It’s been a fun week here in Boston at SID Display Week and today I thought I might share something I learned about hat exactly an E-ink screen really is.

eReaders like the Kindle, Nook, and others have gotten all the press attention when it comes to screen tech, and those screens are made by E-ink. This can make it a little hard to remember that when you call a screen an E-ink screen, you’re actually referring to the material it is made from, not who made it.

For example, all of the screens below are E-ink screens – even though they were manufactured by many different companies.

There’s also the Wexler FlexOne I posted about yesterday, which has a screen made by LG Display. It too is an E-ink screen because part of the screen was originally made by E-ink. And a few days ago I posted about my meeting with Plastic Logic, including several photos of their screens. Those screens, even though they’re made by PlasticLogic and are commonly referred to as such, are also E-ink screens.

Or take a look at these shelf labels from Advantech. The screen used here is from E-ink, only Advantech mounted it on their own backplane.

As strange as it might seem, all these screens are made using the same basic material. The main detail that sets them apart is that they are cut and then mounted on different backplanes.

click to see more

I think the best way to illustrate the difference comes from a post from last October. E-ink had sent me a few photos showing what their screen material looks like right when it comes off the assembly line. It’s not the 6″, 9″, or 11.5″ rectangles you might be expecting;  no, the first step in making the E-ink screen involves forming a plastic sheet 3′ wide by hundreds of feet long.

That 300 ft screen is what gets cut up into all the funny little shapes you see above. It is also cut up and used for the screen on the Kindle, FlexOne, and for Plastic Logic’s screen.

So really, the most interesting detail about the screen isn’t the screen itself; it’s what people do with it after they buy it from E-ink. LG Display and PlasticLogic can each do something different with this same basic material by mounting it on different backplanes.

It’s a pity you cannot see them because the backplane is where all the real innovation happens.

Barnes & Noble submitted a brief today to the DOJ with their commentary on the anti-trust settlement proposed by the DOJ as part of the prosecution of the Agency Six, the 5 major publishers and Apple who conspired to bring about the Agency pricing model for ebooks.

I was asked to pick apart the B&N submission to the DOJ, and while I plan to do that I first want to write about how I viewed the three-ring circus the antitrust settlement, massive state-level lawsuit, and ongoing DOJ lawsuit involving 3 of the Agency Six.

I’ve largely ignored  the ongoing antitrust lawsuit as well as the many editorials about the case (aside from a few early posts).  I had to for the simple reason that I cannot stand the arguments being presented.

It does not matter what words were used because at their core, many of the editorials argued that the Agency model should be allowed to continue. The writers have their various reasons to argue this position, but  it doesn’t matter what they say. In my mind all of the arguments in favor continuing the agency model boil down to a single unspoken point:

Let the conspirators get away with the crime.

The Agency Six conspired to bring about the Agency pricing model and force Amazon to accept it – this we can say beyond a shadow of a doubt, given that 3 of the conspirators have already settled. So what all of the editorials in favor of keeping the Agency model are really saying is that we should allow the confessed criminals to keep the prize that they conspired to get.

Folks, it really is that simple.

As part of the settlement, the DOJ is blocking the Agency model because the conspirators cannot be allowed to keep their ill-gotten gains. It does not matter whether or not you or anyone else is harmed by the end of the Agency model. What matters is that the conspirators not be allowed to succeed.

If even a hint of the agency model were allowed to stand then it would be like punishing a child for stealing candy while letting him continue to eat the candy. That makes no sense, not on any level.

Yes, it’s going to upset the market, and yes, it’s going to let Amazon have fun with the ebook prices.  Arguments could be made that this is bad, but I’m sorry but it doesn’t matter.  The first and foremost issue here is that the conspiracy be stopped, and thus the Agency model has to go with it.

I can understand why some are afraid of Amazon (though I do think you’re psyching yourselves out), but if and when the bad times come you cannot blame Amazon for acting in their own best interest. You cannot blame the DOJ for prosecuting the conspiracy. No, the death of the agency model must be laid at the feet of the conspirators.

And that is how I see it (though it did take me this long to express the ideas in words).

Charbax is still on his trip to China and today he succeeded in uncovering a new ereader based on LG Display’s flexible 6″ E-ink screen.

