This has been brought up _a lot_ so I'd like to pin it up here; The Pebble smartwatch doesn't actually have an E-ink display. They (rather brazenly) called it an "ePaper" display or something like that, but it was in reality a very low power LCD from Sharp called Memory LCD. I myself owned a Pebble, and while I loved that thing and wish it still worked (it had the display go wonky), I was disappointed when I received it to find out the screen wasn't actually E-ink like in my Reader. It was a very good LCD, and used barely any power, but it was more like the Casio watch featured in this video; a greyscale LCD with the same viewing angle limitations. The later Pebble Time models simply used a color version of the same display tech, and no E-ink was involved.
I had and still have mine. I fixed the wonky screen by stuffing the insides with toilet paper. Believe it or not, it holds the loose display connector in pretty well!
While the Sony Reader isn't really the main focus of this video, its story is a little interesting. Would you be interested in a video exploring the history and downfall of the Reader?
Yes! You got me wondering about it everytime you mentioned it. Actually had to re-listen to the "2 failures in as many sentences" as I wasn't getting the first one... Didn't know they were failures
2019: everyone just repeats the same joke again and again 2019: and again and again and again 2019: and again and again and again 2019: and again and again and again 2019: and again and again and again 2019: and again and again and again 2019: and again and again and again 2019: and again and again and again 2019: and again and again and again 2019: and again and again and again 2019: and again and again and again
Even more hilariously, it ALMOST looks like a sheet of paper. Reminds me of a quip I made on a "evolution of humans" ted talk type thing... the guy starts his proverbial tooting of human evolution's horns by saying "It took thousands of years for humans to walk out of Africa" I said something like "Well if ever you thought mankind is the most advanced creature on the planet, just remember it took us thousands of years to walk out of Africa" lol
I am already doing it to manga. I even have a script/ code that transforms the single pictures of a manga to an epub. It works suprisingly well for some, but every now and then when there is a double page it fails greatly. You can not even read what is written there originally, because it gets pushed on such a narrow display.
Thats actually a brilliant idea although I think it would be even better to have a sort of e-ink notebook. Like an iPad in terms of touch but using e-ink. An infinite notebook I guess. I'd pay good money for one
@@xaviafh7269 I don't see a problem with that. The games just have to be suitable for the purpose. Here's a list of some games that could work just fine on an E-ink display: Tic-Tac-Toe Chess (And any other board game really, i am going to list a few others just because i thought of them but any board game would work just fine) Tetris (to some extent) Sudoku Go Drawing charades Maze solving Hangman (with OCR) ... Any other pen and paper game.
@@Lardum And you have to pause the video because you're laughing, even though you're not sure whether you should be laughing, and you go back and watch again and laugh again anyway.
I always had an idea of how an etch-a-sketch worked, I just thought it was a silver colored sand inside it and I always thought it used static electricity somehow to make it stick to the viewing pane.
I've never seen an Etch-a-Sketch and to tell the truth it does look rather ... hard to make any use of whatsoever. The UI is too clunky. When my sis was little (late 80s) she used to have something kinda similar, but without the buttons. Instead of a powder there was some kind of black goo in between the hard back and the flexible front (some thick clear plastic film) so you could draw on that think by applying the pointed side of the tool that came with the "tablet" and push the goo away to reveal the rainbow painted slab and when you became bored with the picture, you'd just use the flat side to spread the goo all over the slab. Nowadays there seem to be some magnetic boards that apparently work on a totally different principle. This was purely mechanical.
i've never seen an etch a sketch until i was a teenager but i grew up with a magnetic tablet (? not sure what to call it) that works pretty similar to e-ink, the cells are just a lot larger lol
Wow I can’t believe Lenovo made your idea! Exactly how you segested! If you haven’t already check out the new half e ink laptop they revealed at CES it’s definitely worth a look. Thanks for the great videos. This is got to be one of my favourite channels.
@@ShradeCorelancer.Yeah, but it was a thing a few years ago. I remember my PSP needing one of those overpriced MemoryStick Pro DUO. Things didn't get much better with the infamous PSP Go nor the PS Vita
As long as I've known about e-ink I've always wanted an e-poster or some sort of big electronic photo display. It's the perfect application. A pretty picture that changes every day. A calendar that updates itself. Maybe even giant warning signs for alarms. Oh, I just thought of this. A push button office door sign. Like "out of office" be back in 1 hour. basically I think we should move this technology away from electronic devices and more towards everyday electronic signage and art.
Yeah, to me the potential of E-Ink is not necessarily in spamming out millions of handheld E-Ink devices, as nice as those are. It's in posters, advertising and flyers, mall maps, calendars, signs, desks... As innovation and development goes, you don't need lightning-fast refresh rate or fancy colours, you just need a cheap way to make a _lot_ of E-Ink surface.
It would still need to periodically refresh to avoid burn-in, so it would drain some power. I don't know whether it's enough to worry about, and I imagine you could make displays that refresh more slowly but are less subject to burn-in, saving power.
You described my first experience with an e-reader. Right down to being at Borders, thinking it was a display unit, and being blown away when the buttons actually worked.
When I first got a Kindle, around 10 years ago, and anybody asked me how it worked (with such low power consumption and not heating up) I explained that the screen was just like a high-tech Etch-a-Sketch, moving tiny physical elements around instead of projecting light.
I'm sad that this late comment is going to be lost among all the others, but E-Ink Corporation opened an office in Cambridge that was formerly an office for an elevator company. The building had just a single floor. And elevator company, with a single floor. True story.
So the elevator company got in on the ground floor but still had ups and downs? 40 years ago I worked on elevators in an 8 story 40+ year old industrial building in NYC and sometimes rode on top of the cars when working on them. My job definitely had ups and downs.
Yeah, I remember taking apart an etch-a-sketch as a kid and making a giant fucking mess. Didn't help that I used a hammer and screw driver to pry it apart.
Etch-a-Sketch doesn't, but some competitors do work with magnets. Look up "magnetic drawing board" - their screen is a grid of hexagons and it comes with a magnetic pen
Towards the late 2000s & early 2010s Sony began to utilize SD cards on their products, many are hybrid card readers that takes Memory Stick or SD cards. The Sony DSC-TX7 Cyber-shot digital camera from 2010 is one of those products.
okay that joke was too well edited. iu watch this show for the in depth analysis on stuff but i gotta say the well timed humor, though often very dry, is absolutely perfect XD
1. The e-ink development mainly focused on increasing the contrast and resolution. Now, e-ink produces 300 dpi screens. 2. e-ink screens development is surely hindered by patents. Actually, E-ink inc. is the ONLY manufacturer of e-ink screens because of this. That's why, all the high-end readers are literally the same when it comes to screen quality. Only software and lighting differentiates them. That's why I ended up with cheap, chinese Onyx reader. The screen was the same as in then current Paperwhite and it cost only 1/3 as much. 3. Paperwhite uses a bunch of LEDs that are on the sides of the screen, so then the light bounces off it and goes to our eyes, it's actually way less straining that direct light (and latest models can vary the temperature if the light). 4. If you'd want to try out e-ink as screen, you might want to try Onyx Boox Max2. It has HDMI input so you can use it as a PnP monitor. I'd say it's enough if you want to do some text processing. 5. On the topic of low-power, reflective screens, Qualcomm had a promising concept a few years back. It was called Mirasol and while it's colours were a bit dull, it's response time was low enough to watch videos and enjoy smooth animations. I think there was a smartwatch that used it (I don't remember if it was ever launched).
@@Innomen you cant compare the boox max 2 to a paperwhite... Dude this device has like tripple the size of a paperwhite and a dozen other features a paperwhite can only dream of. The author obviously meant one of the cheaper models, which are prizey. (Probably not a third of a paperwhite, but far from 800 bucks)
This channel is amazing. I'm learning so much. I've hit a rough patch and quit my environmental engineering job for mental reasons. I feel like I can't do anything. But viewing this keeps me interested and curious in science. I'm inspired. Thank you so much for this.
My local transit network recently starting adding e-ink screens at larger stations with ride information and waiting time for the next train/bus. Kind of cool to see and handy if you don't have a smartphone.
This is actually the first time I've ever heard of e-ink, I always thought e-readers used LCD screens, because I've never seen one up close, nor paid attention to their display behavior at angles.
BUT I remember watching Fight Club for the first time - and it was on an LCD e-reader! One of the best movie experiences, regardless of how awful it sounds :D Re-watched in the cinema later ofc.
that technology is hopefully in development somewhere. I've never cn anything that could potentially do that. They should start by adding a bit of color to the kindle
Comic books, magazines, textbooks, lots of great applications when that tech becomes practical and profitable. I've seen e-readers that double as digital notetaking devices, so I imagine they'd take advantage of a color palette too.
