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Column SynopsesFirst paragraph of most recent columns and links to complete texts. For a ten year period (January 1993 -- December 2002), the Display Continuum columns were a regular feature in Information Display magazine, a publication of the Society for Information Display. However, starting with the January 2002 column, the Display Continuum are being published electronically and are available only on this site. Here are recent titles and short excerpts. Complete text is available for each column by clicking on date of choice. July 2008 Are We Forgetting Something?… We have entered the era when “green is in”. The elimination of toxic materials and the savings of energy have become important consumer issues. For us in the display community this trend started rather quietly some years ago with the push to eliminate Lead-based solder in circuit boards. Then someone noticed that CRT glass has Lead in it as well. So even though the Lead is chemically bound up well enough to be used in wine glasses and decanters, with no harm to users, the implication was that somehow this heavy metal could leach out and get into the environment -- and that this too was a “bad thing”. Then we were told that we should eliminate materials such as Cadmium, and more recently Mercury. In all of this earlier modest activity there did not seem to be any great urgency and consumers were certainly not making buying decisions based on which materials – or not – were used in televisions, display monitors, or other display-based products.
June 2008 A Look in the Mirror… This morning I looked into a parallel universe that seemed very much like the one in which we find ourselves. As best I can tell, it’s populated by beings just like us and all the observable features appear to be precise duplicates of what we have here on earth. The large window through which I was looking showed a room just like the one I was in and on the other side looking back at me was someone who I would swear was my identical twin. My twin was able to replicate my every movement and stayed in front of his window for precisely the same amount of time as I stayed in front of mine. The only peculiarity I could detect was that the people in this other universe had their left and right hands mixed up – or maybe I’m the one who didn’t have it quite right. I tried to have a conversation with my other-world twin, but unfortunately I could only see his lips moving. The window into this parallel universe apparently blocks all sound. However, other people who moved in and out of the room I was observing also seemed to have identical twins in the world on my side of this window.
May 2008 So Wrong, and Yet So Famous… Wouldn’t it be great to be able to see into the future? No, I’m not thinking about the fortune-telling kind of predictions, but the more general understanding of how technology will evolve and how our lives will change as a result. From a personal standpoint, this could be beneficial because we would know what to expect and could adjust our behaviors accordingly – or not. From a business standpoint, it could be a significant competitive advantage to know which technologies will succeed and which will struggle. April 2008 The Power of a Story… For even the most ambitious and work motivated among us, there comes a time when reading another technical journal or working on another e-mail becomes simply too much. For me that sometimes happens after a long day of on-site consulting work while taking the last evening flight back to Seattle. The last leg from Denver, or Chicago, back to Seattle can be the toughest part of the entire trip. It is then when one begins to wonder how to spend those last few, exceedingly long, hours. March 2008 Try and Try Again – Part II, In 3D In the January column, we examined two products that seem to be in the “try and try again” category, namely the e-book and the tablet computer. Then recently, I came across an announcement that literally shouts to be added to this category – the formation of a consortium to promote 3D for home entertainment. Can it be? Will we soon be watching TV in our homes in 3D? February 2008 And Then I Got Distracted… It’s the 10th of January and, after a very early morning flight, I am now in Las Vegas. I have joined the roughly 140,000 others to see how much I can see in one day at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. More specifically, I’m here to try to see the latest display product offerings. But I am also here to try to understand why well over a hundred thousand people flock to this event each year. I don’t expect any great surprises, but I do want to make a comparison of the CES with the smaller, but technically more sophisticated, SID Symposium. January 2008 If At First You Don’t Succeed… The traditional version of the saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”. The expectation is, of course, that such persistence will pay off in eventual and well-rewarded success. However, some time ago I heard another version of this saying that is perhaps equally valid, “If at first you don’t succeed, give up -- no sense making a fool of yourself”. December 2007 Speak to Me, Greta… “Keep right, take the next exit, then turn right.” “Thank you, Greta. My apologies that I was in the wrong lane and couldn’t get over in time to make the turn as you instructed.” November 2007 Technology Momentum… One of my memorable experiences from the time I spent in Princeton was standing on the platform at the Princeton Junction train station and watching the Amtrak Metroliner trains come blasting by at full speed. The platform at Princeton Junction is quite close to the tracks so one gets to experience the full effect of a massive locomotive going roughly a hundred miles per hour. The Shinkansen trains in Japan also produce this same sensation of unbridled power as they hurtle through stations just a few inches from the platform. October 2007 Technology Asymptotes… Recently, I read an article about an exploratory effort in Japan by NHK to develop a new higher resolution television system. The NHK Super Hi-Vision system is designed to deliver images with 8K x 4K resolution with a 16:9 aspect ratio. As explained in the article, the objective is to be able to have a 100-inch display and not have the individual pixels be visible from a distance of one meter. Wow! Will we really be able to appreciate such spectacular images given that the current HDTV system is already better than the practical resolution of film images we have become so accustomed to seeing in movie theaters? Pondering this led me to contemplate the broader question of whether there are limits when we no longer have the need or desire to push for further improvements – or perhaps the product is already so good for its intended purpose that we will not pay for anything better. September 2007 Flip Flops... It was an early evening at a major airport somewhere in the continental USA. After a long day of working with a client, I was tired – too tired to do anything else except anticipate getting on the airplane for my flight home. The thought of doing more work-related reading or even something not quite as demanding was, frankly, beyond my capabilities at that moment. Given that condition of mindless weariness, there is not all that much that one can do except sit and wait for boarding time to arrive. Thus, I began to observe the people around me. Some were similarly just sitting and waiting, other aimlessly wandering the concourse, and yet others rushing to try to make a delayed flight connection. August 2007 Modern Conveniences… We are entering a grand new world of intelligent devices. Cars that park themselves, appliances that do everything except insert the food into our mouths, and computers that give us near-instant