Google controls 90% of all Web searches in Europe, giving it unequaled power it doesn't enjoy in the United States.
On Thursday, members of Europe's parliament will vote on a resolution that will propose ways to shrink Google's influence in Europe.
"It's a monopoly. It's killing our technology businesses," said Ramon Tremosa, a member of parliament who's authoring the draft measure.
The draft resolution demands an end to "Google's illegal and discriminatory treatment."
Related: Google lets you pay to avoid ads
The proposal cites a frequent complaint: that Google search results are ranked based on what's best for Google as a business, not the user. It also calls for a drastic move "to restore competition in the online marketplace."
Among the ideas: Ripping apart Google's ranking algorithm and rotating results instead to boost competitors. Another idea is to force a breakup of Google's European operations.
But even if the vote passes on Thursday, it'll only be a recommendation. Final authority lies with another branch of the government: the European Commission.
Google has long been fighting antitrust issues in Europe. Regulators there have criticized the way Google displays searches, ranking its own services higher than others. They've also taken issue with the company's consolidated power in the online advertising business, as well as how Google scrapes content from the Internet to post it on its own search results.
Google is also dealing with Europe's new "right to be forgotten" rule, which lets Europeans tell search engines to take them off search results that are outdated or inappropriate. All it takes is filling out a form.
There have also been European Union concerns about Google's privacy policy, along with complaints that Google controls the mobile market with its Android smartphone software.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Regin, new computer spying bug, discovered by Symantec
A leading computer security company says it has discovered one of the most sophisticated pieces of malicious software ever seen.
Symantec says the bug, named Regin, was probably created by a government and has been used for six years against a range of targets around the world.
Once installed on a computer, it can do things like capture screenshots, steal passwords or recover deleted files.
Experts say computers in Russia, Saudi Arabia and Ireland have been hit most.
It has been used to spy on government organisations, businesses and private individuals, they say.
Researchers say the sophistication of the software indicates that it is a cyber-espionage tool developed by a nation state.
They also said it likely took months, if not years, to develop and its creators have gone to great lengths to cover its tracks.
Sian John, a security strategist at Symantec, said: "It looks like it comes from a Western organisation. It's the level of skill and expertise, the length of time over which it was developed."
Symantec has drawn parallels with Stuxnet, a computer worm thought to have been developed by the US and Israel to target Iran's nuclear program.
That was designed to damage equipment, whereas Regin's purpose appears to be to collect information.
Harvard Researchers Build $10 Robot That Can Teach Kids to Code
Mike Rubenstein wants to put robots in the classroom.
Working with two other researchers at Harvard University, Rubenstein recently created what they call AERobot, a bot that can help teach programming and artificial intelligence to middle school kids and high schoolers. That may seem like a rather expensive luxury for most schools, but it’s not. It costs just $10.70. The hope is that it can help push more kids into STEM, studies involving science, technology, engineering, and math.
The tool is part of a widespread effort to teach programming and other computer skills to more children, at earlier stages. It’s called the code literacy movement, and it includes everything from new and simpler programming languages to children’s books that teach coding concepts.
Rubenstein’s project grew out of the 2014 AFRON Challenge, held back in January, which called for researchers to design low-cost robotic systems for education in the developing world. Part of Harvard’s Self-Organizing Systems Research Group, Rubstein has long studied swarm robotics, which aims to create herds of tiny robots that can behave as whole, and he ended up adapting one of his swarm systems in order to build AERobot. It’s a single machine—not a swarm bot—but it’s built from many of the same inexpensive materials.
He and his colleagues assembled most of the electronics with a pick-and-place machine—a machine that automatically builds printed circuit boards—and in order to further cut costs, they used vibration motors for locomotion and left out a chassis. The device doesn’t include its own programming interface or charger. It gets both from a desktop or laptop computer, plugging into the USB port. “There are no extra frills,” Rubenstein says.
On the software side, Rubenstein modified a programming language called minibloqs, a highly graphical means of programming machines. “You don’t really need to type code. You drag pictures,” he explains. “Say I wanted an LED on the robot to turn green. I would just drag over an image of an LED, and pick the green color.” The language, he says, is a bit like Scratch, the programming language for kids developed at MIT.