See video title "Exploring the World of E-Ink". Think, who the heck would want to watch a video about E-Ink?! Realise its Technology Connections. Watch video about E-Ink.
@@auntieaoife I agree. But in 2019 I'm struggling to see E-Ink as "cool" :-) Only a few UA-camrs could make a topic that might have been cool a good few years ago interesting to watch. Technology Connections is pretty much top of that list :-)
It amazes me how good he is at presenting technical stuff in such an entertaining way with so much facts! even if I know exactly how something works and why and what not, I still watch the video because it is so awesome
I still love my trusty old sony prs-t1. E-ink rocks for reading books or papers. The technology might be pretty well known by now, but you can still amaze a lot of people who have never seen it in person ;).
I'm always amazed at the condition of his hardware! I don't think I ever had a week old Casio watch that was in as good a condition as his decades old Casio displayed @4:17
I own a Kobo Aura 2 and it's honestly the best device I've ever bought. I used to hate reading until a friend showed me her e-reader. Turns out all I needed was a uniform page terrain level and the ability to change font and font size.
I grew up reading books, all the books I could get my hands on, and yet I still vastly prefer electronic displays. They're just more comfortable (when adjusted properly).
@@eekee6034 For me, it was reaching bookshelf critical mass. There was just no more room! My starter was a Kobo Mini, and then moved onto my Nia just recently.
I’m so interested in these! After a bad concussion last year, I can’t stand to be on regular phone/computer/TV screens long without intense eye and head pain. LCD screens basically strobe at such a fast rate that it isn’t consciously perceptible, but it causes problems for post concussion and epileptic folks. I think having an e ink monitor would help me immensely
adaptive refresh screens on newer phones might help you out - most flagships have them now, even just regular high refresh rate screens *may* be a leg up - basically all flagship phone screens and many budget ones as well, easy to come by for monitors as well (usually marketed for gamers, and generally range from 90Hz to 244Hz) note that CRTs have super high refresh rates so that might be something. these might not be fast enough for you or you may be referring to the actual flickering from the switch mode power supply, in which case these don't help I definitely notice the flickering too when it's been a few days since I slept, I think in those instances it is just the refresh rate, unfortunately I also notice the 50Hz flicker of the shitty industrial lights in our exam hall which is quite detrimental to academic performance (but so is insomnia and being a lazy fuck)
I get migraines, and screens will set them off when other trigger factors are stacking up (storms, sleep/eating irregularities, etc.). I have an e-ink Kindle, and have always wanted a e-ink monitors. For me, the trigger has to do with the backlighting -it's related to another light trigger for me, which is overhead lighting that shines down into my eyes at a particular angle (I've only met one other person who has that same overhead light angle trigger, but it's nice to know it's not just me!). E-ink is far more comfortable on the eyes and would be great to have for work!
@@jms9057 I don't get migraines from it - or at least I don't stick around long enough for them to happen - but that kind of overhead lighting is super irritating from me. it's a lot worse now with all these idiots replacing their bulbs with downlights to be 'chic' or something. It's like it's refracting off of your pupil and there's a haze in front of everything. e-ink displays are definitely more 'natural', because your eyes were meant to perceive the way light reflects off of matte opaque objects, not have coloured LED light fired at them
@@rolls_8798 "CRTs have super high refresh rates" What? No they don't. They're probably much worse in terms of flicker, too. And this has already been pointed out, but as far as I know LCDs transition directly from one color to another (without an intermediate phase that one could call a 'strobe'). So if an LCD appears to flicker it would have to be the backlight doing it, probably an old pre-LED one. I suppose LED backlights probably do in fact flicker because of the way dimming is implemented, but the frequency would be much higher than 50 Hz, to the point that I wouldn't expect it to be noticeable under any circumstances.
13:47 "Supposedly, E-Ink Holdings has developed a full-color display, but I'm not aware of any applications of it." Dude. DUDE. Comic Book E-Readers!! SOMEBODY BUY THE RIGHTS!!
My thing with comic books has always been how thin they were, I would love to be able to just read volume after volume on an e reader. I'm surprised none of the comic book companies would think of this
Dude, never never ever stop making videos, one day, people on Mars will have to learn why they don't use beta cassette to record their Marstube videos.
I haven't even finished watching the video but can't help but underline the shots a little after 03:00. The very cinematic travellings while showing the quality of the device's display is pure genius. I can already tell you I'll replay the clip as soon as I get to the end. To quote Jim/valerie: thank God for you.
Still sell it? It's not even a year old, of course they still sell it :P Seriously though, the Yoga Book series is great, I have the first generation at home myself, and would definitely get the new one if they were to make a lower spec version as I use it mostly for note taking, the e-ink display works wonderfully on these kinds of devices.
Indeed; I hadn't heard of it before, so thank you for letting us know about it! It's got an interesting configuration, but I'm definitely not ready to give up my actual keyboard (at least not yet) www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/yoga/yoga-c-series/Yoga-Book-C930/p/ZZIWZWBYB1J www.pcmag.com/review/363331/lenovo-yoga-book-c930
I just absolutely appreciate your videos - so bloody well-informed a man you are, and your videos are so rich in content, appropriate intelligent humor, and a very clever flow of topics and word structures. Just as you said, "...8 shades of grey..." I immediately thought about the "50 Shades Trilogy" and knew you were going to make that joke. I loved it!
A company called Dasung make e-ink computer monitors, black and white though but for office work they're a godsend for the eyes. The paperlike 3 runs at a fairly impressive 2200x1650 too! Hella expensive though
Yeah, $1000 for a 13.3” black & white monitor, even if it is e-ink that is "fast nearly as LCD", is a bit more than I can stomach :-( dasungtech.com/english/detail/id/223
@@im.empimp It seems there is a problem of licensing fees behind e-ink for being affordable on large panels. Also guys, don't forget that the OS and the applications themselves should be adapted to such a low refresh rate technology. All the UI must be thought around that.
15:19 Lol, It almost feels like Lenovo listened xd. This year they anoucend Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Twist with one OLED display and one E-ink that can be rotated. Check it out
Some products that might interest you: the largest Onyx Book Devices (I think the MAX2 or something) have got an micro HDMI input, thus it can be used as a monitor. Also, the new Lenovo Yoga Book C930 has got a combination of EInk and normal display just like you mentioned. Last but not least, there is something arising in the microsoft surface lineup. Im not quite sure, but I think they patented some EInk stuff or did show early concepts or sth. Anyways, great video, thanks.
Just saw your post my friend - wasn't trying to step on your toes with my similar post - above - I am tragically late to any/all/every party for the better part of 700 days running now....clearly you were aware of this before me, and, as such, are absolutely entitled to all of the glory and respect associated with such feats. I defer to your most impressive techweb spider algorithms. . -s
@@tabbertmj I tried one. It's impressive but doesn't work well enough for the price. For me, the main problem was that the haptic feedback didn't feel like keys at all. I used the previous version with some odd glass display, which was just weird, in a bad way.
Could you imagine an e-ink based linux distro. If you want a mostly text based OS as a writer or something and have the monitor he asked for that would be really cool especially from a productivity standpoint
@@markkeilys You could check out the hemmingwrite (sorry, freewrite now) if you can stomach the 500$ price tag - or you could do what I did and finagle a keyboard onto a rooted Nook Glowlight, one of the few e-readers that natively runs android (and the only one that's not stupid expensive.) But even just typing, the refresh rate issue is still a problem, and I bet the freewrite is worse; even with the nook's experimental 'fast refresh' modes enabled through tweaking, I can barely type at half-speed if I want to see my words appear as I hit keys. Honestly, if you're interested in a decent electric word-processor, I'd suggest investigating the alphasmart. It's dated, but really amazingly well made for it's time. LCD screen and membrane keyboard, sure, but lighter and faster and much, much cheaper.
most ereaders are already linux, the issue is whether they're open enough to run custom software. kobos are, kindles depend strongly on the model and firmware version.
Me: Deletes Amazon emails with the word "Kindle" in the subject line. also Me: Watches this video, and learns something new and amazing. (I had NO idea!)
I had the same exact feeling when I saw a Kindle for the 1st time, that it was some type of "printed cover" until the salesman showed me how to "swipe" pages... and I bought it right away (yeah).
Man, I really love these displays. I wish they were able to make monitors like this to, but sadly the speed is just to slow. "Eye abusing glowing rectangle", that is a good way to sum up current monitor technology.