access to nearly all the world’s knowledge. Who would have thought, even just a few years ago, that we would be able to capture images of wherever we are and whatever we are doing and instantly and effortlessly transmit them to our friends and family. Well, maybe not entirely effortlessly just yet, but that time will also soon be here. The path into the next decade is set for us to be presented with products having ever more intelligence – devices created to do the thinking for us. July 2007 Wearable Electronics… There was a time in the not too distant past when the status symbol for a busy executive was to have a “car phone”. This show of executive prowess was evidenced to the rest of us not-so-important managers by receiving calls from such higher-level executives as they traveled from location to location. Then gradually, in the late ‘80s, the car phone became more common and affordable so that some of the rest of us could also get one as a show of our presumed importance and our need for location-independent communications. June 2007 A World Full of “Features”… I have a cell phone that came with a ninety-page instruction manual. It has a built in camera and lots of sophisticated “features” for storing phone numbers, various shortcuts for dialing, text messaging, and of course taking photos. Of the ninety-pages’ worth of instructions, I regularly use maybe three. For me it’s a phone, not a camera or an Internet appliance. I haven’t taken the time to enter other people’s phone numbers or acquired any special ring tones. May 2007 It’s Not Working – Toss It… Do I hear $275? I’m bid $250, do I hear $275? Going once at $250 -- Anyone for $275? Going twice at $250. Do I hear $275? Going once, going twice, sold to the gentleman holding number 351 for $250. And so it was that the gentleman holding #351 took home a cart-full of computers. Not just one computer, mind you, but 20 of them. Similarly a number of other “lots” of computers stacked onto large roll-around storage carts were disposed of at this auction. These computers were perfectly functional and only a few years old. Nevertheless, their owners deemed them obsolete and ready for disposal. They weren’t even considered suitable for resale on the used equipment market. And I suppose that was reasonable, since the necessary software was most likely not included. April 2007 Adapt or Vanish… One Saturday morning, a few weeks ago, I stopped in at a Seattle coffee shop that is renowned for the quality of its doughnuts and the selection of its specialty coffees. This specialty doughnut/coffee shop is located in one of the older residential neighborhoods close to the core downtown area. As such, it attracts the younger professionals who rent or own the apartments and condominiums that are the norm for this part of the city. For these folks, a Saturday morning walk to get a cup of coffee and doughnut is a wonderful way to start the weekend. The atmosphere in this shop has the feel of an old bookstore that is especially conducive to sitting for a while and just enjoying the pleasant smells of the steaming coffees and fresh pastries. On a typically Seattle overcast day, this all creates a mood suitable for quiet and restful contemplation. March 2007 And Suddenly it Stopped… Joe was a man of modest means. He lived in a modest home in a small community on the outskirts of a larger Pacific Northwest city. Since his retirement from working in a paper mill, he and his wife of many years got by mostly on their monthly Social Security checks. Their main source of entertainment was an older television set that was the centerpiece of their small but comfortable living room. Each morning, Joe turned on the television shortly after they had had their breakfast and the TV stayed on for most of the day until they were ready for their daily late afternoon outing into town. They enjoyed watching the game shows and their favorite “soaps”. Their lives were not inspiring by most standards, but they were adequately comfortable with what they had. February 2007 Shifting the Burden… What good are bits when I need atoms! It has not been all that many years since certain leading proponents of “computers for everything” pronounced that the world was in the midst of a fundamental shift from working with atoms (in the form of paper) to bits (in the form of computer data). Those were the heady days of the paperless office about-to-arrive. Of course, now we know that it didn’t exactly turn out that way. Today we create more paper than ever. January 2007 The Game is Over – The Computers Won, Humans Lost… We should have seen it coming, but the changes were so gradual and so subtle that it all happened without us taking much notice. However, we cannot ignore the outcome any longer. We humans have lost this game -- big time. Here’s what happened to me today to make me realize that the computers no longer find it necessary to hide their victorious plot. December 2006 Santa Claus and the 3-D Disconnect… 3-D is coming! 3-D is coming! We’re finally going to have all of our movies in 3-D! At least so goes the self-serving promotional excitement among some display industry forecasters as well as entertainment industry gurus. But didn’t we go through all of this once before about fifty years ago? What’s different this time? Is the quality of the images so much better? Is polarization technology now so superior? Yes, the projected image quality is better, and no, polarization technology has not changed much at all. November 2006 What If You Could Have?… What if you could have a laptop computer that was ready to use the moment you turned it on? What if this laptop used so little power that it could operate for several days with no recharging? What if this laptop had a display that you could easily read outdoors in full sunlight? And what if you could buy such a product for around $150? October 2006 The Joy of Modest Means… Jeff was a man of modest means. He had a steady job, but it did not pay all that well. He had a loving wife and two pre-school children. They lived in an apartment in a typical suburban neighborhood. They were comfortable but finances were always something they had to watch and manage with care. One day their 20-year old television -- that Jeff had purchased second hand for a very modest sum through a want ad in the Sunday paper -- gave out. September 2006 A Quiet Walk on the Beach... Tonight, I went for a walk on the beach. Sally was with me and we held hands as we walked. We talked some, but not all that much. The sun was setting and the ocean was calm. A few other people were out doing the same. But there was lots of empty space for everyone to enjoy, and the peaceful mood of the setting sun was in control. The summer evening was cool, as is usually the case on the Oregon Coast. The coastal mountains on the opposite side added a certain intimacy to the openness of the broad sandy beach. The various homes and lodges that populate this section of the coast were beginning to glow in the dusk. Driftwood fires and the people huddled around them added to the romantic mood. During our walk, for us, the world was at peace. August 2006 We’re All Thumbs – and That’s Good... On a recent cross-country flight, I happened to be sitting across the aisle from a lady of rather large stature. No, I don’t mean that she was overweight – she was simply quite large in comparison to the typical Caucasian female. She was well over 6 feet tall and of large bone structure to go with her extra height. As our trip progressed, I found it difficult not to watch her as she worked on answering various messages that were stored in her Blackberry communicator. July 2006 Could E-Paper Actually Turn Out to be Useful?