The bot can move forwards and backwards on flat surfaces, turn in place, detect light, follow lines and edges, and identify distances using reflected infrared light. And the idea is that kids will learn but programming the bot to do such things. Rubenstein and his team provide a fifteen-lesson curriculum that walks students through the sensors and the actuators, the programming flow and logic, and how to create specific robot behavior.
At the 2014 AFRON Challenge, AERobot won the top honor in the software category, and it took second place in the hardware and curriculum categories. The team has since tested it with about 100 sixth- to eighth- graders at a STEM-focused summer camp called i2Camp, and they plan to do further tests this coming summer. Rubenstein says that for the bot’s next iteration, the group is focusing on improving the curriculum and the software, eliminating steps in the installation process and ensuring AERobot is so simple that kids can learn how to use the thing on their own—without a teacher.
Israel’s Commercial Jets Will Soon Be Firing Lasers
Israel is finally ready to combat shoulder-launched missiles and they’re going to do it with lasers.
Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced Wednesday that SkyShield, developed by Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems, had successfully completed testing and is certified for commercial use to combat the threat of man-portable surface-to-air missile systems (MANPADS) by combining advanced laser detection and disruption technologies.
C-MUSIC, the commercial version of SkyShield, integrates laser technology with a thermal camera to deflect incoming threats by jamming. After detecting incoming missiles with an infrared sensor, it fires a laser that disrupts the missile’s navigation system, taking it off course and detonating the missile a safe distance from the aircraft.
Image: Elbit Systems
Image: Elbit Systems
“SkyShield has been validated under the most complex and sophisticated testing conditions ever conducted in Israel and is now ready to protect Israeli airlines,” said Israel Air Force Brig. Gen. Eitan Eshel, director of research and development at Israel’s Defense Ministry.
The technological advancement is a direct response to the 2002 attempt by terrorists in Mombasa, Kenya in which two surface-to-air missiles were fired at an Israeli charter plane shortly after takeoff. The missiles missed their target and its more than 250 passengers, but the event prompted then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to call for an urgent defense response.
Although the project was supposed to be expedited, it was delayed for several years because of infighting among competing defense firms and government agencies over which one would foot the bill. Once the contract was awarded to Elbit Systems, completion of the project took about three years.
The system will first be implemented on all El Al airliners, but Elbit says it has contracts with several other countries around the world.
Google launches ad-free net experiment
Google has unveiled a project that offers web users the option to pay to visit sites rather than see adverts.
Dubbed Contributor, users can pay a monthly fee of between $1 to $3 for ad-free sites.
When those who have paid their subscriptions visit a participating site they will see pixelated patterns replacing the adverts.
It has so far signed up a handful of websites, including ScienceDaily and Urban Dictionary, to test the system.
Others in the current trial include WikiHow, Mashable and Imgur.
Access to the service is currently by invitation only and interested websites can sign up to be on the waiting list.
Contributor describes itself as "an experiment in additional ways to fund the web".
"Today's internet is mostly funded by advertising. But what if there were a way to directly support the people who create the sites you visit each day?" it asks.
A portion of the money goes to Google and a portion to the website.
Users log into the service via their Google account - which will trigger the ad-free version of sites.
Howard Kingston, co-founder of adludio, a firm which replaces ads with interactive games, thinks current online advertising needs a rebrand.
"Advertising, especially online has become a bugbear for many people, but there are new models such as this one, that could change the publisher landscape and how people browse content online," he said.
Some websites are already experimenting with paywalls, including the Wall Street Journal and The Times but those sites still show advertising.
A service called Readability tried something similar to Contributor but shut down in 2012.
Snapchat sasa kutumika kutuma fedha
Programu ya ujumbe ya Snapchat sasa itawaruhusu watumiaji wake kutuma pesa kwa marafiki zao. Huduma hiyo mpya kwa jina snapcash inadaiwa kutuma pesa kwa haraka mbali na kuwafurahisha wanaotumia.Huduma ya mtandao wa facebook Watsapp pia inatumia picha ikijiribu kutafuta usalama wa data yake ili kutoa huduma kama hiyo.Ikiwa inapitikana katika mfumo wa Android,ni swala linalofanya kuwa vigumu kusikiliza ujumbe unaotumwa.
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Lenovo completes Motorola takeover after Google sale
Lenovo has completed its takeover of Google's Motorola Mobility division.
The acquisition gives the Chinese firm control of the unit's Moto and Droid-branded handsets as well as its 3,500 employees, 2,800 of whom are based in the US.
