Amsterdam: In Neal Stephenson's sci-fi novel The Diamond Age, a young girl's companion is a book with amazing qualities ?it talks, and the words magically change with the story.
A decade after Stephenson's book was published, what was once labeled science fiction is finding its way to the real-world market.
"Electronic paper" is a display technology that makes possible flexible or even rollable displays that, unlike current computer screens, can be read in bright sunlight.
But, much like when LCD displays came to the market, consumers are first likely to see the technology in clocks and watches.
The popular example of an electronic newspaper that automatically updates itself wirelessly is still years away.
Electronic Paper: Tech Secret
The technology at the heart of electronic paper? Tiny black and white particles that are suspended in capsules about the diameter of a human hair.
The particles respond to electrical charges ?a negative field pushes the negatively charged black particles away to the surface, where they create a black dot.
Positively charged white particles create the opposite effect.
At a 10th of a millimeter, the thickness of an ordinary sheet of paper, electronic paper is much thinner than the liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) used in today's computers and mobile phones.
It also consumes 100 times less power because it does not require a backlight and only needs electricity to change the image, not to hold it.
Like ordinary paper, it reflects light, making it readable even in difficult conditions such as direct sunlight.
Michigan-based Gyricon is already selling e-paper signs and message boards that can be updated wirelessly allowing, for example, to centrally update room signs throughout a building.
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