Paper goes electric (original) (raw)

EVERY page of every book is a wonder. Each sheet of paper glows white with
reflected light, every letter and dot stands out clearly against the background.
Nothing else has the look or feel of paper, nothing is as versatile, nothing is
simpler.

Or is it? A remarkable new medium could spell the end for old-fashioned
paper. In the US, two groups of researchers—one in California, the other
on the East Coast—have created electronic versions of paper and ink. Like
today’s LCD screens, they display images generated by a computer, but they are
as thin, flexible, portable and crisply readable as paper. Stack these
electronic pages together, flick a switch and you can have any book you want:
Hamlet, the latest John Grisham or the proceedings from the conference
you attended last week. As with any other book, the print and pictures will
remain in place for years without drawing electrical power. The one big
difference is that when you want something else to read, the old text vanishes
and the new replaces it.

From newspapers and magazines to fax machines and advertising hoardings, the
possibilities for electronic paper are endless. Already, posters made from
electronic paper are hanging in a store near Boston. Within a couple of years,
the inventors expect, they will have spread to supermarkets, airports and other
public places. By 2006, the researchers predict that they will have mastered the
subtleties of colour, and electronic paper will begin to replace the displays on
pagers, machinery, calculators, digital clocks and even computer screens. Twenty
years from now your groaning bookshelves could be replaced by a…