Lenovo said the deal made it the world's third bestselling smartphone-maker after Apple and Samsung.
That knocks its country-mate Xiaomi back down into fourth spot, based on data from two market research reports.
Lenovo stated that a total of 100 million mobile devices were on course to be shipped from its existing mobile phone business combined with that of Motorola's over the current fiscal year, which ends in March.
Little overlap
Motorola has found recent success with its "budget" Moto G models. The original version, released last year was the bestselling phone in the business's history.
Moto G The Moto G smartphone has helped reinvigorate Motorola's 86-year-old brand
More recently it has also entered the wearables sector with the Moto 360 smartwatch, and announced its first Nexus device - a 6in (15.2cm) "phablet" marketed by Google, which will be one of the first phones to offer the Android 5.0 operating system.
Lenovo is the world's bestselling PC maker, a position it attained after the takeover of IBM's personal computer business in 2005.
Its smartphones are already big sellers in Asia and the Middle East, but they have not been sold in North America and Western Europe.
While Lenovo and Motorola handsets do compete for sales in India, there is little overlap elsewhere between the two divisions at this point.
"We're now planning to introduce Motorola-branded products back into China," Aymar de Lencquesaing, Lenovo's president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, told the BBC.
Nexus 6 Motorola announced the Nexus 6 shortly before the takeover was completed
"But right now what we intend to do is leverage the stronger brand in each particular market.
"For the most part, think of the developed mature world - that's going to be Motorola-driven. Emerging markets will be Lenovo-driven.
"Some markets will overlap and over time nothing says that in any given market we couldn't have a dual brand strategy. But, let's put it this way, it's probably smarter for us right now to walk before we run."
He ruled out cutting jobs at Motorola and confirmed that the division would remain headquartered in Chicago.
'Quality phones'
Lenovo had previously stated that one of the reasons it bought the division for $2.9bn (£1.8bn) was to take advantage of Motorola's existing relationships with network operators in North America and Europe.
One analyst said that this could offer a way to launch Lenovo-branded handsets in those regions if the company later decided to make the move.
"Lenovo has proven it can manufacture quality phones and it is already well known as a PC brand in Europe and the US," said Ronan de Renesse from the telecoms consultancy Ovum.
"So, it doesn't have the cheap aspect to its brand that some of the other Chinese manufacturers have to deal with."
Motorola Motorola's brand has been updated to take account of the acquisition
Mr de Lencquesaing added that a nearer-term advantage to the tie-up was that Motorola would benefit from his company's supply-line efficiencies.
The takeover does not include Motorola Solutions, which makes communications equipment for utility and emergency workers. The two Motorola businesses formally split in 2011.
Google paid $12.5bn to acquire Motorola Mobility in 2012. It said the key motivation for the deal was the firm's patents, which it is keeping hold of.
Google is developing cancer and heart attack detector
Google is aiming to diagnose cancers, impending heart attacks or strokes and other diseases, at a much earlier stage than is currently possible.
The company is working on technology that combines disease-detecting nanoparticles, which would enter a patient's bloodstream via a swallowed pill, with a wrist-worn sensor.
The idea is to identify slight changes in the person's biochemistry that could act as an early warning system.
The work is still at an early stage.
Early diagnosis is the key to treating disease. Many cancers, such as pancreatic, are detected only after they have become untreatable and fatal.
There are marked differences between cancerous and healthy tissues.
Google's ambition is to constantly monitor the blood for the unique traces of cancer, allowing diagnosis long before any physical symptoms appear.
The project is being conducted by the search company's research unit, Google X, which is dedicated to investigating potentially revolutionary innovations.
It marks the firm's latest shift into the medical sector following its work on glucose-measuring contact lenses for patients with diabetes and the acquisition of a start-up that developed a spoon to counteract the tremors caused by Parkinson's disease.
Google has also bought stakes in Calico, an anti-ageing research company, and 23andMe, which offers personal genetic-testing kits.
Nanoparticles
The diagnostic project is being led by Dr Andrew Conrad, a molecular biologist who previously developed a cheap HIV test that has become widely used.
"What we are trying to do is change medicine from reactive and transactional to proactive and preventative," he told the BBC.
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Doctor-patient relationships are pretty privileged and would not involve Google in any way”
Dr Andrew Conrad Google X
"Nanoparticles... give you the ability to explore the body at a molecular and cellular level."
