I used soccer to make the distinction... but I didn't knew football allowed such intense communication during the game, and it would be funny to see a quarterback trying to read his pulse while he's being tackled.
mholmes680 10y ago
Thought the same thing immediately -- but then again, why not just have a thing that flashes a few LED lines with text; no need for bendy tech. My second reaction -- if i'm reading it right -- the solution was to remove inflexible glass, and replace it with flexible plastic?! What took so long? (i'm sure there's some cool technical challenges here, but this was one of those articles where i was expecting really cool solution, but instead got... "duh, plastic")

24gttghh 10y ago

Is my long-dreamed-of, papyrus scroll -> cellphone screen scroll, full-circle-moment finally at hand?

mojomark 10y ago

"The plastic substrates are poor gas-barriers for oxygen and water vapor, and the OLED materials can seriously be damaged by their gasses. " Incidentally, polymer stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals make an excellent passivation layer and are highly flexible thinfilms. I've always wondered why flexible OLEDs (FOLEDs) never adopted. Maybe HN knows?