… Today, it is a beautiful sunny summer day here in Seattle. The temperature is in the high seventies and a few white puffy clouds are drifting by. Lake Sammamish is already at a nice temperature for water skiing. And what am I doing? I am sitting at my desk in my office writing this column. The view out my window is nice enough, but wouldn’t it be even nicer if I could be sitting by the lakeshore while I do this enjoyable task? That would make this the truly perfect day. June 2006 Where Will it End?… A few weeks ago, I arrived at the Atlanta airport after a busy day of meetings. It was late in the day and I was getting seriously hungry. Since I had only a few minutes before boarding my flight -- and knowing that I would not be getting anything more than a tiny bag of salty pretzels for the next four hours -- I decided to get a quick hamburger. All I wanted (and had time for) was a simple hamburger with no onions and no cheese. I walked up to the Burger King counter, and to my surprise, I was greeted with -- “new technology.” May 2006 A Flash of Brilliant Light… The dictionary defines the word “brilliant” as 1) sparkling, very bright and 2) as distinguished by qualities that excite admiration. Could we possibly come up with something that encompasses both of these meanings? And could that something be the next great opportunity for a new class of consumer products that rely on display technology? April 2006 Change is Subtle – and Sneaky… Just about every new technology start-up has -- somewhere in its business plan -- a description of the “disruptive technology” it is about to introduce. The idea behind this, of course, is that when the new products based on this technology are introduced they will “disrupt” whatever technology or product is already out there and lead to great success for the new company. This will, conversely, cause great consternation for those companies already in business – basically it will “blow them out of the water”. Technology prognosticators and futurists also seem to be in a never-ending competition to be the first to predict the next significant disruptive technology. March 2006 Help, Quick, Before it’s too Late… Or is it too late already? Do new technology companies get more than one chance at success? In working with, evaluating, and otherwise participating in the evolution of new start-up companies, as well as those somewhat further along in developing toward real businesses, I have observed that there seem to be several identifiable phases that new companies go through. February 2006 Elegant Simplicity… I have owned the same medium-complexity digital camera for several years now. Mostly I use it in my lab to photograph experimental set-ups and the results of “lighting up” new display materials. I have installed a convenient cable connection that dangles from my desktop computer that makes it easy to transfer the photos from the camera for further analysis, retention, or in some cases sending to clients. But even after all this time of fairly regular use, there are “features” on this camera that I don’t know much about and haven’t learned how to use. I did try to learn a few, but without regular practice soon forgot. For these specialized features, it usually requires the help of the 100+ page instruction manual to unravel the menu-driven sequences through multiple levels of access. January 2006 Virtual Unreality… It would seem reasonable that after more than 100 years of various unsuccessful attempts, technically knowledgeable people would have figured out that there must be more to creating realistic virtual reality than simply adding a second view of the same scene. A long time ago, at the dawn of the photography age, we already tried out various stereoscopic viewing devices for black and white photographs. The impression of depth could readily be observed but the scenes didn’t look “real”. Then, when movies came along, we tried again -- beginning with rudimentary attempts using red and green glasses to separate the projected images. That was good for about a one-time experience. Then, when color movies became the norm, the attempts switched to polarizing glasses. Again, the feeling of depth could readily be created, but it looked no more “real” than the early black and white photographs. Once again, it took about one movie’s worth of viewing to decide that this wasn’t going to be a lasting technology. What was it that was missing that prevented us from enjoying these experiences more? Why did all of these 3-D efforts fail? December 2005 A Wonderful Uncertainty… This year’s Christmas shopping season is in full swing. Merchants are doing their best to get us to spend, spend, spend. Some stores are opening at ridiculous hours such as 5:00 A.M. with special bargains to get people to stand in line for hours even before that. Fights are erupting as these grumpy sleep-deprived early risers try to get to the specially priced items that enticed them there to begin with. The “word” is out that this will be the year of electronic purchases and especially flat panel televisions. November 2005 In Search of Something… Have you ever wandered around a bookstore looking for something to spark your interest? Have you ever had to look for information on a topic that was unfamiliar to you and you didn’t know quite where to start? Or have you ever been looking for something but then got distracted by another item that turned out to be even more interesting? Or do you sometimes just like to look at the “new and different” because it can be an inspiration to you? October
2005 Flexible Displays – Why?… September 2005 Appreciation at Last … When I was in grade school and high school, I hated my name. I did not like my given name or my family name. I would much rather have had a nice common first name such as perhaps John or Robert, and an equally typical last name like Smith or Brown. When I was in the fourth grade, I envied my friend – John Smith – for that very reason. Now there was a name that no one could make fun of. August 2005 Distorted Images… After a long day of cross country travel that included a three-hour wait on a taxiway in Denver -- for the weather to clear in New York -- the uneventful taxi ride and check-in at the midtown hotel was a welcome relief. I like this particular hotel because it is close to Central Park and that gives me an opportunity to go for a run at the end of most business days. July 2005 We Solved the Wrong Problem… In spite of the soothing sounds of classical music coming from his clock radio, Jeff decided that he may as well get up and get ready for work. He expected today to be much like any other typical workday. He arose, showered, got dressed and checked his e-mail. After deleting the sixty spam messages that had accumulated overnight, he headed for his car and the drive to his office. While creeping along in rush hour traffic, he made a few quick phone calls and then stopped at a Starbucks for a latte and a breakfast roll. While having his coffee, he took care of a few more e-mails using the in-store Wi-Fi connection. Once at work, he had a brief meeting with his boss and then went on-line to search for several new components that he needed for his project. Having found what he was looking for, he noticed that he had only about one hour left to work out some design details and try a computer simulation that he thought might solve a pesky output mismatch problem. June 2005 A Top Ten List… This year’s SID Symposium in Boston (May 23 – 27) was an exciting place to be. The display industry is in the midst of a rapid scale-up of manufacturing capacity. Bigger – and then even bigger yet -- seems to be the driving impetus for the construction of new factories, for the sizes of the glass sheets used to make the new flat panel displays, and also for the screen sizes of the computer monitors and televisions that are being manufactured and delivered to enthusiastic consumers. Bigger, but also cheaper. Competition for