My name is Richard Taylor I have been camera crew all my working life I am 67 years old. One of my credits was the original Max Headroom film and used to be the Camera Tutor at the British National Film School. I say all of this only to validate that I have never heard a better description and presentation of my craft/ art. Thank you. Richard Taylor D.O.P.
I remember I tought you were a goofball like three years ago when I first stumbled upon one of your videos, but now I can't stop watching, damn. Keep it up
7:50 the positively charged black particles are indeed for more contrast! They dont react as strongly to the field as the white TD particles, so a weak charge gives you a grayish particle mix but a strong charge gets whiter.
Your erudite and engaging commentary is great of course, and your dry wit is a pleasure. But this video also showcased your talent for minimalist visual gags at its best, the shot of you staring at the screen was extremely funny.
And here we are in 2023 where I can easily buy a full color e-ink display, there's a laptop that's been announced with a 12 Hz e-ink panel on the back of the display, and you can even buy full size plug-and-play e-ink monitors though they're extremely expensive.
8:43 electrophoretic(adj.) = "carried" (dragged) by electricity. Chromophor(noun) = color-carrying 10:47 That was savage !!! In a bad way, mind you !!! 50-shades-of-grey... An e-ink-pc-monitor would be a blessing (albeit too slow for movies), and cheap and energy-efficient too! But who cares for movies (???), we have work to do !!!
As someone who plays a lot of video games, I really want to see what interactive media can do visuals-wise when you introduce electrowetting screens into the mix. Something like _Dishonored 2_ with its "painting in motion" visual style looking like an _actual painting_ would be a dream come true. Being able to play with lighting using a mix of matte and backlit sections of your screen could open a lot of creative doors.
YEEES, been looking forward to the video covering E-ink screens!! YAAAs! I´ve been Using Kobo E-reader for YEARS now. And they even Have Pocket, so i can save any site or post to it for offline use, or use it online for social media.
There was a technology/company about a decade ago called Pixel Qi that had LCD screens that looked like e-ink and also had colour (though it was muted) but they went out of business.
Yeah, it was a transflective LCD that used ambient light instead of a backlight to illuminate the pixels. Mary Lou Jepsen used to work a lot in the display industry and she figured out how to remove the polarizers and still have a decently workable display. I think she did actually manufacture a few Raspberry Pi display kits at one time. Wonder what venture that brilliant lady is doing these days?
This is the display that was used in Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) machine. It was amazing. Basically a daylight readable black and white display when outside, which supported color when you are inside and use the backlight. I have always wanted another computer with this display, or even a normal monitor that I could flip to the transreflective non-backlit mode for coding and reading.
I remember having this Sony reader. It was amazing and I don't think anything was even comparable at the time. It would have been amazing to see how this technology progressed. Imagine the battery life of laptops and how thin it would have been. I do remember the conceptualized color e-ink, there was also some wrist watches using e-ink.
I'm surprised we don't see more E-Ink. When I first got a Kindle I thought this would be all over the place by now. Guess we have to wait for affordable full colour displays. I'd love to see them replace billboards, LCD signs, digital photo frames, anything which doesn't need a screen refresh every second or less. Hell imagine if they could get the technology ultra flexible and waterproof, you could have t-shirts where you could change the design whenever you felt like it.
If the E-inc holds its image without requiring power then these screens would be almost perfect for various Add Signs / changing road signs / notifications screens in airports etc etc.
Super-markets start to use e-ink displays on their shelves as price tags, as they can easily be updated automatically via wi-fi and even multiple times a day (unless the customers start a riot because the price changed when they went from the shelves to the cashier, so shops are probably a bit cautious to update prices during business hours).
Probably the reason shops use them as centrally changeable price tags. The controller only need to wake up once a day to check for new price (image), and stay in deep sleep rest of the time.
An interesting use I've seen recently is reserved seat indicators on trains in the UK. Prior to these devices, reserved seats were indicated by a physical card being placed onto each seat, which is obviously a time consuming process. Some recently manufactured trains have LCD panels built in to indicate this, but retrofitting an older train with this system just isn't worth it because power cables would need to be run through the carriages. So instead we have self contained units, battery powered and wireless that can just be bolted above each seat. Given the very low power consumption of the eInk displays the batteries in these devices can a long time before needing to be replaced or recharged
@@Nuskrad That's also a good use. In Germany there is a mix of old paper cards and LED displays for the reservations on the trains (depending on how old the train is), but I guess e-ink displays are the best option of those three.
Funnily enough, some applications (such as the notification screens mentioned) used zero-power displays loooong before anyone heard of e-ink (and likely some still use those): tiny magnetic flaps coloured differently on each side, stuck on the end of an electromagnet; each time a pulse of appropriate polarity was applied, the flap could be flipped to show dark or bright side, but it took power only when refreshed - the flaps stayed stuck. These displays are fairly easy to spot through the refresh "wave" they do - their "pixels" understandably aren't refreshed all at the same time...
I have ADHD. And i have literally forgotten to drink water while hyper focusing at work. And have ended up in the ER THREE times with dehydration due to that. So the "smart" water bottle would have come in handy.
@@iwantnod I forgot what it was called but was like the Yodaphone or something? It had an OLED on one side and an e-ink on the other. I believe you couldn't get it in America.
"How about a laptop with an OLED screen in one side and an e-paper color display on the other, and you can just flip it aorund and switch to e-ink?" Me: I'LL TAKE YOUR ENTIRE STOCK!!!
@@iamkapilkalra That's a really interesting laptop! It does have an ebook screen and a 'normal' screen and that has a bunch of uses. The thing that it can't do however is use the e-ink display as a monitor for normal computer functions, since you can't reach the keyboard while using it. It reduces the screen to touch-controls. So not quite what this video advocated for
You might have heard of this by now, but colour e readers exist now! I can still use mine as a regular black and white one for books, but I also love to use it for reading comics and other color documents.
By the way, you can even navigate for hours with the E-Ink screen on battery. I use a Yota phone mounted on the handle bar while cycling long distances. The always on screen is so useful.
LightPhone 2 only uses an e-ink display. It’s still in development, due for release this summer, but it looks amazing and as someone who is trying to reduce my screen time, I’m really looking forward to it. There’s a company based in South Korea I believe that already has an e-ink cell phone in market, but I don’t believe they’ve localized it for English or even have an option for US or European bands.
Funny, the first time I got my hands on an e-reader I had exactly the same reaction as you "that screen is broken, this is a dummy with some printed-on-plastic for a screen replacement". Man was I gaping when I realized that this was the real deal. And then I bought my reader - a Kobo - and I was so awed when the screen already told me what to do to get started. Being switched off. Then ... guiding me. An e-ink manual. And now I have a remarkable2 and it is the first time that I really felt I would not need any of the many pens and papers left in my house from collecting over 30 years.
Believe it or not, there actually IS a laptop with an LCD screen in addition to an e-ink screen; the Lenovo Yoga Book C930. The E-Ink screen replaces the keyboard, though.
That defeats the point of a keyboard, though, IMO. If you don't have tactile dividers between the keys, touch typing accuracy becomes much harder to maintain, because you don't get clear feedback if you start to drift.
It's funny discovering this comment thread a year after the original comment and nobody in the replies has considered that the keyboard is just a pack in feature. External keyboard while utilising both screens is the way to go on that model.
While not the phone you're talking about... I used to use a Samsung Alias 2 (old flip phone), and the physical keyboard for it had e-ink in each of the buttons, so the phone could be opened in either a horizontal or vertical orientation (hinge on one corner) and the keys would change their display accordingly. It also allowed for extra character sets on the keys, and never gave out, even after like 5 years of daily use. I still kinda miss using it. :'(
As an avid reader, getting a kindle was life changing! My book shelves were already two deep, and I could go on holiday without needing extra luggage. I'd love a colour one for the book covers.
13:47: "Supposedly e-ink Hldgs has developed a full-colour display, but I'm not aware of any applications of it." I am. The Ectacto JetBook and related products were... pale, but in colour. Years ago there was talk of their use in the Russian educational market. Not sure if I can post a link but there's an old article called "The Battle of e-Readers in the Russian School System" that covers this. Google it.
I suspect being pale is just a problem with the nature of E-Ink. You would have R, G and B subpixels so if you wanted red for example it would be pale because they only cover a third of the screen. With LCD or Plasma you can get around this by simply pumping more light through it but that would defeat the point of E-Ink somewhat.
