The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Reusable e-paper rolled out

Held without charge

Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

Green-tastic boffs have created rewritable e-paper with a 300dpi resolution that needs no power to be viewed.

A team of Taiwanese scientists have developed "i2R e-paper", which apparently needs no backlighting and thus uses no electricity.

i2R e-paper

According to Frank Hsiu, a senior official at the Industrial Technology Research Institute in Hsinchu City, the 'tree-saving paper' only requires heat to "store or transmit images onto the flexible display." It can then be erased with a thermal writing device similar to that used in fax machines. Urm... with electricity, no?

As it stands, i2R e-paper can be used up to 260 times.

The Institute has recently passed the tech over to a Taiwanese company and reckons the product could hit markets in a couple of years, where it has potential to be implemented in e-books and electronic billboards.

Meanwhile, I've avidly encouraged reusable e-paper since I was a six year old. It might take half an hour to write what you want to, but nothing beats an Etch-a-Sketch. ®

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

hhhmmm

Are you sure they haven't invented Pencils, Paper and Rubbers?

2
0

reuse "up to" 260 times?

Even once you add in the cost of consumables, the price for (black and white) printing on conventional paper is measured in pennies per sheet. So this stuff had better cost less than a fiver for an A4-sized sheet.

Oh, and what happens after 260 pages that makes it unusable? Is it a case of gradual degradation in quality that becomes unacceptable somewhere between 200 and 300 pages? If so, it will have to be even cheaper still, coz a pad of paper maintains maximum print quality right up to the last sheet.

1
0

Reusably grim

Yeah, no word on reusable toilet paper yet...

1
0

More from The Register

 breaking news
Curtain drops on Apple Store ahead of WWDC: What lies behind?
Steve Jobs watching from on high. No pressure, lads
 breaking news
Cold, dead hands of Steve Jobs slip from iPhones: The Cult of Ive is upon us
Billionaire biz baron's death clears way for uber-shiny iOS 7
Airbus imagines suitcases that find themselves
Point your mobe at your smalls to track their every move
First look: iOS 7 for iPad
No, Apple hasn't released it yet, but that doesn't stop intrepid devs
Surprise! Intel smartphone trounces ARM in power trials
Tests show equal performance while sipping significantly less juice
Apple said to be 'exploring' 5.7-inch iPhone
Who's the copycat this time, Mr. Cook?
Samsung plans LTE Advanced version of Galaxy S4
1Gbps download capability could stiffen drooping S4 sales forecasts
Review: Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock
Missing Mac ports reunited, for a price
 breaking news