Yitoa is a Chinese OEM, and it looks like they are showing off as clone of the flexible ereader I held in my hands yesterday. The ereader that Charbax found in their booth bears more than a faint resemblance to the Wexler FlexOne (including the Wexler label on the back). Of course, there’s a good reason for that; Yitoa is the manufacturing partner for Wexler.

As you watch the video, note that the listed specs has the wrong resolution; this device uses the plastic backed screen developed by LG Display; the correct resolution is 1024×768.

Kobo has been taking a look at all the ways they come up short against Amazon and B&N, and today I learned that apparently they feel they need to start making bad TV commercials to make up for their lack of advertising.

They posted a compilation of the commercials to their Youtube account today. The commercials  are pretty tacky, but now that I’ve seen them all twice I’m beginning to suspect that was on purpose.

I mean, I know used car lots that could do commercials like this; if Kobo wanted to do better they would have.

Barnes & Noble has gotten quite friendly with the idea of frequent sales, but today’s sale might be a new low. Right now you can buy a refurbished Nook Color on eBay for $135, and if you act fast they will also throw in, for free, a refurbished Nook Touch.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Damn.

B&N must be getting desperate. The sale today is a repetition of one they held  back in March, only that sale was priced at $150.  It’s now 2 and a half months later and B&N is  willing to accept 10% less just to clear out the stock.

If B&N is around this time next year, I will be deeply surprised.

Ebay

Project Gutenberg, the granddaddy of all ebook digitization projects, has now succumbed to the horrors of social media.

There was a brief mention in the PG monthly news letter this morning of changes to the website. Next time you visit, note the icons in the upper right corner of the webpage. Next to the donate buttons (Paypal and Flattr) there is a link, and if you click on it you’ll go to their social page.

This isn’t the best design, but if you want to share what you’re reading on Project Gutenberg, you can. Right after you download the ebook, go to the social page and you’ll be offered the option of tweeting or posting a Facebook update. The tweet will look something like this:

Reading: Roughing It gutenberg.org/ebooks/3177 #free #ebooks
— Nate the great (@thDigitalReader) June 7, 2012

Project Gutenberg also has a Twitter account and RSS feed where they post mentions of newly converted (or recently updated) public domain ebooks which have been added to the collection. You can find those on the social page as well.

Wexler, a Russian ereader maker, was the first company to release an ereader which used the flexible 6″ E-ink screen made by LG Display. It’s been out in Russia for a few weeks now, but since Wexler won’t ship to the US this device hasn’t managed to cross the ocean.

Until now.

I got my hands on it for a few minutes yesterday, and the head of marketing at E-ink also helped Ron Mertens shoot a brief video (end of the post). I’m still trying to talk my way into buying it from E-ink (wish me luck). Just so you know, this is the screen that I was disappointed not to find in the LG booth, and I was a little surprised to see it in the E-ink booth.

The FlexOne looks just like the unit shown in the abuse video I posted a few weeks back. It is indeed that flexible:

Naturally I didn’t dare put any real effort into killing it; it wasn’t mine after all (and I’m still trying to get it).

I also put a few minutes into trying out the features.  It’s a pretty basic device with no touchscreen, Wifi, or anything you wouldn’t expect to find on a cheap ereader. About its only remarkable feature is the flexible 6″ screen. I’m hoping to see it on the next Kindle or nook, aren’t you?

One of the hot new technologies on display this week at SID Display Week is a clever new alternative to the problem of the lack of physical feedback on touchscreen.

Tactus had just the one early prototype on hand, and it was an impressive sight. They’ve developed a way to add a layer on top of your standard touchscreen which, when enabled, adds a set of buttons to the otherwise flat screen. This layer consists of a network of channels  which feed a new type of fluid to certain areas on the screen.  When triggered, you’ll see and feel clear buttons on top of the touchscreen, making this the first retractable touch feedback user interface.

The buttons can be enabled and disabled at the flick of a switch, and while in use they don’t drain battery life. But there is some cost to enabling and disabling the buttons, of course. They feel much like any buttons on a mobile device, and while that description is vague it’s also a positive. I’ve used devices with buttons that were more difficult to use (the Amazon K3, for example), so I’m pleased to say that this is far from the worst on the market.

