The E Ink Corporation is working on a 0.3mm-thick flexible LCD screen. The article focuses on using it for an electronic version of a newspaper, but that seems unimaginative to me. I’m thinking “really tiny PDA display”. With a small Bluetooth PAN, my shirt sleeve could become a display for a small computer I carry in my pocket, which in turn could connect via wireless shoe-phone to the Internet.
Heck, why bother with practical applications at all? Manufacture an entire T-shirt from this stuff, then watch TV on your chest, or change your T-shirt’s message from witty to political to suit your mood. I’d pay good money for a single garment whose appearance I can change at will. Of course, it will be a while before this technology comes in color, or in a thin enough form to be comfortable to wear. I can make do with a tiny PDA display in the meantime.
