Today’s heads-up displays worn by soldiers are bulky and probably quite uncomfortable. DARPA is seeking to solve all that with contact lenses that sport a display to overlay graphics and information on top of the soldiers’ vision.

Specifically, the agency is looking for “information on technology areas for the creation of micro- and nano-scale display technologies for the purpose of creating displays that could be worn as transparent contact lenses”, and they want that information within three to five years.

This sounds like a very ambitious project, but with DARPA behind it maybe, just maybe, we’ll actually see it come to life. Perhaps this is a job for UW scientists and their contact lenses with circuits?

[via Gizmodo]

Researchers at GE have found a way to print OLEDs (Organic Light-Emitting Diodes) “roll-to-roll,” much like printing newspapers. The breakthrough, coming as a result of four years of work, will allow manufacturers to create OLEDs at a fraction of the cost.

OLED technology is behind the flexible and e-ink displays popping up daily now, but price has always been a barrier. Now, with some tuning and polishing, the researchers hope they’ll have a working “printing press” set up to manufacture OLEDs at a much cheaper price.

OLEDs are much more energy efficient than traditional lights or displays. As soon as the printing method is perfected, we will see OLED displays quickly taking over current technologies. Just one of the benefits of OLEDs is better battery life for our gadgets, meaning less frequent recharging.

There is now just one major hurdle to jump - improving the lifetime of OLEDs. Since they are made of organic materials, they are very sensitive to outside elements, especially water. As soon as scientists figure out a way to overcome that, expect to see OLEDs everywhere.

The Yuno PC mug is a regular coffee mug that includes a touchscreen display wrapped around the outside. You can customize the screen to display email, weather, traffic, stocks, daily comics, or whatever else you like to read in the morning. It also has a feature which lets you choose a custom screensaver image to display.

We think this would make a really cool device, despite it seeming a bit gimmicky at first glance. The ability to check small bits of information without actually needing a full-fledged computer in front of you is quite useful even to the non-business world. It’s impressive that technology has become so compact that people are dreaming up such unique places to use it.

Of course this is just a concept, so we’re not sure if it’ll ever make it to the market. We wouldn’t mind sipping our coffee or tea from one of these every morning though.

U.S. researchers have discovered a material that can create rewritable holograms. A layer of the material can record a holographic image, erase it, and replace it with a new one in a few minutes. The current rate is slow, but the researchers seem confident that they can get the material to refresh at the speeds of video around 30 times per second. With some advances in this technology we could see 3D displays come to life.

This material can also store rewritable data through the depth of a hologram. This is a big step up from today’s holographic discs which are read only. The new approach could lead to much larger capacities of computer memory.

This is a small although important advance in the field. Though not perfected yet, the technology could lead to some great things in the future, and we’re excited for when that time comes.

For information about how this work, read the full article at NewScientist.
Photo: University of Arizona/Nasser Peyghambarian

Designers Sohui Won, Seung-Hoon Kwak, and Yeong-Kyu Yoo introduce us to their version of a cell phone’s best friend - the MCube.

As it’s only a concept, the features of the MCube are astounding. It can charge your phone wirelessly using short range induction technology. While charging, the MCube gathers information such as date and time, messages, and caller ID and shows them on its built-in display. The touch controls of the device then allow you to play back the music stored on your phone via the MCube’s integrated speakers.

Although a great concept, the MCube remains just that - a concept. Hopefully the designers will step away from Photoshop and try to make a real-life version of this some day.

Today Garmin announced their brand new nüvifone, a GSM HSDPA smartphone running Garmin’s own operating system centered around GPS navigation.

The phone will feature a 3.5 inch touchscreen display with three primary icons displayed on it - “Call,” “Search,” and “View Map.”

As far as data, the nüvifone will use a 3.5G connection to power an integrated web browser, data connectivity, personal messaging, and personal navigation functions. The device will also tap into Google local search to provide all sorts of points of interest close to the user.

“The nüvifone is an all-in-one device offering unmatched integration of utility and function in a single mobile device,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO. “This is the breakthrough product that cell phone and GPS users around the world have been longing for - a single device that does it all.”

We’re excited to see this thing on the shelves in late 2008. It looks like it has great potential to compete with the iPhone, especially if it’s priced just right.

Hitachi has just announced the W61H cell phone, a sleek device that features a 2.7-inch E-Ink display on the backside that can show one of 95 predetermined patterns on it (users can change the pattern shown).

In addition to the ‘Silhouette screen,’ the phone features a 2.8-inch display with a 240×400 resolution, a 1.97 megapixel camera, and a built-in 2GB micro SD card.

The phone has launched in Japan only, with no current plans to release a US version anytime soon.

The inclusion of the E-Ink display is pretty cool, but it’s very unfortunate that it’s only for aesthetics. Would be nice if it would show incoming calls, the time, or something else useful. More pics after the jump. Read more »