@@JimGiant interestingly enough not necessarily, with the panels that produce red and black, the pixels that produce black/white are the same as the ones that produce red, the red particles are bigger, and move slower through the oil than the white ones, so by controlling the timing of it you can make it so either the white or the red ones are the ones on top, and thus the ones you see, or both on bottom and thus black. Might be complicated to generalise that to more colours though Edit: just looked it up, and this does indeed seem to be how this works, the color problems are probably the same as with red displays where some of the wrong pigment stays on top and they look reddish when it's supposed to be white. www.eink.com/electronic-ink.html
I legit spit out my drink when that unexpected 50 shades joke came out. Great video as always. I feel smarter learning stuff i knew nothing about, i kind of feel like buying a reader now. I usually read on my phone or pc, but an actual reader might be better.
God, all I want is a limited version of Google calendar running on an e ink display. Imagine how cool it would be to have a physical callender that you can see and interact with that doesn't light up your room, or take lots of power. Also just the obvious novelty. I think that it is overall simple enough that it could totally work as there really does not have to be many animations. Someone PLEASE make this
This has been brought up _a lot_ so I'd like to pin it up here;
The Pebble smartwatch doesn't actually have an E-ink display. They (rather brazenly) called it an "ePaper" display or something like that, but it was in reality a very low power LCD from Sharp called Memory LCD.
I myself owned a Pebble, and while I loved that thing and wish it still worked (it had the display go wonky), I was disappointed when I received it to find out the screen wasn't actually E-ink like in my Reader. It was a very good LCD, and used barely any power, but it was more like the Casio watch featured in this video; a greyscale LCD with the same viewing angle limitations. The later Pebble Time models simply used a color version of the same display tech, and no E-ink was involved.
i also had a Pebble, really liked it before mine as well went screen wonky :-(
I had and still have mine. I fixed the wonky screen by stuffing the insides with toilet paper. Believe it or not, it holds the loose display connector in pretty well!
@@patemathic curious. Imma have a look into it. Perhaps not toiletpaper but a foam pab. Thanks for the idea!
OK. You realize the bit at the beginning was hilarious and you need to do a roast on ludicrous Kickstarters, right?
There are smarphones like Your dreams laptop. www.e-ink-info.com/e-ink-devices/mobile-phones
While the Sony Reader isn't really the main focus of this video, its story is a little interesting. Would you be interested in a video exploring the history and downfall of the Reader?
Yes! Very much so.
>Would you be interested in a video…
Yes, the answer is always “yes”.
Absolutely
Yes! You got me wondering about it everytime you mentioned it. Actually had to re-listen to the "2 failures in as many sentences" as I wasn't getting the first one... Didn't know they were failures
Another video yay
1950: There will be holographic displays in the future.
2019: This display looks like a regular sheet of paper.
tbf I think they'd be almost as amazed at regular paper displays as they would holographic displays
*2006
2019: everyone just repeats the same joke again and again
2019: and again and again and again
2019: and again and again and again
2019: and again and again and again
2019: and again and again and again
2019: and again and again and again
2019: and again and again and again
2019: and again and again and again
2019: and again and again and again
2019: and again and again and again
2019: and again and again and again
@@nobodynowhere5213 nice one
Even more hilariously, it ALMOST looks like a sheet of paper.
Reminds me of a quip I made on a "evolution of humans" ted talk type thing... the guy starts his proverbial tooting of human evolution's horns by saying
"It took thousands of years for humans to walk out of Africa"
I said something like "Well if ever you thought mankind is the most advanced creature on the planet, just remember it took us thousands of years to walk out of Africa" lol
any e-reader capable of full colour should be made compatable with .cbr format so that it can read comic book files.
This would be heavenly, but I tend to do a lot of zooming. I suppose if the screen was a proper size that wouldn't be an issues.
I am already doing it to manga. I even have a script/ code that transforms the single pictures of a manga to an epub. It works suprisingly well for some, but every now and then when there is a double page it fails greatly. You can not even read what is written there originally, because it gets pushed on such a narrow display.
A lot of new ones have Android OS so you can do pretty much anything with them
I didn't even know there was a separate format for comics... What's the reason?
On my Kindle paperwhite I'm able to put manga by downloading the images, putting them on PDF and they work perfectly on my Kindle.
Man, I would love an e-ink laptop, just for word processing. That'd be a game changer for me.
AYO LEAD HEAD
Thats actually a brilliant idea although I think it would be even better to have a sort of e-ink notebook. Like an iPad in terms of touch but using e-ink. An infinite notebook I guess. I'd pay good money for one
This would be great for Chromebooks.
Just think about playing video games on it lol
@@xaviafh7269 I don't see a problem with that. The games just have to be suitable for the purpose.
Here's a list of some games that could work just fine on an E-ink display:
Tic-Tac-Toe
Chess (And any other board game really, i am going to list a few others just because i thought of them but any board game would work just fine)
Tetris (to some extent)
Sudoku
Go
Drawing charades
Maze solving
Hangman (with OCR)
... Any other pen and paper game.
I love your ability to deliver the funniest lame joke in the middle of an incredibly interesting and informative video
Your sitting there learning a bunch, he tells the joke.
2 seconds later you realize what he said and chuckle
@@Lardum And you have to pause the video because you're laughing, even though you're not sure whether you should be laughing, and you go back and watch again and laugh again anyway.
Ha ha ha ha is weird that I suddenly laughed rather evily and loudly at this moment ??? LOL Ok well then we must all bee a bit nuts .
The dodo joke got a chuckle outta me
He spends so much time with the dry humor, the overt humor hits harder.
That _Fifty Shades_ gag made me laugh aloud. Loved this video, man! ❤️
I thought the point of Fifty Shades gags was being unable to laugh aloud
Shotblur damnit you beat me to it 😂
While it was a good gag, his over-exaggerated laugh was the thing that got me.
Came here to say all these things!
@@Shotblur I guess it depends if you are the gagger or gaggee
"actually, what's to stop the display of showing 50 shades of grey, amirite? HA HAA"
I loled
caio rib same 😂
The joke is so bad it's funny
his laugh made me do the air coming out of nose maneuver
The way it cuts off is perfect.
I saw it coming, why do I have to laugh at jokes before they're made?
This video legitimately taught me how an Etch-a-Sketch works.. a decade late but I'm so excited!!!
I always had an idea of how an etch-a-sketch worked, I just thought it was a silver colored sand inside it and I always thought it used static electricity somehow to make it stick to the viewing pane.
@Southern Soul same
The name makes so much more sense now! Etch-a-Sketch scratching the picture into place, by removing, not adding. Fascinating!
I've never seen an Etch-a-Sketch and to tell the truth it does look rather ... hard to make any use of whatsoever. The UI is too clunky.
When my sis was little (late 80s) she used to have something kinda similar, but without the buttons. Instead of a powder there was some kind of black goo in between the hard back and the flexible front (some thick clear plastic film) so you could draw on that think by applying the pointed side of the tool that came with the "tablet" and push the goo away to reveal the rainbow painted slab and when you became bored with the picture, you'd just use the flat side to spread the goo all over the slab. Nowadays there seem to be some magnetic boards that apparently work on a totally different principle. This was purely mechanical.
i've never seen an etch a sketch until i was a teenager but i grew up with a magnetic tablet (? not sure what to call it) that works pretty similar to e-ink, the cells are just a lot larger lol
The 'visible in daylight' thing is the best thing about them, in my opinion.
My college uses small e-ink screens next to each door to display and automatically update the room schedule for classes. It's really cool.
Can you post any photos of that? That sounds like a really ideal application of e-ink displays
GambitsEnd In prettty sure target and Best Buy uses them too for price changes.
Thats awesome.
In an area I used to work at, the bus stops had these displays for when the next bus was coming
I'm pretty sure the tiny time tables at the bus stops in my city are e-ink too. Super neat.
10:48 That 50 Shades of Grey pun made me fall out of my chair laughing. That maniacal laugh was very well edited.
Gaand tooti majja aaya
@Someone Far go see a doctor
Same! LOL
with the quick cut to next scene, it's just perfect.
I loled
Wow I can’t believe Lenovo made your idea!
Exactly how you segested! If you haven’t already check out the new half e ink laptop they revealed at CES it’s definitely worth a look. Thanks for the great videos. This is got to be one of my favourite channels.
thats so cool
i didn't realize this video is from 3 years ago and i thought he was joking about it, this is hilarious lmao
@@a.lollipopOff topic, but cute profile pic!!
10:54 lol
Surprised no one noticed this yet lol
I knew it was coming....
But I laughed so hard! XD
I really hope the only reason he got the book was to make the joke
I can’t believe that they didn’t call that book 69 shades of grey.
