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NatSemi to integrate LCDs, solar panels
That's a bright idea
Interesting patents National Semiconductor has registered a patent which will allow LCDs on notebooks and PDAs to be integrated with a solar panel. The patent, No. 5886688, says: "The present apparatus is for use in for example, a personal digital assistant (PDA) laptop computer, person computer, watch or the like, and in one embodiment includes a transparent or semitransparent liquid crystal display disposed over a solar cell array, and in another embodiment includes a transparent or semitransparent solar cell array disposed over a liquid crystal display. In another embodiment, alternate display units and solar cell array units are positioned on a substrate." And while we're talking about solar panels, would anyone care to tell us why we didn't see one single solar panel while we were out there in February, and before that October? ®