Tomorrow’s paper will be digital

So when exactly is paper considered hardware? Well, never really. However the paper of the future will be pretty close…

Belgian daily De Tijd is to be distributed electronically in what is claimed to be the first complete solution for portable electronic reading and writing.

Available from April 2006, the Iliad platform allows for customised versions of an electronic reader that can be created for special markets.

Dutch manufacturer iRex Technologies BV, a spin-off from Royal Philips Electronics with backing secured from major independent equity investors, was also involved with the first commercially available E Ink display in 2004, an electronic book reader by Sony.

Since 2001 Philips and US based E Ink Corporation have been developing electrophoretic technology for thin displays, whereby oppositely charged bright and dark particles move through a clear solution. If bright particles are moved forward, the perceived image is bright. If dark particles are moved forward, the perceived image is dark. [Read the rest]