That laugh though...
I had the exact same reaction the first time I handled a store display model. "Oh why do they put these cardboa... WHAT WIZARDRY IS THIS??"
Same
Witchcraft!
When I saw it I thought there was a piece of paper behind the screen 😂
tree-wizadry mixed with velocitation, of course. In the words of the most noble sage, Dave Chapelle, "sometimes...well, sometimes, you gotta race...."
I knew an e-ink engineer, that brought prototype e-readers home with him. I'm still amazed by them.
The strangest thing about the Sony reader for me was the fact, that it supports actual SD cards and isn't limited to various flavors of MemoryStick
MemoryStick Pro DUO
@@ddnava96 nah theres a sd adapter to that. sony already gave up this battle that huawei just started again
@@ShradeCorelancer.Yeah, but it was a thing a few years ago. I remember my PSP needing one of those overpriced MemoryStick Pro DUO. Things didn't get much better with the infamous PSP Go nor the PS Vita
Wow! They must actually want it to succeed
@@ShradeCorelancer what? Do they take M2 cards?
As long as I've known about e-ink I've always wanted an e-poster or some sort of big electronic photo display. It's the perfect application. A pretty picture that changes every day. A calendar that updates itself. Maybe even giant warning signs for alarms.
Oh, I just thought of this. A push button office door sign. Like "out of office" be back in 1 hour. basically I think we should move this technology away from electronic devices and more towards everyday electronic signage and art.
Yeah, to me the potential of E-Ink is not necessarily in spamming out millions of handheld E-Ink devices, as nice as those are. It's in posters, advertising and flyers, mall maps, calendars, signs, desks... As innovation and development goes, you don't need lightning-fast refresh rate or fancy colours, you just need a cheap way to make a _lot_ of E-Ink surface.
It would still need to periodically refresh to avoid burn-in, so it would drain some power. I don't know whether it's enough to worry about, and I imagine you could make displays that refresh more slowly but are less subject to burn-in, saving power.
@@EebstertheGreat Could a PV strip (as seen in 'solar' calculators) reclaiming ambient light be sufficient to run the refreshes?
@@MushVPeets Seems likely to me. It would turn off in darkness, which is fine, because you can't see it in darkness anyway.
/screams in patent
I’d love an epaper wall calendar- perfect application.
🧠🧠🧠
That’s actually genius
Thats actually an amazing business idea,
Joan Board.
You described my first experience with an e-reader. Right down to being at Borders, thinking it was a display unit, and being blown away when the buttons actually worked.
The burst of laughter after fifty shades of grey joke absolutely killed me. Good stuff as always
When I first got a Kindle, around 10 years ago, and anybody asked me how it worked (with such low power consumption and not heating up) I explained that the screen was just like a high-tech Etch-a-Sketch, moving tiny physical elements around instead of projecting light.
Eric Kleefeld, fantastic explanation
I'm sad that this late comment is going to be lost among all the others, but E-Ink Corporation opened an office in Cambridge that was formerly an office for an elevator company. The building had just a single floor. And elevator company, with a single floor. True story.
lol-awesome comment!
omg
Their business had its ups and downs....
So the elevator company got in on the ground floor but still had ups and downs? 40 years ago I worked on elevators in an 8 story 40+ year old industrial building in NYC and sometimes rode on top of the cars when working on them. My job definitely had ups and downs.
Maybe that's why they moved and gave it to a more flat product business.
I was today years old when I learned that an Etch-a-Sketch doesn’t draw with a magnet and now the name makes so much more sense.
But there are some working with a pen and magnets
Yeah, I remember taking apart an etch-a-sketch as a kid and making a giant fucking mess. Didn't help that I used a hammer and screw driver to pry it apart.
@@holocaust_2.0 that aluminum dust is probably still hanging out in certain places
Though a Magna Doodle does; which uses a tech somewhat similar to e-ink displays.
Etch-a-Sketch doesn't, but some competitors do work with magnets. Look up "magnetic drawing board" - their screen is a grid of hexagons and it comes with a magnetic pen
Wait... A Sony product that didn't use a Memory Stick but an SD Card?
My PRS-600, the first touchscreen model (which has crap contrast due to it being an overlay on the screen) has both MS and SD.
Yes it has a slot for each.
@@TechnologyConnections WHAT
Towards the late 2000s & early 2010s Sony began to utilize SD cards on their products, many are hybrid card readers that takes Memory Stick or SD cards. The Sony DSC-TX7 Cyber-shot digital camera from 2010 is one of those products.
Pretty common now the nex line (and most of the consumer cameras)of cameras also accept a sony duo or a sd card, in the same slot.
okay that joke was too well edited. iu watch this show for the in depth analysis on stuff but i gotta say the well timed humor, though often very dry, is absolutely perfect XD
dry/deadpan humor is one of my favorites ... hard to do it right
Dry like a popcorn fart.
1. The e-ink development mainly focused on increasing the contrast and resolution. Now, e-ink produces 300 dpi screens.
2. e-ink screens development is surely hindered by patents. Actually, E-ink inc. is the ONLY manufacturer of e-ink screens because of this. That's why, all the high-end readers are literally the same when it comes to screen quality. Only software and lighting differentiates them. That's why I ended up with cheap, chinese Onyx reader. The screen was the same as in then current Paperwhite and it cost only 1/3 as much.
3. Paperwhite uses a bunch of LEDs that are on the sides of the screen, so then the light bounces off it and goes to our eyes, it's actually way less straining that direct light (and latest models can vary the temperature if the light).
4. If you'd want to try out e-ink as screen, you might want to try Onyx Boox Max2. It has HDMI input so you can use it as a PnP monitor. I'd say it's enough if you want to do some text processing.
5. On the topic of low-power, reflective screens, Qualcomm had a promising concept a few years back. It was called Mirasol and while it's colours were a bit dull, it's response time was low enough to watch videos and enjoy smooth animations. I think there was a smartwatch that used it (I don't remember if it was ever launched).
Good old intellectual property law. Criminalizing innovation for well over a century!
Someone who knows about mirasol !
Where are you finding Onyx Boox at 1/3rd the cost of the Paperwhite? I've finding closer to the opposite as far as the pricing.
@@MrBobaFett for real, the thing is on amazon for 800 freaking bucks.
@@Innomen you cant compare the boox max 2 to a paperwhite... Dude this device has like tripple the size of a paperwhite and a dozen other features a paperwhite can only dream of. The author obviously meant one of the cheaper models, which are prizey. (Probably not a third of a paperwhite, but far from 800 bucks)
This channel is amazing. I'm learning so much. I've hit a rough patch and quit my environmental engineering job for mental reasons. I feel like I can't do anything. But viewing this keeps me interested and curious in science. I'm inspired. Thank you so much for this.
*hears "I would love to have a computer monitor with the physical appearance of paper.*
*instantly hits like button.*
Yes, that'll be revolutionary. No more dark office. No more struggling to see the screen outside. Beach office, forest office...
I was reading this comment exactly as he spoke the words hahaha
+
@RevolutionaryGhost One might even say ghastly!
You have the best avatar in human history.
My local transit network recently starting adding e-ink screens at larger stations with ride information and waiting time for the next train/bus. Kind of cool to see and handy if you don't have a smartphone.
7:05 I recognize that loss edit
Is that loss?
oh my god...
Duuuuuuuude
Not loss
That is totally loss.
This is actually the first time I've ever heard of e-ink, I always thought e-readers used LCD screens, because I've never seen one up close, nor paid attention to their display behavior at angles.
Actually, there are e-readers with common LCD screens. I've never understood their existence.
BUT I remember watching Fight Club for the first time - and it was on an LCD e-reader! One of the best movie experiences, regardless of how awful it sounds :D Re-watched in the cinema later ofc.
@@RockinEnabled What movie?
@@aetimes2 Fight Club. I've written it there.
pigment
PIGMENT
P I G M E N T !
P I G M E N T ! ! ! *MANIACAL LAUGHTER at **10:54*
50 Shades of great humor
i'd be super interested in a full-color e-reader for comic books in full color.
that technology is hopefully in development somewhere.
I've never cn anything that could potentially do that.
They should start by adding a bit of color to the kindle
Comic books, magazines, textbooks, lots of great applications when that tech becomes practical and profitable. I've seen e-readers that double as digital notetaking devices, so I imagine they'd take advantage of a color palette too.
like some kinda of tablet with a colour screen. maybe someday such a device will exist
@@NonsensicalSpudz a tablet with perfect sunlight visibility, no eyestrain, and very low power draw.
