PaperTab: A Tablet As Flexible As Paper

Here’s new technology that has implications for book publishers. Developed by researchers at the Human Media Lab (@humanmedialabat Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, the PaperTab showcased at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week.

The PaperTab features a flexible, high-resolution 10.7-inch plastic touchscreen display built by Plastic Logic, and relies on a second-generation Intel Core i5 processor to turn what looks like a sheet of white paper into a living, interactive display.

iTechPost (@iTechPost) says:

In a revolutionary advancement in the history of computing, the device features a high-resolution plastic display that is virtually unbreakable and can be twisted, bent, and dropped on a desk without any damage. Developed by Intel Labs in collaboration with the Human Media Lab at Queen's University in Canada and British firm Plastic Logic, the tablet is powered by the second-generation Intel Core i5 Processor.

Read this in full.

International Business Times (@IBTimes) says:

While the PaperTab is not yet ready for prime time -- the Intel i5 processor is housed in an outside unit, which connects to all of the PaperTabs, as seen in the video provided by Queen's University --  the technology is very promising. Since PaperTab is both lightweight and robust, they can be bent, thrown around and collected, which isn't so easy to do with today's tablets. Intel research scientist Ryan Brotman believes this particular product could be ready "within 5 to 10 years."

Read this in full.

Also see our previous blogpost, “Flexible E-ink Displays are Here.”

How should you adapt your publishing strategy to take advantage of this forthcoming technology?

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1 response
Incredible accomplishment, and it isn't hard to envision scores of possible applications for this technology. Watching the playoff football games this weekend, for instance, I thought how much more useful it would be for the quarterbacks to have a sheet of this material around their wrists, rather than the lists of plays on paper or plastic they use now. With a few punches of a finger, they could analyze defensive schemes and come up with new offensive schemes to counteract them. Teams wouldn't have to wait till halftime to "make adjustments"--the coaches could adjust on the fly and send new schemes in to the quarterback's wrist tablet via mobile technology. 
But the thing that feels way off in this article is the developer's forecast that this technology can be ready for primetime in "five to ten years." How long? That's a lifetime in digital technology. If they aren't ready for primetime with this in two or three years, or less, someone else will beat them to it. 

David Lambert Editorial Director, Somersault www.somersaultgroup.com 616-446-8042