market position among the giants of the industry is becoming incredibly intense. Everyone it seems is able to manufacture products of acceptable quality. That being the case, all that is left is to drive costs and prices ever lower. And since consumers have already demonstrated a willingness to pay a substantial premium for these “exciting new digital flat-panel displays,” we are seeing the brewing of a “perfect storm” -- a convergence of consumer excitement combined with an increasing capacity to supply products that are ever-closer to mainstream affordability. It is a scenario for almost unlimited growth, potentially encompassing most of the next decade. May 2005 Lost Innocence… A few days ago, I received an e-mail notifying me that it was time to renew two of my web domain subscriptions. From what I could remember, it has been about a year since my last renewal, so the timing was right and all the information on the notification seemed to be correct. The notification had the correct domain names and was addressed specifically to me. Nevertheless, when it came time to enter my credit card number, I thought long and hard about whether I should do it. Was this a legitimate request or another “phishing” attack? Would my credit card number end up in some identity thief’s computer who would then use it for a short-term shopping spree? April 2005 There’s No Paper in the Office and No Film in Your Camera?… If you want to get my immediate attention don’t send me an e-mail. Send me a fax. When a fax arrives, it just begs to be looked at. And it is so convenient to instantly see what it’s about. It’s real and something simply must be done with it or it just sits there in the middle of my desk staring back at me, taking up useful space. E-mail has no such desire for instant attention. It arrives – along with dozens of spam messages -- and can easily be saved for “later.” March 2005 The Too-Small Windows Into the Information Age… Last week was that annually-dreaded time when I have to get all of my business and personal records together so that I can spend a few hours with my “tax person”. Since my life consists of an intricately interwoven combination of business and personal activities, I decided a long time ago that trying to do this task on my own would be an exercise in futility. Either I would have to spend many days trying to understand the intricacies of the tax code or I would end up making errors that would put me in the “bad person” category with the Internal Revenue Service. Or worse yet, I would end up paying more than was required. Besides all that, I always appreciate working with someone who really knows what they are doing. February 2005 Low Hanging Fruit… Some years ago in a business development meeting with a Senior VP, it was suggested to me that in order to accomplish the short term financial results that the company needed, I should be focusing my energies on “finding low hanging fruit”. What this apparently meant was that I should be searching for those opportunities that would be quick to materialize and would not take much effort or resources to bring in. My unspoken reaction to this directive was: “Right… And just where do you think I am going to find this ‘low hanging fruit’?” Not too long after that, a new business opportunity came my way that allowed me to depart gracefully – never having found any of this easy-picking fruit than my boss seemed to think was so plentiful. January 2005 So Easy to Forget… Happy New Year! Welcome to the second half of the first decade of the 21st century. For me, this new year – 2005 -- has a nice round-number feel to it. It’s also interesting to observe how quickly time does pass. A few days ago, I was reviewing a technical article and the author made a reference to something that happened in the “last century”. It took me a few seconds to realize he was referring to the 1900’s and not the 1800’s. I guess the saying that “time sure flies when you’re having fun” is getting to be ever more applicable. December 2004 A Few More Things to Understand… Outside my office window, hanging from the branch of a small tree, I keep a hummingbird feeder -- well supplied with sugar water. Even though hummingbirds are supposed to be migratory, I seem to have acquired several that have decided to stay through most of the winter. I don’t think my feeder has anything to do with it, but just in case, I make sure that there is never a time when the food runs low.
At the recent Society for Information Display Executive Committee meeting, Andy Lakatos, the Editor of the SID Journal, reported that the Journal is in the final stages of a successful transition to an all electronic publication. The Journal will no longer be published quarterly as a printed document but will now become a monthly publication available in electronic format to members and subscribers through the SID web site. At the end of each year there will, however, still be a supplemental CD sent to all subscribers. Electronic publishing will provide a number of significant benefits with more frequent issues and a greatly reduced time from paper submission to publication. There will also be links to provide immediate reference search capability. The Society will benefit by eliminating the costs of printing and mailing. October 2004 Do We Need a Number?… The digital camera makers have it easy! All they have to do is specify one number -- the number of pixels -- and everyone instantly “knows” how good the camera is going to be at taking pictures. One megapixel used to be considered a good number -- but no more. Now the number has to be closer to ten megapixels before anyone considers it to be a serious product. Even what we call point-and-shoot cameras are now typically in the three megapixel range. But what about all the other important features, like the lens, the storage capability, the waiting time between shots, the time between when the button is pressed and when the picture is actually taken, battery life, and yet many other important parameters? If you really want to know, you can most likely find them somewhere in the product brochures, but how many buyers do this careful analysis? Surely a five-megapixel camera must be better than one rated at only four! So, why bother with all those other details, especially since there are likely to be more “features” than the typical user will ever comprehend, let alone put to good use. So isn’t it nice to have just one number that seems to say it all? September
2004 Please Don’t Stomp on My Flower… August 2004 A Convergence Anomaly… While waiting for my connecting flight in the Denver airport a few weeks ago, I was observing the interaction between what I presumed was a grandmother and her approximately eight-year-old granddaughter. The grandmother was taking photos of the child with her cell phone camera and then showing them to the granddaughter – mostly I think to pass the time. They were both having great fun with this activity, and it seemed that the grandmother was especially enthralled with this feature on her new cell phone. July 2004 Segueing into the Future… Sometimes technology progress seems to resemble a random walk -- with many bumps into unseen walls -- rather than anything that can be planned or predicted. That is not a comforting thought for those of us who would like to be able to identify and develop new business opportunities based on new technology innovations. What is especially fascinating, however, is that these initial product introductions often stimulate further attempts at solving the same problem. These competing efforts provide choices that, when combined with consumer feedback, eventually lead to products that are truly useful and beneficial. June 2004 It Won’t be Long Now… Last week, I went to pick up a few plumbing repair items at our local Home Depot store. As I approached the checkout counter area, I noticed that there was only one cashier open at this relatively slow time of day. Nevertheless, there were at least eight people waiting in line ahead of me to pay. Right next to this line of increasingly impatient customers was the new self-checkout area. One person was valiantly trying to use this new "faster and more convenient" method of completing the transaction. However, the items would not register properly and the automated system told him that he could not remove his bag until some additional step was completed. This person looked uncomfortable and embarrassed by the time a clerk finally came over to help. May 2004 Welcome to the Future…