@@DarthCiliatus maybe in the future? anyway back to my iPad Pro
See video title "Exploring the World of E-Ink".
Think, who the heck would want to watch a video about E-Ink?!
Realise its Technology Connections.
Watch video about E-Ink.
Can't relate. I'd watch any video on cool technology unless it's HowToBasic.
@@auntieaoife I agree. But in 2019 I'm struggling to see E-Ink as "cool" :-) Only a few UA-camrs could make a topic that might have been cool a good few years ago interesting to watch. Technology Connections is pretty much top of that list :-)
It amazes me how good he is at presenting technical stuff in such an entertaining way with so much facts!
even if I know exactly how something works and why and what not, I still watch the video because it is so awesome
Love geeking out on real geek stuff!
I still love my trusty old sony prs-t1. E-ink rocks for reading books or papers. The technology might be pretty well known by now, but you can still amaze a lot of people who have never seen it in person ;).
several years later, but FINALLY we have an E-ink laptop-LCD combo like you described! it was at CES this year iirc can't remember who made it though
Lenovo ThinkBook Twist
What about the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus that was announced in 2020?
And last year Dasung announced the Paperlike U monitor!
Thank you for providing model name Davidcalhoun
The bloopers at the end are great. It makes you realize how hard he works to create free flowing, professional content.
That Sony Reader is in impeccable condition. Well done!
I'm always amazed at the condition of his hardware!
I don't think I ever had a week old Casio watch that was in as good a condition as his decades old Casio displayed @4:17
Still have 2 of these in perfect condition. I do miss the buttons.
I own a Kobo Aura 2 and it's honestly the best device I've ever bought. I used to hate reading until a friend showed me her e-reader. Turns out all I needed was a uniform page terrain level and the ability to change font and font size.
I grew up reading books, all the books I could get my hands on, and yet I still vastly prefer electronic displays. They're just more comfortable (when adjusted properly).
@@eekee6034 For me, it was reaching bookshelf critical mass. There was just no more room! My starter was a Kobo Mini, and then moved onto my Nia just recently.
I’m so interested in these!
After a bad concussion last year, I can’t stand to be on regular phone/computer/TV screens long without intense eye and head pain.
LCD screens basically strobe at such a fast rate that it isn’t consciously perceptible, but it causes problems for post concussion and epileptic folks.
I think having an e ink monitor would help me immensely
adaptive refresh screens on newer phones might help you out - most flagships have them now, even just regular high refresh rate screens *may* be a leg up - basically all flagship phone screens and many budget ones as well, easy to come by for monitors as well (usually marketed for gamers, and generally range from 90Hz to 244Hz)
note that CRTs have super high refresh rates so that might be something.
these might not be fast enough for you or you may be referring to the actual flickering from the switch mode power supply, in which case these don't help
I definitely notice the flickering too when it's been a few days since I slept, I think in those instances it is just the refresh rate, unfortunately I also notice the 50Hz flicker of the shitty industrial lights in our exam hall which is quite detrimental to academic performance (but so is insomnia and being a lazy fuck)
good monitors (especially with LED backlight) don't flicker. Refresh rate is not about strobing at all.
I get migraines, and screens will set them off when other trigger factors are stacking up (storms, sleep/eating irregularities, etc.). I have an e-ink Kindle, and have always wanted a e-ink monitors. For me, the trigger has to do with the backlighting -it's related to another light trigger for me, which is overhead lighting that shines down into my eyes at a particular angle (I've only met one other person who has that same overhead light angle trigger, but it's nice to know it's not just me!). E-ink is far more comfortable on the eyes and would be great to have for work!
@@jms9057 I don't get migraines from it - or at least I don't stick around long enough for them to happen - but that kind of overhead lighting is super irritating from me. it's a lot worse now with all these idiots replacing their bulbs with downlights to be 'chic' or something. It's like it's refracting off of your pupil and there's a haze in front of everything.
e-ink displays are definitely more 'natural', because your eyes were meant to perceive the way light reflects off of matte opaque objects, not have coloured LED light fired at them
@@rolls_8798 "CRTs have super high refresh rates" What? No they don't. They're probably much worse in terms of flicker, too.
And this has already been pointed out, but as far as I know LCDs transition directly from one color to another (without an intermediate phase that one could call a 'strobe'). So if an LCD appears to flicker it would have to be the backlight doing it, probably an old pre-LED one. I suppose LED backlights probably do in fact flicker because of the way dimming is implemented, but the frequency would be much higher than 50 Hz, to the point that I wouldn't expect it to be noticeable under any circumstances.
13:47 "Supposedly, E-Ink Holdings has developed a full-color display, but I'm not aware of any applications of it."
Dude.
DUDE.
Comic Book E-Readers!! SOMEBODY BUY THE RIGHTS!!
He meant he's not aware of anyone who has applied it yet, not that there are no potential applications.
@@IceMetalPunk It's not 'what he meant', it's exactly what he said; ''applications OF it'', he didn't say 'applications FOR it'.
The perfect MANGA Reader also!!!!!!!!
@@Clara_Page Most manga is printed in black and white, is it not
My thing with comic books has always been how thin they were, I would love to be able to just read volume after volume on an e reader. I'm surprised none of the comic book companies would think of this
Dude, never never ever stop making videos, one day, people on Mars will have to learn why they don't use beta cassette to record their Marstube videos.
evolor now I wanna see martian cassette porn.
I read that way too fast
10:50 - Terrible, completely awful, joke, literally the worst.
Exceptionally fantastic delivery :P
You mean literaturely the worst? :)
Completely agree. I did not see that coming and it had me laughing for several seconds.
damnit...i laughed again.
The massive overbearing laugh suddenly cutting off for him to instantly go back to talking normally is comedy gold
I read this comment. I knew there was a stinker coming. It *still* got me!
I haven't even finished watching the video but can't help but underline the shots a little after 03:00. The very cinematic travellings while showing the quality of the device's display is pure genius. I can already tell you I'll replay the clip as soon as I get to the end.
To quote Jim/valerie: thank God for you.
subbed for the 50 shades of grey :') genius!
10:45 😂 his laugh
After getting used to his stonefaced deadpan delivery that laugh was too funny
I had to pause at that point for a bit. That was so great.
@@Blubb5000 Same lol
E-paper would be perfect for outdoor advertising and signs on the airport, especially multilingual signs.
Car License plates would be another use.
@@nerychristian Why would a car license need to change?
It would be fantastic for price/product signs on shelves as well
Until it gets dark.
Some stores already use a simmilar thing for advertising inside their building. Not sure if I have seen it outdoors before.
Few things in this world are better than Alec laughing at his own jokes. This made my week 😂
all I want, really, is a good-size e-ink display for the raspberry pi. it'd be nice to turn one of my keyboards into a dedicated word processor
Yes, this would be amazing to have.
Search ebay: Waveshare 7.5 inch E-Ink display HAT SPI e-paper for Raspberry Pi 3B+ two color
you might find the constant flashing for every letter you type off putting.
@@christophermorin9036 if it's coded right only the parts that change would need to flash.. basicly it would be an old-styile block cursor
@@fernarias You may find even 10 inches one of the same brand!
I first encountered E-Ink at EPCOT's InnoVentions pavilion in the 90's, meaning this topic is the Most Technology Connections Thing I think
Lenovo already did the E-Ink laptop think. The Lenovo Yoga Book C930. I haven't tried it myself, but I think they still sell it.
Still sell it? It's not even a year old, of course they still sell it :P
Seriously though, the Yoga Book series is great, I have the first generation at home myself, and would definitely get the new one if they were to make a lower spec version as I use it mostly for note taking, the e-ink display works wonderfully on these kinds of devices.
Indeed; I hadn't heard of it before, so thank you for letting us know about it!
It's got an interesting configuration, but I'm definitely not ready to give up my actual keyboard (at least not yet)
www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/yoga/yoga-c-series/Yoga-Book-C930/p/ZZIWZWBYB1J
www.pcmag.com/review/363331/lenovo-yoga-book-c930
I messed around with one at a best buy. Interesting concept, but they replaced the keyboard to do it, making it useless for any typing in the process
Came here to say the same ua-cam.com/video/TWFtQoTKn2I/v-deo.html
The eink is only use on the keyboard, cuz only b/w and response time doesn't matter
I just absolutely appreciate your videos - so bloody well-informed a man you are, and your videos are so rich in content, appropriate intelligent humor, and a very clever flow of topics and word structures. Just as you said, "...8 shades of grey..." I immediately thought about the "50 Shades Trilogy" and knew you were going to make that joke. I loved it!