Now, I’ve read The Verge report on this tech and I must disagree with some of the points. I thought the buttons provided enough feedback, and in any case the production model will likely improve on any shortcomings.

The button layer can still be felt and seen when deflated, but it wasn’t a huge visual distraction and the layer didn’t make the screen all that much more difficult to use. Keep in mind that this is a prototype; I think that when this gets into production the button layer is going to be much less obvious when not in use.

Right now the Tactus prototype is using segmented panel with predefined spaces to be inflated as buttons, but their long term plans include much finer control. They’re hoping to achieve a panel that can match the resolution of the underlying tablet, and that would enable them to create buttons of any size  on-demand.

It’s not expected to be on devices until the second half of next year.

About the gallery: Several of the photos show a bare prototype unit. If you look at the face you can see the channels that the fluid will flow through. You cannot see the buttons because they  would be formed by another layer on top of the one you see in the bare prototype. The screen assembly under that face is a run of the mill 7″ screen/touchscreen component from Touch Revolution, one of Tactus' partners.

Qualcomm was showing off some really pretty new demo screens today at SID Display Week, and if you check out The Verge you’ll see that the shiny-shiny succeeded in distracting some bloggers from Qualcomm’s worsening situation with their (in)ability to actually make the screens they had on display.

But not me.

There was a new 5.7″ model, new 1.5″ model, and a new never before seen 4.3″ smartphone sized demo unit. All were quite pretty, but Qualcomm had no comment on when they’d hit the market. That 4.3″ screen had a resolution of 1280×720, or about 343ppi, and you can see it in the following video.

As much as I’d love to have it on a phone I don’t see it ever happening. Qualcomm wouldn’t commit to a release date because they couldn’t.

Do you know that new factory which Qualcomm is building in Taiwan, the one which was going to produce Mirasol screens and was supposed to be up and running by now? Yeah, that one. I was told yesterday by Bruce Lidl that the factory is not due to start operation until sometime in 2013, and that means we won’t see consumer products using screens made there until late in 2013 at best.

Right now Qualcomm is making the Mirasol screens on a smaller production line, and from what I’ve heard it doesn’t have the capacity to make enough screens for a major partner. The last info I got from my source at Pocketbook, Qualcomm’s still unconfirmed European partner, was that Pocketbook’s Mirasol based device was on hold because they couldn’t get enough screens.

Until Qualcomm gets that new factory up and running we’re probably not going to see any major new releases of the Mirasol screen. While I am expecting to see it on a niche product, I continue to believe that Mirasol has no chance on the consumer market. And that is because by the time Qualcomm does get Mirasol into production, LCD screens will have gotten good enough that there won’t be much of a demand for this overpriced gadget.

This next piece of news comes from the "We’re not dead yet" dept.

Sony announced yesterday that their ebookstore was now available to browse and buy ebooks via any web browser.  This is a stellar achievement for Sony, and it comes a mere 6 years after they launched the Reader Store.

Nope, I’m not kidding there. Sony opened the Reader Store when they launched the PRS-500 way back in 2006. You could only access it via Sony’s app, which only ran on Windows (and poorly, at that).

In other news, Sony also released an updated version of the Reader app for Android. According to the listing in Google Play, the app has a new UI as well as several bug, stability, and performance fixes.

One market "research" firm announced a rather eye catching press release earlier this week, and it’s been generating a lot of blog posts about Amazon’s imminent doom in the tablet market.

Unfortunately for most of those bloggers, the reality of the market doesn’t quite match the FUD in the press release. And yes, I do believe it’s FUD.

ABI Research reported on Monday that:

The media tablet market shipped 18.2 million devices in 1Q’2012, which represents a 185% YoY gain and a -33% sequential loss in shipments. Apple’s 11.8 million iPad shipments were spurred by the launch of a third-generation lineup and price reduction on iPad 2 models, while Samsung’s 1.1 million shipments returned the vendor to the number two spot after Amazon’s Kindle Fire shipments fizzled entering 2012.

I did see the press release that day, and I passed on the story. While it was potentially an easy way to generate page views, it didn’t have enough information to supports the claims made. You see, that press release doesn’t actually state how many Kindle Fires were sold. That is, I think, an important detail.  All the press release says is that Kindle Fire sales fizzled, and without figures to back that up the statement is meaningless. Without numbers we cannot put the drop in sales into perspective, and there’s no way to understand how the analysts reached their conclusions.

