Visionect

That E-ink sign in front of Boston’s City Hall has now become part of a rather eclectic set. Visionect has partnered with the MIT spinoff startup Soofa to create solar-powered pedestrians signs based on color E-ink screens.

Soofa says the signs are intended to "transform the way cities communicate with their citizens, businesses build relationships with their customers, and how citizens get to know their cities". According to the announcement, the first sign was installed in front of Faneuil Hall in Samuel Adams park in September.

"We’re excited to have been chosen by Soofa to premiere their first-ever solar powered E Ink Sign," said Judy Wang, innovation fellow with Boston’s New Urban Mechanics, in a statement. "The sign encourages visitors and residents to engage with each other through the use of social media, and is another indicator of the many city efforts to activate the spaces in which we work, live and play."

When the sign was installed it just shows Boston Mayor Walsh’s Twitter feed and upcoming events in Boston, but Metro.US reported that it will display details about municipal services like BOS:311 as well as providing residents with real-time transit updates.

And as the signs become more numerous they could be used to convey public announcements about inclement weather, alien invasions, and important events.

Metro.us

Visionect is a Slovenian company which develops new uses for E-ink screens.

They’ve developed bus signs, a smart meeting room sign, and a sign for museums, all of which utilize E-ink screens, but something tells me that their next product won’t have the same positive impact.

Earlier this week Visionect revealed their latest project: giant signs made out of E-ink screens which are designed to be mounted on the back of 18-wheelers. Developed by Mercedes-Benz and RoadAds Interactive, each sign is made of four 32″ E-ink screeens which are programmed to act a a single 5′ by 3″ display with a resolution of 2880 x 5120.

And yes, as you can see in the following video, they are designed to refresh while the truck is in motion in order to provide location-specific ads.

If this is not the worst idea for new ad tech ever, it has to be in the top ten. The tech may sound nifty but it looks like it is going to be incredibly distracting for other drivers.

As several commenters have pointed out on Gizmodo, this tech is bound to cause accidents; a giant E-ink screen refreshing on the truck in the next lane is just the thing to catch your eye and take your attention off of the road in front of you.

I am surprised this even got to the prototype stage, much less announced, without being canceled; the risks are just too high. But now that many people have pointed out the problems with this idea it will quietly be canceled before anyone gets killed.

The ereader market may have peaked several years ago, but E-ink screens aren’t dead. A small Slovenian startup continues to find new uses and markets.

Visionect announced on Monday that it was adapting its Joan smart meeting room sign for use in museums.

The Amlabel digital gallery display offers museum curators a new alternative to static paper labels, one which can be changed remotely with a minimum of time and effort.

As Visionect explained, a recently surveyed group of museums reported that 66% of the respondents printed more than 200 labels per year while a third printed 500 plus labels per year. All reported an average cost of $70-$100 per label, with a single misprint or a change of text causing this cost to double.

The Amlabel cuts that cost by letting museums and galleries update a label digitally. Not only does this reduce reprint costs but it also lets curators change details, or even the language on the label, at the drop of a hat.

The Amlabel comes in 6″ and 9.7″ screen sizes, and connects to existing Wifi networks. Its battery is good for months.

If you’ve ever had the urge to develop your own 32″ E-ink monitor, Visionect  can help. This Slovenian startup is at the Digital Signage Expo 2016 this week to show off their latest development kit.

For the past several year Visionect has been developing E-ink based products for niche markets. They’ve released a smart meeting room sign, a 6″ wireless monitor or thin client, and signage development kits with screens ranging from 6″ to 13.3″. Now Visionect is supersizing the development kits with the addition of E-ink’s largest screen.

The new kit features either a 32″ b&w or color E-ink screen, and costs anywhere from $3,500 to $4,500. The price includes the screen, a controller board to drive the screen, and a license for Visionect’s software.

Like E-ink’s own  DIY kits and development kits, this is very much not for the end user. It requires that the buyer have a fair degree of skill at developing software, and is described as "a turnkey solution for rapidly prototyping new digital signage products and quickly transitioning them to real end products".

But on the plus side the kit comes with Wifi, 3G, and ethernet connectivity, and it is also capable of controlling a frontlight on the 32″ screen. That frontlight is not included in the kit, however.

You can find more details on the Visionect website.

E-ink screen have low power requirements and are sunlight readable, making them idea for use as smart street signs. Now the tech is getting put to the test at scale.

Transport for London (TfL) has begin installing new bus signs at a small number of bus stops.

The signs have E-ink screens and offer timetables, route maps, and real-time travel info which the signs download over 3G. The screens used in these signs are based on a platform developed by Visionect, an E-ink partner based in Slovenia. They are about the same size as a conventional bus stop sign, and feature colorful buttons which change the contents of the screen or illuminate it.

Several tweets show the signs in place, including a night shot which confirms that the signs are frontlit. According to Technoframes, the company that designed and built the sign units, the first sign was installed in mid-November. Six addition E-ink bus signs will be installed next year as part of a systems test which will give TfL a better idea of the idea’s viability.

Engadget

Got an idea for a mobile device with an E-ink screen custom ebook reader and a few hundred dollars to spare? Then you should check out Visionect. This Slovenian startup is now showing off a thin client development kit based around an epaper screen.

Update: I’ve gotten an email from Visionect and it appears I misunderstood their product. It’s not intended to be used to develop a stand-along device. Instead the screen unit has always been intended to work as a thin client and or wireless monitor.

While there are numerous kits based on smaller E-ink screens, this the first readily available kit based on a 6″ screen. The  Visionect kit, which reportedly costs €239, comes equipped with a 6″ E-ink screen (larger screen sizes are available) wrapped in a sturdy plastic shell. It has a capacitive touchscreen, Wifi, a g-sensor, but no frontlight. The CPU is a rather limited 120 MHz but since this is development kit and not intended to be a prototype that shouldn’t be a problem. since this is intended to be a thin client solution, acting strictly as a wireless screen attached to a remote system, that should not be a problem.

The kit works with a development platform, Visionect Server, which is designed to use standard web technologies (HTML5, CSS and Javascript) and show you what it would look like as a product running on an E-ink screen.  Visionect Server doesn’t technically convert your content, but it can take any web application, process it, and push it to the kit. This process looks seamless to the end user and gives an impression that applications are running directly on the kit itself.

So if you wanted to mock up a faux E-ink ebook reader from Apple just to mess with someone’s head, you could use this kit.

Visionect reports that they have worked are working with Slovenia Telecom to develop an e-signage product for its stores. Other partners include ImagoTag, an Austrian firm working on epaper shelf tags, and Weimar, a maker of marine equipment. The Nautipad Display (pictured above and below) is based on Visionect’s platform.

This is the first time I have heard about the Nautipad Display, which is designed to work as a wireless display for the Nautipad Server.

Visionect

E-ink Info