Google is designing a suite of nanoparticles which are intended to match markers for different conditions.
They could be tailored to stick to a cancerous cell or a fragment of cancerous DNA.
Or they could find evidence of fatty plaques about to break free from the lining of blood vessels. These can cause a heart attack or stroke if they stop the flow of blood.
Another set would constantly monitor chemicals in the blood.
High levels of potassium are linked to kidney disease. Google believes it will be possible to construct porous nanoparticles that alter colour as potassium passes through.
"Then [you can] recall those nanoparticles to a single location - because they are magnetic - and that location is the superficial vasculature of the wrist, [where] you can ask them what they saw," said Dr Conrad.
Unattached nanoparticles would move differently in a magnetic field from those clumped around a cancer cell.
In theory, software could then provide a diagnosis by studying their movements.
As part of the project, the researchers have also explored ways of using magnetism to concentrate the nanoparticles temporarily in a single area.
The tech company's ambition is ultimately to create a wristband that would take readings of the nanoparticles via light and radio waves one or more times a day.
Prof Paul Workman, chief executive of the Institute of Cancer Research in London, told the BBC News website: "In principle this is great. Any newcomers with new ideas are welcome in the field.
"There is an urgent need for this. If we can detect cancer or other diseases earlier, then we can intervene with either lifestyle changes or treatment.
"How much of this proposal is dream versus reality is impossible to tell because it is a fascinating concept that now needs to be converted to practice."
His team at the institute is investigating cancer cells and cancer DNA in the blood as new methods of diagnosis and planning treatment.
He did warn Google that a diagnosis could increase anxiety and lead to unnecessary treatment, so there needed to be "very careful and rigorous analysis" before this type of blood monitoring could be used widely.
The scheme is being made public because Google is now seeking to establish partnerships.
But Dr Conrad sought to play down the idea that his firm wanted to run a search tool for the human body, alongside the one it already offers for the internet.
"We are the inventors of the technology but we have no intentions of commercialising it or monetising it in that way," he said.
"We will license it out and the partners will take it forward to doctors and patients.
"These are not consumer devices. They are prescriptive medical devices, and you know that doctor-patient relationships are pretty privileged and would not involve Google in any way."
From searching the internet to searching your blood, Google certainly has high ambitions. But is it feasible?
The basic principles are sound and mirror the work already taking place around the world.
Many research groups are looking at bits of cancer floating in the blood as a better way of diagnosing the disease and also to assess which tumours are more aggressive.
But Google will have to address concerns around "false positives", when healthy people are told they are ill.
These have plagued the PSA test for prostate cancer, as PSA levels can soar even when cancer is absent.
There is also the issue of "over-diagnosis". Who needs treating even if a condition is discovered?
There is continuing controversy around breast cancer screening: for every life saved, three women have invasive treatment for a cancer that would never have proved fatal.
Screening the body for disease is littered with dangers, and if it is not done carefully, it could make hypochondriacs out of all of us.
Big risk?
The nanoparticle project is the latest so-called "moonshot" to originate from Google X.
Other schemes include the firm's driverless car effort and Project Loon, an attempt to provide internet access to remote areas via a network of high-altitude weather balloons.
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While such ideas have the potential to make money, there is also a high risk of failure, and Google X acknowledges that several of its ideas have been ditched before being made public.
One analyst commented that its parent was in a rare position to make such investments.
"Under normal circumstances this is the kind of thing that would worry investors because such projects are too long-term and the miss rate is too high," said Cyrus Mewawalla, from CM Research.
"But because Google's core search business is currently so strong, shareholders are not worried at the moment and are allowing the firm to take a gamble."
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Analysis: Leo Kelion, technology desk editor
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Google's diagnostic project may never come to fruition, but its significance lies in the fact it represents part of a wider push by the firm into health tech.
Bearing in mind this is already a crowded sector, it begs the question: why?
The search firm denies that it wants to run its own diagnosis service, with all the privacy headaches that would entail, but the patents it creates along the way could prove lucrative.
No doubt the fact that co-founder and Google X chief Sergey Brin has been told that a gene mutation has increased his likelihood of contracting Parkinson's has also focused efforts.
And the company clearly believes its expertise in "big data" analysis and its freedom to focus on giant leaps forward, rather than incremental steps, plays to its advantages.