So instead I sat back and thought about the press release, and after a couple days I figured out a more accurate way to look at the market (less FUD). While I don’t doubt ABI has good data to show a decrease in sales, they’ve also made it clear that Amazon is still ranking high in the overall market. That would hardly qualify as a fizzle.

The other reason I ignored the press release earlier this week was that we have a similar market report that’s only a month old which both agrees in part with ABI Research and gives a much better picture of the market. IDG reported back in the beginning of May that Amazon had shipped 700 thousand Kindle Fires in Q1 2012, down from some millions in Q4 2011.

Okay, that is a major drop, but both reports say that Amazon is in 3rd place worldwide. You could describe that as having fizzled, but Amazon is beating Lenovo, Asus, and everyone else with a single device in a single market. How exactly does that qualify as bad news?

Folks, the Kindle Fire is the second best selling tablet on the world market (after the iPad, of course). I would be thrilled to be able to make that claim about one of my products.

Today marked the first day of the show floor being open at SID Display Week,and I made time to go see the 2 screen tech companies on the top of my list: Qualcomm and Pixtronix. I’m holding the Qualcomm post until tomorrow so i can go retake the photos, but the Pixtronix photos are fine.

The info I weaseled out of them is rather thin, but what can I do.

Pixtronix had just the one 5.25″ screen on display at the show, and they declined to discuss the 10″ and larger screens that their (former?) partner Samsung showed off last year.

Qualcomm bought Pixtronix  in December 2011 for an undisclosed amount of money and without ever actually saying why. Since that day Pixtornix has been exceptionally quiet on their partners, manufacturing plans, and release dates for their screen tech. But I did pick up a few details.

I don’t know who their partners are now (I only know what Pixtronix said before the sale), but I was told that the partners control the production schedule; Pixtronix only works on developing the design. I was also told that since being bought by  Qualcomm Pixtronix has been told to focus their attention on just the consumer electronics market.

Given that Qualcomm is bound and determined to release Mirasol into this market, I’m seriously beginning to suspect they’re considering replacing one screen tech with the other  – and hope no one notices. Admittedly, the screen tech has little in common besides having a vaguely similar technology, but I cannot think of another reason to buy a second screen tech company.

Now that’s an interesting puzzle, isn’t it?

I’m back in my hotel room from my first day on the show floor and I have to say it was rather disappointing. There were a number of screen tech companies not listed as exhibitors, including Sipix, Pixel Qi, and Plastic Logic, so I knew not to expect anything from them.

But a couple others were listed so I rather expected all their screen tech would be on display. Samsung and LG Display each had a booth this year, and they’d both made recent announcements about screen tech. Samsung’s Liquavista screen tech sub had recently mentioned plans to go into mass-production next year, while LG Display had recently unveiled a flexible 6″ E-ink screen. Neither were present.

I finally got my hands on the new PlasticLogic screen today. I met with Dr. Peter Fischer earlier today and while there were a lot of questions he couldn’t answer, I did get some details as well as a bunch of photos.

When you look at the photos, note that the ones showing 3 screens also shows them bending at different rates. That’s not a trick; PlasticLogic has screens in 3 thicknesses (780, 330, 130 micrometers). The floppiest screen is the thinnest.

I also got a couple photos of Plastic Logic’s new color screen that I posted about a couple weeks ago. It’s about the same thickness as the 780 micrometer screen, and like the other 3 screens it uses Plastic Logic’s backplane to support an E-ink panel. yes, that’s the same screen material as used in a Triton E-ink screen, only PlasticLogic came up with their own backplane to mount it on. (Here’s what the E-ink material looks like before it is mounted.)

I thought the color screen looked a lot better than E-ink’s screen. It was much less gray and had a slightly higher resolution. And before you ask, I don’t know who did the color filter that is lying on top of the the E-ink component; Peter wouldn’t tell me.

PlasticLogic is still looking to sell this screen to partners, and Peter admitted to having met with the partners at this conference. Peter also told me that PlasticLogic might be postponing their plans for the new factory in Russia due to their recent withdrawal from the ereader market. They’re going to continue to make new screens at their current factory in Dresden.