April 2004 Presumptuous Assumptions… I’ve never been much of an enthusiast for the computer-controlled house or the internet-driven kitchen. Nevertheless, in spite of all the good wisdom that I have tried to offer over the years, the topic still seems to intrigue those looking for how to extend the use of personal computers, or for new uses for the latest high-tech products. What is especially interesting is that many of these efforts are based on the presumption that houses and kitchens will continue to be designed and lived in much as they are today, and just need to be more automated and/or more "interconnected." March 2004 It must be hard to explain… It was only a few years ago that display companies did marketing studies that concluded that for flat panels to have significant penetration into the CRT-dominated display industry the costs would need to be no more than about 25% higher than those of comparable CRT products. A few "strange" voices were also heard to suggest that flat-panels could be sold into office environments based only on their smaller footprints. The proposition was that this would be useful to increase worker density even further. But even the space planners promoting these ideas would typically include other cost savings features such as lower energy utilization. So what happened? February 2004 My Great Idea… The other day, I had a really great idea. It was one of those moments of pure inspiration when the solution to a difficult problem suddenly comes bubbling forth, and it seems that nothing can hold it back. There is an emotional high that accompanies such a creative moment – that instant when all the pieces seem to fall into place and the solution to a difficult puzzle is deemed complete. But what should one do with such brilliance? It must, of course, be shared with others or it will wither and die from lack of use. January 2004 I Want it – Now!... As we celebrate the beginning of another New Year, many of us will let out a sigh of relief that the annual stampede to acquire new material possessions has come to a temporary end. It’s really quite amazing that a Holiday intended to celebrate "peace on earth and goodwill toward all men" can cause so much stress and frustration. And all of that just to try to create a few moments of intense joy that dissipates about as quickly as a puff of smoke in a windstorm. This concept of instant and intense gratification has not been with us for all of eternity. In fact, it is a relatively new phenomenon that grew along with the promotion and wide acceptance of credit cards -- and the now-acceptable concept expressed so wonderfully and accurately by the phrase, "I’ve maxed out my credit". This of course means that one has borrowed well beyond all reasonable limits and even the credit card companies have finally put a stop to further purchases. The unfortunate end result can often be personal bankruptcy. December 2003 Minor Details... Each year, around the beginning of December, we enter that time of year – a period of about one month duration -- known as the "Serious Christmas-Shopping Season". During this time, hopeful recipients are making final additions to their lists of what they want Santa to bring them, while those who have taken on the designated Santa role are frantically seeking those exactly-right items that they hope will fulfill the most fervent fantasies of their list-makers. November 2003 Read Me a Story… "It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly,…" So begins the ultimate – but yet to be completed – mystery story as authored by Charlie Brown’s dog Snoopy in the well-know Peanuts cartoon series. Of course, this is meant to be a spoof on how the "perfect" mystery story should begin. Nevertheless, these few simple words – hardly more than one short sentence – evoke images of Halloween-like haunted houses, shutters banging in the wind, lights flickering and then going out, and an event that is about to happen that fills us with curiosity, anticipation, and a tinge of fear. "Suddenly what? Don’t you dare stop in the middle of this sentence!" How can so few simple words evoke such powerful images? Indeed, we seem to be able to create mind pictures with the tiniest hint of stimulation. For example, somewhere I read that smells can be powerful memory stimulants. I believe it. The smell of certain foods, burning candles, mothballs, moldy basements, new mown grass, all can bring back memories embedded many years ago. We humans (since I don’t know about Snoopy the dog) seem to have the wonderful ability to create images and fill in details where none is provided. October 2003 Uh, Oh, I Think We’re in Trouble… The recent acceleration of the occurrence of computer viruses, worms, and spam on top of software that is already frequently unstable got me to thinking and worrying about where all this is likely to end up. And I’m afraid that I didn’t come up with a very pretty picture. In my ponderings, I tried to imagine what would happen if the rest of our technology-based products behaved similarly. I thought about cars that would abruptly quit and have to be restarted (rebooted?) about once each day, but at unpredictable times -- of course. I thought of refrigerators and furnaces that randomly changed their temperature settings or quit working altogether because some scoundrel was able to send an electrical glitch over the house wiring. I thought about door lock that had to be "updated" every few weeks because flaws were discovered that allowed thieves to enter. I thought about telephones that would ring 20 or 30 times each day with recorded messages offering sex-enhancement devices or fraudulent riches through the transfer of foreign funds. I thought of television sets that drop channels or quit responding to remote controls and need the periodic installation of "patches" to keep them working? But none of these imaginary scenarios was able to capture the totality of the computer software problems with which most of us are currently struggling. Unfortunately, I’m afraid it’s going to get even worse before it gets better. September 2003 The Gray Scale of Obsolescence… I don’t like, or find credible, the predictions made by most futurists. They seem to be driven more by the need for publicity than by a careful analysis of what is really likely to happen. This typically means that the more audacious the prognostication the more likely it is to be picked up by the popular press. One recent example is the prediction that we are on the threshold of immortality. Of course, I can’t prove to you that it can’t happen and I may even wish that it could. But most changes are not nearly that dramatic. In fact, other than cataclysmic events of nature or self-destructive behaviors such as wars, change often creeps up on us so gradually that we don’t even notice it happening. Even dramatic improvements in technology become common place in a few short years. Consider, for example, the catalytic converter and the collision-activated air bags for cars. It still amazes me that someone could come up with the idea of inflating a protective balloon while the collision is happening and make it sufficiently