It's worth remembering that another much hyped health idea, Google Flu Trends - which aimed to predict the spread of the virus based on internet searches - has been dubbed a failure by some after researchers said it had overestimated the number of cases in 100 out of 108 weeks.
And US health watchdogs banned Google-backed 23andme from selling the the heath data part of its genetic screening kits last year.
On the other hand, Google's "smart lens" for diabetics shows promise, with Swiss firm Novartis stepping up to license the technology in July.
And the forthcoming Android Fit platform, designed to harness data from other apps and wearables, has a good chance of success given the huge number of people using the operating system.
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Apple chief Tim Cook: 'I'm proud to be gay'
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has publicly acknowledged his sexuality, saying that he is "proud to be gay".
Mr Cook made his announcement to try to help people struggling with their identity, he wrote in a Bloomberg Businessweek article.
He has been open about his sexuality, but has also tried to maintain a basic level of privacy until now, he said.
This week Mr Cook challenged his home state of Alabama to ensure the rights of gay and transgender people.
"I don't consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I've benefited from the sacrifice of others," he wrote.
"So if hearing that the CEO [chief executive] of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it's worth the trade-off with my own privacy," he added.
Mr Cook said that he had been open about his sexuality with many people, including colleagues at Apple, but that it still "wasn't an easy choice" to publicly announce his sexual orientation.
He quoted civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King, saying: "Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' "
Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC News technology correspondent
Tim Cook's announcement may come as no surprise in Silicon Valley or across corporate America.
But that does not mean that we should underestimate the significance of the leader of the world's most valuable company talking openly about his sexuality.
Back in May, a piece in the New York Times asked "where are the gay chief executives?" and struggled to name any openly gay CEOs at America's 1,000 biggest companies.
Apple under Steve Jobs was not a company that took a stand on any issues which were not seen as relevant to its business.
Tim Cook has been more forthcoming on all sorts of issues, including equal rights for gay workers, and while he says he does not see himself as an activist, that is how many will now see him.
That could embroil him in controversy in the United States, let alone in other parts of the world with less liberal views of sexuality.
Mr Cook admitted that going public as a gay man was not an easy choice - but it certainly looks a courageous one.
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This week Mr Cook referred to Martin Luther King in a speech in Alabama in which he called for equal rights for people based on sexual orientation and identity.
He said that Alabama had been too slow to ensure the rights of ethnic minorities in the civil rights era, and was now being too slow to guarantee gay rights.
"Under the law, citizens of Alabama can still be fired based on their sexual orientation," Mr Cook said.
"We can't change the past, but we can learn from it and we can create a different future."
Mr Cook has championed equality at Apple, but in August said he was "not satisfied" with workforce diversity at the company.
Outstanding, a not-for-profit professional network for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) executives, said on Thursday that many LGBT people in the UK felt it was "safer to stay in the closet" when at work.
In May a US study by LGBT organisation Human Rights Campaign suggested that 53% of US LGBT employees had not come out at work
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
White House computer network 'hacked'
A White House computer network has been breached by hackers, it has been reported.
The unclassified Executive Office of the President network was attacked, according to the Washington Post.
US authorities are reported to be investigating the breach, which was reported to officials by an ally of the US, sources said.
White House officials believe the attack was state-sponsored but are not saying what - if any - data was taken.
In a statement to the AFP news agency, the White House said "some elements of the unclassified network" had been affected.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Washington Post: "In the course of assessing recent threats, we identified activity of concern on the unclassified EOP network.
"Any such activity is something we take very seriously. In this case, we took immediate measures to evaluate and mitigate the activity.
'State-sponsored'
"Certainly, a variety of actors find our networks to be attractive targets and seek access to sensitive information. We are still assessing the activity of concern."
The source said the attack was consistent with a state-sponsored effort and Russia is thought by the US government to be one of the most likely threats.
"On a regular basis, there are bad actors out there who are attempting to achieve intrusions into our system," a second White House official told the Washington Post.
"This is a constant battle for the government and our sensitive government computer systems, so it's always a concern for us that individuals are trying to compromise systems and get access to our networks."
The Post quoted its sources as saying that the attack was discovered two-to-three weeks ago. Some White House staff were reportedly told to change their passwords and there was some disruption to network services.