Hey, there's a good reason to have an electronically controlled teapot, and that is to return HTTP 418 and mean it.
This comment is really underrated
Hear, hear!
just dont make coffee in it
Friendship ended with engineerguy
Now Technology Connections is my best friend
A company called Dasung make e-ink computer monitors, black and white though but for office work they're a godsend for the eyes. The paperlike 3 runs at a fairly impressive 2200x1650 too! Hella expensive though
Yeah, $1000 for a 13.3” black & white monitor, even if it is e-ink that is "fast nearly as LCD", is a bit more than I can stomach :-(
dasungtech.com/english/detail/id/223
3NTR0PY any links for buying that thing? Would love to have one.
@@RiasatSalminSami $1249 on Amazon 🙃
Megabobster thanks for the info.
@@im.empimp It seems there is a problem of licensing fees behind e-ink for being affordable on large panels.
Also guys, don't forget that the OS and the applications themselves should be adapted to such a low refresh rate technology. All the UI must be thought around that.
15:19 Lol, It almost feels like Lenovo listened xd. This year they anoucend Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Twist with one OLED display and one E-ink that can be rotated. Check it out
Some products that might interest you: the largest Onyx Book Devices (I think the MAX2 or something) have got an micro HDMI input, thus it can be used as a monitor. Also, the new Lenovo Yoga Book C930 has got a combination of EInk and normal display just like you mentioned. Last but not least, there is something arising in the microsoft surface lineup. Im not quite sure, but I think they patented some EInk stuff or did show early concepts or sth.
Anyways, great video, thanks.
I saw the Lenovo. It looks interesting but seems buggy. If you run across one in the store, close the lid. Then knock on it twice.
Just saw your post my friend - wasn't trying to step on your toes with my similar post - above - I am tragically late to any/all/every party for the better part of 700 days running now....clearly you were aware of this before me, and, as such, are absolutely entitled to all of the glory and respect associated with such feats. I defer to your most impressive techweb spider algorithms. . -s
@@tabbertmj I tried one. It's impressive but doesn't work well enough for the price. For me, the main problem was that the haptic feedback didn't feel like keys at all. I used the previous version with some odd glass display, which was just weird, in a bad way.
Could you imagine an e-ink based linux distro. If you want a mostly text based OS as a writer or something and have the monitor he asked for that would be really cool especially from a productivity standpoint
huh, A modern electric typewriter... I could get behind that idea.
@@markkeilys You could check out the hemmingwrite (sorry, freewrite now) if you can stomach the 500$ price tag - or you could do what I did and finagle a keyboard onto a rooted Nook Glowlight, one of the few e-readers that natively runs android (and the only one that's not stupid expensive.) But even just typing, the refresh rate issue is still a problem, and I bet the freewrite is worse; even with the nook's experimental 'fast refresh' modes enabled through tweaking, I can barely type at half-speed if I want to see my words appear as I hit keys.
Honestly, if you're interested in a decent electric word-processor, I'd suggest investigating the alphasmart. It's dated, but really amazingly well made for it's time. LCD screen and membrane keyboard, sure, but lighter and faster and much, much cheaper.
most ereaders are already linux, the issue is whether they're open enough to run custom software. kobos are, kindles depend strongly on the model and firmware version.
I've once seen a video of an electronic typewriter from like the 30s that got pursuaded to run linux. that was pretty neat.
Firstly congrats on 300k subs
It would be cool to see an updated form of this now that color e-ink (and even color e-ink computer monitors) are becoming more of a consumer product!
Me: never heard of e-ink, never been interested
also Me: watches an 18-min video on e-ink because it's GREAT
Me: Deletes Amazon emails with the word "Kindle" in the subject line.
also Me: Watches this video, and learns something new and amazing. (I had NO idea!)
"... that's the second failed enterprise in as many sentences."
Aaaaaaaaaaaand subscribed!
Sorry but I don’t get it
@@williamreid6255 There's nothing to get he just has a lame sense of humor
@@mVpkilla93 I think you mean dry or wry humor
If it’s not for you it’s not for you but I at least find it amusing
I had the same exact feeling when I saw a Kindle for the 1st time, that it was some type of "printed cover" until the salesman showed me how to "swipe" pages... and I bought it right away (yeah).
I have a Sony PRS from around 2010 that still works. Used it in college to read papers and anything i could get in pdf. Saved me a ton of money
Man, I really love these displays. I wish they were able to make monitors like this to, but sadly the speed is just to slow.
"Eye abusing glowing rectangle", that is a good way to sum up current monitor technology.
Dasung Paper Like Monitor
My name is Richard Taylor I have been camera crew all my working life I am 67 years old. One of my credits was the original Max Headroom film and used to be the Camera Tutor at the British National Film School. I say all of this only to validate that I have never heard a better description and presentation of my craft/ art.
Thank you.
Richard Taylor D.O.P.
I remember I tought you were a goofball like three years ago when I first stumbled upon one of your videos, but now I can't stop watching, damn.
Keep it up
Still gay af
7:09 I once wasted a good part of a day as a kid meticulously scraping the whole thing to see how it worked, it was pretty amazing.
7:50 the positively charged black particles are indeed for more contrast! They dont react as strongly to the field as the white TD particles, so a weak charge gives you a grayish particle mix but a strong charge gets whiter.
Your erudite and engaging commentary is great of course, and your dry wit is a pleasure. But this video also showcased your talent for minimalist visual gags at its best, the shot of you staring at the screen was extremely funny.
"E ink has developed a full-color e-ink display but there aren't any applications"
Comic book readers and photographers: "Are we a joke to you?"
He meant they weren't used yet.
And here we are in 2023 where I can easily buy a full color e-ink display, there's a laptop that's been announced with a 12 Hz e-ink panel on the back of the display, and you can even buy full size plug-and-play e-ink monitors though they're extremely expensive.
8:43 electrophoretic(adj.) = "carried" (dragged) by electricity. Chromophor(noun) = color-carrying
10:47 That was savage !!! In a bad way, mind you !!! 50-shades-of-grey...
An e-ink-pc-monitor would be a blessing (albeit too slow for movies), and cheap and energy-efficient too! But who cares for movies (???), we have work to do !!!
Your videos are made only more perfect by the wonderfully 1992 theme tune at the end.
I get a 1988 feel, but yea I like it.
I really, really want to find the source for it. I'm assuming it's public domain, but I don't know where to look.
@@OtseisRagnarok one of his videos credits it.
@@OtseisRagnarok Floaters - Jimmy Fontanez
10:52 is the scariest laugh I have EVER heard, I think it's the same one I heard during a stress induced Nightmare...
Never change how you do the audio on your videos, its perfect.
As someone who plays a lot of video games, I really want to see what interactive media can do visuals-wise when you introduce electrowetting screens into the mix. Something like _Dishonored 2_ with its "painting in motion" visual style looking like an _actual painting_ would be a dream come true. Being able to play with lighting using a mix of matte and backlit sections of your screen could open a lot of creative doors.
YEEES, been looking forward to the video covering E-ink screens!! YAAAs!
I´ve been Using Kobo E-reader for YEARS now. And they even Have Pocket, so i can save any site or post to it for offline use, or use it online for social media.
*hits blunt*
-What if we could have books, without the books?
-Woah man.
There was a technology/company about a decade ago called Pixel Qi that had LCD screens that looked like e-ink and also had colour (though it was muted) but they went out of business.
Yeah, it was a transflective LCD that used ambient light instead of a backlight to illuminate the pixels. Mary Lou Jepsen used to work a lot in the display industry and she figured out how to remove the polarizers and still have a decently workable display. I think she did actually manufacture a few Raspberry Pi display kits at one time. Wonder what venture that brilliant lady is doing these days?
DASUNG makes monochrome e-ink monitors but they are not cheap.
This is the display that was used in Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) machine. It was amazing. Basically a daylight readable black and white display when outside, which supported color when you are inside and use the backlight. I have always wanted another computer with this display, or even a normal monitor that I could flip to the transreflective non-backlit mode for coding and reading.
I remember having this Sony reader. It was amazing and I don't think anything was even comparable at the time. It would have been amazing to see how this technology progressed. Imagine the battery life of laptops and how thin it would have been. I do remember the conceptualized color e-ink, there was also some wrist watches using e-ink.
I'm surprised we don't see more E-Ink. When I first got a Kindle I thought this would be all over the place by now. Guess we have to wait for affordable full colour displays. I'd love to see them replace billboards, LCD signs, digital photo frames, anything which doesn't need a screen refresh every second or less. Hell imagine if they could get the technology ultra flexible and waterproof, you could have t-shirts where you could change the design whenever you felt like it.
