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> The e-Ink people have got to get their costs down. I work in the display industry. No vendor can get their cost down unless they're able to get their volumes

> The e-Ink people have got to get their costs down. I work in the display industry. No vendor can get their cost down unless they're able to get their volumes up to millions of units per quarter. It's a power scaling law. I doubt E-Ink even manages to sell 10,000 32 inch displays per quarter and if I'm not mistaken these backplanes and laminate material are kerfed by hand! Notice that small sized displays on the other hand are much cheaper. As long as there's nobody willing to pony up an order for a million 32 inch displays, the status quo will likely remain the same.

1-6 6y ago
It’s amazing to think about how much everything we use around us may actually cost without volume. Free trade is good stuff but hope we can keep it going for a long time.
naravara 6y ago
Honestly I'm surprised I don't see more instances of the technology being used for things like windows or sunglasses with controllable opacity/tinting. It's a much less price sensitive market at least. I've seen them in practice but it's rare and generally in contexts where I assume it is super duper expensive (like in hotels in Dubai sorts of places).
- zanecodes 6y ago
  As far as E-Ink goes, my understanding is that it works by moving charged ink particles from one end of a microscopic capsule to the other, so that white and black particles switch places, resulting in a visible color change. All this is to say that the display surface isn't exactly changing color or opacity, it's just moving it around, so I doubt it could be used to create a surface that goes from transparent to opaque and vice versa. On the other hand, LCD could be used to create an opacity-changing window, but LCD panels block a lot of light even when they're fully "transparent," which is why they consume so much power (their backlights have to be very bright).
  - naravara 6y ago
    I believe the version I saw uses a polarized filter and some kind of film that works similarly to e-ink to control how much light goes through. They had a White Paper on it called JustTint.
    - zanecodes 6y ago
      Interesting; found a few words about it here: https://www.eink.com/e-ink-film.html https://www.eink.com/e-ink-film.html Very curious as to how it works.

1-6 6y ago

It’s amazing to think about how much everything we use around us may actually cost without volume. Free trade is good stuff but hope we can keep it going for a long time.

naravara 6y ago

Honestly I'm surprised I don't see more instances of the technology being used for things like windows or sunglasses with controllable opacity/tinting. It's a much less price sensitive market at least. I've seen them in practice but it's rare and generally in contexts where I assume it is super duper expensive (like in hotels in Dubai sorts of places).

zanecodes 6y ago
As far as E-Ink goes, my understanding is that it works by moving charged ink particles from one end of a microscopic capsule to the other, so that white and black particles switch places, resulting in a visible color change. All this is to say that the display surface isn't exactly changing color or opacity, it's just moving it around, so I doubt it could be used to create a surface that goes from transparent to opaque and vice versa. On the other hand, LCD could be used to create an opacity-changing window, but LCD panels block a lot of light even when they're fully "transparent," which is why they consume so much power (their backlights have to be very bright).
- naravara 6y ago
  I believe the version I saw uses a polarized filter and some kind of film that works similarly to e-ink to control how much light goes through. They had a White Paper on it called JustTint.
  - zanecodes 6y ago
    Interesting; found a few words about it here: https://www.eink.com/e-ink-film.html https://www.eink.com/e-ink-film.html Very curious as to how it works.