foolproof to be used in a consumer product. August 2003 The Glamour of New Technology... Gee whiz, this new technology stuff is exciting! But I don’t know much about it. However, I’m a journalist! I’m supposed to write a flashy – but balanced – article. So let’s take a crack at the new flat-panel displays. Was it a scenario perhaps like this one that led to a recent syndicated article in our local paper? The title of the article was "The skinny on flat TVs" with the sub-heading, "Appeal of new television screens also comes with fragility, price". The article was authored by a Bobbi Ignelzi, writing for the Copley News Service, and appeared in a special section of the paper dedicated to the latest Seattle Street of Dreams homes show. The year the Street of Dreams was extra "dreamy" featuring homes with prices ranging from $1.3 million to $2.2 million. I suppose for these prices, one should expect to encounter at least a few items that fit into the wishful-thinking category. So why not flat panel displays? July 2003 Seeds of Change… From an engineer’s perspective, it’s really quite amazing how many real-world situations are so highly non-linear. We scientists are great at observing and measuring, and then making projections based on all the data we have accumulated. But what about that proverbial "straw that breaks the camel’s back"? How do we learn about limits of materials, technology boundaries, or even the perversity of human behaviors until we encounter them? And are we sometimes misled by the comforting thoughts of "Well, it’s still working!" or "I haven’t seen any problems so far." June 2003 How Big is REALLY Big?... A few days ago, I read that Samsung had just announced that they have decided on the size of their seventh generation mother-glass for TFT LCDs. The planned size of these next generation TFT arrays will be 1,870 x 2,200 mm. For those of us still mired in inches and feet when thinking about display sizes, that translates to about 74 x 87 inches, or if we speak in the even more familiar diagonal-size terminology that is approximately a 114 inch diagonal piece of glass. Wow! Now that should be large enough for even the most ambitious home entertainment system aficionados. May 2003 Out With the Old.. Digital cameras are in! Film cameras are old fashioned. LCD computer monitors represent great new technology! CRT monitors are obsolete. PDP TVs are glamorous! Large-screen CRT TVs and projection sets are lower priced compromises. The new technologies must be incredibly better to cause such dramatically rapid shifts in consumer buying patters. Right? Are we sure about that? April 2003 Hundreds of CRTs and One Plasma Panel... Let's suppose that a large manufacturer of flat panel displays has appointed you to be in charge of their new business development activity. Your assignment is to find one or more new markets of significant size where your company's broad line of FPDs (both LCDs and Plasma panels) can be successfully introduced. Top management has told you that they do not care if this market is one where CRTs are currently dominant or if it is a completely new application of displays -- as long as it is not simply an expansion or extension of existing FPD product markets. Obviously, that eliminates such lucrative growth areas as laptop computers, PDAs, and cell phones. March 2003 Not Enough Time – Limited Resources… The other day, I was talking to an attorney friend. He showed me how dramatically the PC, in combination with the Internet, has changed his way of working in recent years. He has been an attorney for over fifteen years and for him the last two to three years have been the culmination of a changeover that started about ten years ago. Basically, he is now doing all of his extensive reference searches from his laptop computer. No more trips to the legal library. No more ordering of printed documents. No more semi-random searches that result in only a few bits of useful information. Patents are now located by searching on key words. The ones of interest can be instantly downloaded. And within each patent, once again, a search by key words (or even parts of words) will often quickly locate the most interesting information. February 2003 Romancing the Money... The methods of science and engineering are based on careful observation of cause and effect, deductive thinking, analysis of data, and thorough and repeated testing of all conclusions. Any desire or expectation for a particular outcome must be suppressed until the data can unambiguously support the proposed hypothesis. This is all well and good when doing scientific research. January 2003 If at First You Don't Succeed... The traditional version of this saying has an ending that is intended to be inspirational and to encourage repeated and determined effort -- "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again" -- presumably until success is achieved. However, I have heard a second version that may at times be more representative of reality -- "If at first you don't succeed, give up, no sense making a fool of yourself!" Recently, there have been a number of new product introductions that seem to fit the second version better than the first. These products fall into a category that some technology prognosticators have described as representative of "technology convergence". They also often have a direct or indirect effect on the implementation of displays. Let me start with a brief description of three of them. December 2002 Christmas Presents... Merry Christmas, joyeux Noel, frohliche Weihnachten -- my sincere Holiday Season Greetings to all of you in the worldwide Display Community. The tradition of an annual celebration and gift exchange, during the later part of December, has spread far beyond its origins as a festival of light during the darkest winter days in the northern hemisphere, and later the commemoration of the birth of the spiritual leader of the many Christian religions. For children everywhere -- and adults also -- the idea of receiving and giving lots of presents on a designated day has serious appeal. November 2002 The Next Generation Displays – for Work, Home and in Between… As we look ahead to the future prospects for display technologies, we see many excellent opportunities. The rapid increases in computer capabilities and communications bandwidth have accelerated the need for excellent displays. New improved displays are needed to interface all the information that is being created and transmitted at ever greater speeds and in ever growing quantities. October 2002 More on Rows and Columns... In the June 2002 issue the subject of this column was the fundamental difference between CRTs and all flat-panel displays -- the difference being that all flat-panel displays that exist at this time require row-and-column addressing, while CRTs do not. In describing the various ways of modulating the electron beam that writes the information onto a CRT phosphor screen, I posed the questions "Why do we write the image from left to right? Why not scan back and forth with a triangle waveform?" Well, being the knowledgeable group of readers that you are, I received quite a number of interesting responses. As we discussed this topic via e-mail, it occurred to me that your letters were beginning to form an interesting story all in themselves. Therefore, I have decided to dedicate this month's column space to your stories. My modest contribution was to arrange the letters in the sequence that seemed to have a logical flow to it. So here we go -- with seven of the most interesting letters about how to write images onto a CRT screen. September 2002 Choices are Good... Most of us thrive on the excitement of exploring, the stimulation of being surprised, and the freedom to make our own choices. Without some ambiguity and uncertainty, our lives can