In a statement given to Agence France-Presse, a White House official said the Executive Office of the President received daily alerts concerning numerous possible cyber threats.
In the course of addressing the breach, some White House users were temporarily disconnected from the network.
"Our computers and systems have not been damaged, though some elements of the unclassified network have been affected. The temporary outages and loss of connectivity for our users is solely the result of measures we have taken to defend our networks," the official said.
The US's National Security Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Security Service were reportedly investigating.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Microsoft and Samsung in royalties row
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Microsoft is suing Samsung for threatening to stop paying royalties to the software giant for patents behind the Android operating system.
The two companies came to a deal in September 2011 to cross-license each other’s patent portfolios and Samsung wound up paying Microsoft royalties on a series of patents.
Analyst Rick Sherlund of Nomura Securities has estimated royalties on its Android patents bring Microsoft nearly $2bn a year.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, says more than 25 companies are licensing the patents, including Samsung, Acer and ZTE, covering about 80% of the Android-based smartphones sold in the US.
In a blog post Microsoft’s deputy general counsel said Samsung Electronics decided to breach its contract after Microsoft announced in September that it was acquiring Nokia’s devices business.
After initially refusing to pay royalties in the second year of the deal, Samsung made a late payment in November but did not add on interest, according to a redacted copy of the complaint filed in federal court in New York and provided by Microsoft.
The complaint also alleged that Samsung has asked South Korean competition authorities to change the contract to reduce or eliminate its payments to Microsoft.
Samsung said in a statement: “We will review the complaint in detail and determine appropriate measures in response.”
Friday, August 1, 2014
Berkeley And MIT Make Glasses Obsolete With New Display Technology
The day when you will no longer need your glasses to watch TV is looming, thanks to some very clever people at MIT and Berkeley.
Researchers have developed new display technology that corrects vision problems and adjusts the image to suit the users’ poor eyesight.
The technology works by using algorithms that alter an image based on a person’s glasses prescription, combined with a light filter set in front of the display. The algorithm alters the light from each individual pixel and passes it through a small hole in the filter, so when each ray of light hits the retina, it creates a sharper image.
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The idea is that the technology will predict how the users’ eyes will distort whatever is on screen and correct it beforehand (which your glasses normally do), so the image appears clear to your eyes.
Soon you'll be able to ditch your glasses when you sit down for some TV. Photo by Lauren Lewis Soon you’ll be able to ditch your glasses when you sit down for some TV. Photo by Lauren Lewis
Soon you’ll be able to ditch your glasses when you sit down for some TV. Photo by Lauren Lewis
Researchers tested out the technology on an Apple iPod Touch, which they attached the plastic light filter and an acrylic slab to. They then used a DSLR camera’s focus options to simulate far-sightedness and short-sightedness.
Similar technology is being developed elsewhere but the researchers claim that their technology doesn’t result in a dramatic loss in image contrast. This system reportedly achieves better contrast and resolution.
The research team hopes that the technology will be both commercially useful but also have positive health implications. Leading the project, Professor Brian Barsky of the University of California said : “We now live in a world where displays are ubiquitous, and being able to interact with displays is taken for granted.
“People with higher order aberrations often have irregularities in the shape of the cornea, and this irregular shape makes it very difficult to have a contact lens that will fit. In some cases, this can be a barrier to holding certain jobs because many workers need to look at a screen as part of their work. This research could transform their lives, and I am passionate about that potential.
The research team hope that they will be able to refine the technology and slim it down to a piece of plastic that can be stuck onto any existing display, while software could be adapted to different operating systems.
However this is all still a few years off, and there are major hurdles to overcome. Not least that fact that it won’t work if multiple sets of eyes are looking at the screen and the users have to stay in one position for it to work.
Display Revolution
Samsung, LG and Nokia are all pumping money into display research. We’ve already seen demos of changing, borderless and foldable displays this year – with more expected at IFA in September and CES next year.
LG recently announced earlier this month a rollable plastic OLEd displays and an 18-inch transparent OLED display. LG hopes that it will be able to combine the two new technologies and launch a TV that’s both rollable and transparent by 2017. Byung Kang, senior vice president of LG, said “ We are confident that by 2017 we will successfully develop an Ultra HD flexible and transparent OLED panel of more than 60 inches, which will have transmittance of more than 40% and a curvature radius of 100R”.