Another good use would be a foldable map that updates itself based on your location.
Yeah that would be a great idea too.
If the E-inc holds its image without requiring power then these screens would be almost perfect for various Add Signs / changing road signs / notifications screens in airports etc etc.
Super-markets start to use e-ink displays on their shelves as price tags, as they can easily be updated automatically via wi-fi and even multiple times a day (unless the customers start a riot because the price changed when they went from the shelves to the cashier, so shops are probably a bit cautious to update prices during business hours).
Probably the reason shops use them as centrally changeable price tags. The controller only need to wake up once a day to check for new price (image), and stay in deep sleep rest of the time.
An interesting use I've seen recently is reserved seat indicators on trains in the UK. Prior to these devices, reserved seats were indicated by a physical card being placed onto each seat, which is obviously a time consuming process. Some recently manufactured trains have LCD panels built in to indicate this, but retrofitting an older train with this system just isn't worth it because power cables would need to be run through the carriages. So instead we have self contained units, battery powered and wireless that can just be bolted above each seat. Given the very low power consumption of the eInk displays the batteries in these devices can a long time before needing to be replaced or recharged
@@Nuskrad That's also a good use. In Germany there is a mix of old paper cards and LED displays for the reservations on the trains (depending on how old the train is), but I guess e-ink displays are the best option of those three.
Funnily enough, some applications (such as the notification screens mentioned) used zero-power displays loooong before anyone heard of e-ink (and likely some still use those): tiny magnetic flaps coloured differently on each side, stuck on the end of an electromagnet; each time a pulse of appropriate polarity was applied, the flap could be flipped to show dark or bright side, but it took power only when refreshed - the flaps stayed stuck. These displays are fairly easy to spot through the refresh "wave" they do - their "pixels" understandably aren't refreshed all at the same time...
I have ADHD. And i have literally forgotten to drink water while hyper focusing at work. And have ended up in the ER THREE times with dehydration due to that. So the "smart" water bottle would have come in handy.
15:20 Lenovo listened to you with their thinkbook twist. E ink on one side. Twist the screen, and OLED on the other side.
me: **tries to pay attention**
my brain: BIFF'S AUTO DETAILING BIFF'S AUTO DETAILING BIFF'S AUTO DETAILING BIFF'S AU-
You know, I saw the shirt, but until I read your comment I never made the connection to "Back to the Future"
Lenovo has a laptop with an E-ink touch enabled screen as the keyboard, the model is called Yoga Book C930.
It's also kinda terrible.
There are some phone cases with an e-ink display on the side opposite the main screen.
@@jeroldstockdale there are phones with a built-in eInk display on the opposite side.
@@iwantnod I forgot what it was called but was like the Yodaphone or something? It had an OLED on one side and an e-ink on the other. I believe you couldn't get it in America.
@@user-tm3fz7qx3s its Yotaphone. And there is at least another one chinese kinda-knock-off, called Hisense or something, dont remember.
"How about a laptop with an OLED screen in one side and an e-paper color display on the other, and you can just flip it aorund and switch to e-ink?"
Me: I'LL TAKE YOUR ENTIRE STOCK!!!
Umm... Checkout Lenovo's thinkbook plus?
@@iamkapilkalra That's a really interesting laptop! It does have an ebook screen and a 'normal' screen and that has a bunch of uses. The thing that it can't do however is use the e-ink display as a monitor for normal computer functions, since you can't reach the keyboard while using it. It reduces the screen to touch-controls. So not quite what this video advocated for
Already done with mobile and laptops.
I’d like a budget cell phone that uses an e-ink display. I kinda hate how addicting smart phones are and wish for simpler times.
Check out yota phone
You might have heard of this by now, but colour e readers exist now! I can still use mine as a regular black and white one for books, but I also love to use it for reading comics and other color documents.
"That's the second failed enterprise in as many sentences." Laughed way too hard at that one...
YotaPhone has e-ink screen at the back like you said.
Why did I have to scroll so far to find this comment?
Exactly. I'm just a bit sad this idea didn't find wide adoption. In my opinion it'd be a great idea, too, for i.e. passbook like apps.
By the way, you can even navigate for hours with the E-Ink screen on battery. I use a Yota phone mounted on the handle bar while cycling long distances. The always on screen is so useful.
LightPhone 2 only uses an e-ink display. It’s still in development, due for release this summer, but it looks amazing and as someone who is trying to reduce my screen time, I’m really looking forward to it.
There’s a company based in South Korea I believe that already has an e-ink cell phone in market, but I don’t believe they’ve localized it for English or even have an option for US or European bands.
@@johnsnow2809 Got a link for the SK effort?
I got to say, this is one of the greatest thumbnails I've seen around here
Funny, the first time I got my hands on an e-reader I had exactly the same reaction as you "that screen is broken, this is a dummy with some printed-on-plastic for a screen replacement". Man was I gaping when I realized that this was the real deal.
And then I bought my reader - a Kobo - and I was so awed when the screen already told me what to do to get started. Being switched off. Then ... guiding me. An e-ink manual.
And now I have a remarkable2 and it is the first time that I really felt I would not need any of the many pens and papers left in my house from collecting over 30 years.
Believe it or not, there actually IS a laptop with an LCD screen in addition to an e-ink screen; the Lenovo Yoga Book C930. The E-Ink screen replaces the keyboard, though.
That defeats the point of a keyboard, though, IMO. If you don't have tactile dividers between the keys, touch typing accuracy becomes much harder to maintain, because you don't get clear feedback if you start to drift.
That thing is an abomination! The only laptop with a "keyboard" worse than Apple's ultra-thin MacBook Pro keyboards.
What an idiotic concept.
The distance between a great idea and a bad one can be so small sometimes
It's funny discovering this comment thread a year after the original comment and nobody in the replies has considered that the keyboard is just a pack in feature. External keyboard while utilising both screens is the way to go on that model.
I could listen to you talking about technology for hours. Thank you for your content!
Didn't they make a dual-display phone that had e-ink on the front?
YotaPhone
While not the phone you're talking about... I used to use a Samsung Alias 2 (old flip phone), and the physical keyboard for it had e-ink in each of the buttons, so the phone could be opened in either a horizontal or vertical orientation (hinge on one corner) and the keys would change their display accordingly. It also allowed for extra character sets on the keys, and never gave out, even after like 5 years of daily use. I still kinda miss using it. :'(
I think Intel and Lenovo made a Laptop exactly like that!
i have seen some kickstarter computer keyboard with eink keys
@@DJBillyQ That sounds fantastic.
As an avid reader, getting a kindle was life changing! My book shelves were already two deep, and I could go on holiday without needing extra luggage. I'd love a colour one for the book covers.
13:47: "Supposedly e-ink Hldgs has developed a full-colour display, but I'm not aware of any applications of it."
I am. The Ectacto JetBook and related products were... pale, but in colour. Years ago there was talk of their use in the Russian educational market. Not sure if I can post a link but there's an old article called "The Battle of e-Readers in the Russian School System" that covers this. Google it.
goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/the-battle-of-e-readers-in-the-russian-school-system
I suspect being pale is just a problem with the nature of E-Ink. You would have R, G and B subpixels so if you wanted red for example it would be pale because they only cover a third of the screen. With LCD or Plasma you can get around this by simply pumping more light through it but that would defeat the point of E-Ink somewhat.
@@JimGiant interestingly enough not necessarily, with the panels that produce red and black, the pixels that produce black/white are the same as the ones that produce red, the red particles are bigger, and move slower through the oil than the white ones, so by controlling the timing of it you can make it so either the white or the red ones are the ones on top, and thus the ones you see, or both on bottom and thus black. Might be complicated to generalise that to more colours though
Edit: just looked it up, and this does indeed seem to be how this works, the color problems are probably the same as with red displays where some of the wrong pigment stays on top and they look reddish when it's supposed to be white.
www.eink.com/electronic-ink.html
I take it back, awesome link and interesting solution.
You just made me appreciate my kindle just a little bit more. Thank you.
I legit spit out my drink when that unexpected 50 shades joke came out.
Great video as always. I feel smarter learning stuff i knew nothing about, i kind of feel like buying a reader now. I usually read on my phone or pc, but an actual reader might be better.
God, all I want is a limited version of Google calendar running on an e ink display. Imagine how cool it would be to have a physical callender that you can see and interact with that doesn't light up your room, or take lots of power. Also just the obvious novelty. I think that it is overall simple enough that it could totally work as there really does not have to be many animations. Someone PLEASE make this