become boring and stale. Is this a leftover remnant from the survival-driven origins of our species? I think not. It has indeed been with us since our cave-man days, but it is not a transient phenomenon to be solved by technology or by ever more abundant earthly comforts. The very nature of human existence has the built-in uncertainty of a mostly unpredictable ending point. Thus, it behooves us to have as many interesting experiences as we can during our current visit to this planet Earth. August 2002 The Goodness Asymptotes... As usual, the airport rental-car bus driver dropped me off in front of the "preferred" customer building and told me that my pre-selected car this time was in space E-12. For me, as a "frequent renter," this has become a familiar process. Basically, it goes as follows: get in the car, show your driver's license at the gate, and adjust the seat and mirrors while driving to find the exit from the airport. But on this trip my experience was not quite typical. The car assigned to me was not the usual bland model with cloth interior and cup holder covers that are so flimsy that they most likely broke during the first or second rental. Instead of dull gray cloth, the seats were tan leather, the car was a burgundy red and the layout and quality of the instrument panel was as good as any that I have seen -- even on the most prestigious brands. The subsequent driving experience matched this initial impression of a quality product. The car handled precisely. It was well behaved at all speeds available to me. All the control functions were easy to understand and I could operate them without distraction while driving in dense freeway traffic. I soon realized that I was treating this car with the same care and enthusiasm that I would lavish on one that I had purchased. July 2002 Trends in Time Management... Welcome... Welcome... Please do come in. I am so glad you could join me for this month's column. As I told you when we spoke briefly by phone, this month I am going to write about how the latest developments in "wearable" electronics are improving everyone's productivity. As we delve into this topic, I think you will see that technology has just begun to scratch the surface of new opportunities. With further improvements in cell phones, PDA's, and portable computers with wireless modems, and the displays that we will use to interface with them, there will be no end to what we can do. Oh, sorry... but I am getting way ahead of my story. June 2002 Rows and Columns... There is a fundamental difference between CRTs and all flat panel displays -- yes, besides the obvious one that no one has yet come up with a commercially successful flat CRT. What I am thinking about is that all flat panels that exist today require row-and-column addressing, while CRTs do not. April/May 2002 Guiding Principles... The year I was completing graduate school and beginning to search for my first "real job," opportunities abounded. For graduate EEs, the times were good. I ended up with more than a dozen interview trips and close to that many job offers. It was also my first opportunity to learn about companies large and small, and how I would likely be treated should I choose to become an employee. The differences were significant. In some companies, there was little expectation that I would make a useful contribution during my first year. Others viewed me as just another "warm body" to fill an immediate staffing need. Fortunately, a few were much better. At Motorola, my interview day was not going well until late in the afternoon when I met a group leader who decided to test me with some technical questions. I had to reach deep at that late hour to come up with answers, but after one false start, I managed to arrive at the correct derivation for a semiconductor device performance problem with which he had challenged me. After that, I could do no wrong. Instructions were sent to the human resources manager to put on a major push to get me hired. Years later, I sometimes wondered how different my career might have been if I had chosen this path. March 2002 Nothing to Think About... It is an early spring morning. On this sunny Sunday, nature has already begun to awaken from winter's rest. Yellow Daffodils and purple Crocuses are trumpeting the arrival of warmer days. But, I have nothing to think about! February 2002 A Great Race... As Phil, Ken, and I stood a few feet in front of the 40-inch LCD panel, we did what all serious display engineers would do. We tried to identify every possible flaw and defect. Yes, the display was not perfect. There was a slight amount of background non-uniformity, apparently due to a step-and-repeat process used in the manufacture of the very large TFT array. There was also a barely detectable "shimmer" in scenes with large areas of a single color. However, overall our consensus was that this was a display we wouldn't mind taking home with us. Resolution, brightness, color gamut, contrast, and video response -- all were more than adequate. In fact, the conclusion was that this would become an excellent product once the transition from the few industry-show samples to volume manufacturing was completed. January 2002 Friends in Important Places... I have a friend and former colleague. His name is Bill. Bill is a great friend to have because not only is he a warm and caring human being, he is also a fount of practical knowledge on just about every subject that I have had the opportunity to explore with him. Should you wish to rebuild an antique piano, Bill can tell you how. Are you having problems with the brakes on your old Toyota? Ask Bill. He will likely have some useful advice to offer. December 2001 Fear of the Unknown... Yesterday, I met our next door neighbor at the end of our driveway while we were both performing the unglamorous weekly task of putting out the garbage. He told me he was glad to have a short break because he was feeling eyestrain from staring at his computer monitor screen all morning. He next asked me what I thought of the new flat-panel monitors. His reason for asking was that he was concerned that the "radiation" from his CRT monitor was beginning to affect his eyesight. When I asked him what kind of radiation he was concerned about, he really had no idea, but had read somewhere that CRTs create electromagnetic fields that could be harmful. November 2001 Great and Noble Tasks... "I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble." -- Helen Keller I too would strive to do great and noble works, but those seemingly endless details hold me back every time. And even with this quotation sitting on my desk as a constant reminder, the specifics of each situation often overwhelm me. Consider the following examples. Each month I commence with enthusiasm and anticipation to write a great column. Of course, the first step in doing this is to bring up a blank screen on my computer. And each month, that's when reality sets in and the mismatch between hoped-for greatness and the details of how to get there suddenly become alarmingly challenging. What should I put on that blank screen first? What should be the title? What's a good opening sentence of this presumably great and insightful message? Even after I have conquered those first hurdles, the rest of the words don't always flow the way I would like. But then, after some fits and starts, perhaps involving the abandonment of entire paragraphs, there is enough of interest to inspire me to at least finish what by then no longer feels all that great, but is at least what I consider the best that I know how to do for that month. Will greatness arrive next month or will I have to wait maybe until next year? October 2001 I'm From the Year 1957--Surprise Me... Let's imagine for a moment it is the fall of 1957 and you are sitting in your high-school algebra class. Being the really smart kid that you are, you are bored silly with the slow progress of most of your classmates. After all, how difficult can simultaneous equations be? Why can't we get this topic out of the way so we can move on to something more challenging? Your gaze wanders outside to the green grass of the athletic field and to the warm fall sunshine. And without much effort you drift off into a momentary snooze -- using the well-practiced position of crossing your arms while pretending to be reading your math-book. The end-of-class bell jars you awake, but unlike similar previous occasions, you find yourself more than momentarily disoriented. You are not at all sure where you are and where you are supposed to go next. September 2001 Are We There Yet... The two girls, three and six years old, were peacefully observing the freeway traffic and the California landscape gliding past from the back seat of their parents' minivan on a typically-sunny Saturday morning. Their parents had decided to take a drive to explore a new area about fifty miles from their present home in the east bay. It was beginning to look more and more like there might by an interesting new career opportunity developing there. A new display start-up with a rather strange name, but with lots of investor money, had made Richard an offer that he just might not be able to turn down. And it was beginning to look like his wife Emily could also advance her career by a move to this new location. August 2001 It Takes More Than One... Earlier today, as I was returning home on one of my running routes that requires a six-hundred-foot climb from downtown Issaquah back up to the top of the hill where we live, for the sake of variety and maybe hoping that a new way up the hill would make it seem less steep, I tried a new street. I don't just mean that I tried a different route to get home. This street is really new, with still-black asphalt and pristine concrete sidewalks in attractive s-curves, winding from the new shopping center at the base of the hill up to the top, past apartments and condominiums still under construction -- hundreds of them. As I looked at the new stores below me and the as-yet-unoccupied housing units sprouting on both sides of this winding street, it suddenly struck me that no matter how hard I worked -- even for my entire lifetime -- I would not be able to construct these stores and apartments solely with my own efforts. In fact, I would not be able to complete even the one large home-improvement store that now lay below me where only six months before had been a bare patch of newly-graded ground. July 2001 The Four Minute Mile... Some years ago, after completing graduate school and settling into my professional career, I decided that I should add some physical activity to my otherwise sedentary lifestyle. The specific motivation was a week long camping trip to the Yosemite Valley and the realization that my hiking and climbing abilities were not nearly what I wanted them to be. Thus, I selected an exercise program that was intended to build my aerobic capabilities by gradually increasing the distance walked/jogged while reducing the time required to cover that distance -- more commonly known as "getting in shape." The stated goal was to be able to run a distance of one-and-a-half miles in under twelve minutes after three months of training. May/June 2001 In the Year 2001 Plus 25... Twenty-five years can seem like both a long time and a short time. In the last twenty-five years, some things have changed dramatically, yet others are much the same. Often, when we look back at history, the progress of events gives the appearance of the predetermined and obvious. I can still remember a time when I was a young student in school thinking how wonderful it must be that all great leaders seemed to know, from the day they were born, that they would become successful and influential people. It was my conclusion at the time that there could not possibly be any such persons among my classmates because none of us had such wonderful insight. It was not until many years later that I learned the future is much more uncertain than the past. April 2001 Wishful Thinking... Is there a point at which one can properly assert that unbridled optimism has crossed over into wishful thinking -- or maybe even a denial of reality? I am beginning to feel that way about some of the next-step opportunities being proposed for the Internet and personal computers as control centers for our homes and for our lives. Here are the disconnects I am trying to reconcile. March 2001 And the Children Shall Lead Us... Quite some time ago, in the twelfth year of my life, I had the thrill of accompanying my parents on their annual Christmas shopping trip to Wichita, Kansas. I distinctly remember that the distance was 211 miles and that it took just over four hours to get there. This particular year turned out to be an extra special one because my objective was to come home with a Lionel electric train. I had saved every penny for most of the previous two years for this occasion and had worn out several Lionel catalogs -- studying each page over and over again. With the additional contribution my parents had agreed to make as that year's present, I would have just enough to get the modest set I had selected. February 2001 Going Shopping... Sometimes even those of us who do not watch TV very much begin to think about having a newer one. The 27" set that has served us well for the last twelve or so years is beginning to feel like it could use some younger companionship. A larger screen might be a nice added benefit. January 2001 Getting it Right... October 6, 2000 -- It is already past 11:00 pm, and I am determined to respond to a few more e-mails before retiring for the evening. I must still pack my suitcase for an 8:00 am flight that will take me by way of New York to Moscow for the FLOWERS 2000 Display Conference. Suddenly, in the middle of an e-mail that must reach my Russian colleagues before my arrival, the house plunges into darkness, followed by a deep explosion-like sound somewhere off in the distance. I momentarily ponder if this is an unexpected but effective demonstration that the speed of electric current in wires exceeds the speed of sound in air.
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It
happened so imperceptibly that we hardly noticed. We began our flat panel
journey roughly 40 years ago with such modest beginnings that not one
of us could see the exciting future that lay ahead. One part of our journey
started with LC displays for watches and calculators. We then moved on
to somewhat more complicated but still mostly segment-addressed LC displays
for test and measurement instruments, and to the first low-resolution
row and column ones for portable applications. We achieved a major milepost
when the first lap top computers with monochrome LC screens became commercial
products. However, the low contrast and poor viewing angle of these early
passive matrix displays made them just barely adequate -- even for the
rudimentary word processing and spread sheet programs of that time. The
developers and promoters of competing display technologies were of course
more than happy to point out these severe deficiencies, and yet others,
such as limited temperature range and poor speed of response. But ever
so gradually, with creativity and persistence, LCD developers were able
to overcome each and every limitation. The introduction of TFTs was a
big step, but so were the various techniques that allowed for wider viewing
angles, improved contrast, and better color gamut. As each year slipped
by, the LC displays got better and bigger. Nevertheless, we still continued
to look to the CRT as the standard for comparison. Overall it could still
claim to have the best display quality.