Flexible e-ink screens, as easy on the eyes as newsprint, will wirelessly grab the documents you need when you enter a meeting. You can then unfurl them on the train or switch over to the newspaper. Researchers at Dutch company Polymer Vision have created flexible circuitry that bonds to displays at low temperatures so that screens can bend without melting or breaking. Now they’re working on circuits for high-resolution 8-by-11-inch displays.
German pen company Staedtler created the first pen to write on almost anything. Next: ink that chemically adapts to that surface. Staedtler is closely watching academic research into smart inks, which change to optimize molecular bonds with a surface. Paper could trigger non-bleeding ink; whiteboards might produce a dry-wipeable substance.
Go ahead, stare out the window—it’s also your monitor. Displays can already be 75 percent transparent when turned off, thanks to thin electroluminescent films called organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs. Universal Display Corporation in New Jersey and others are developing see-through conductive materials to replace the last visible part: the grid of circuits that delivers power to pixels.
No more fumbling with passwords, ID cards or keys. In roughly five years, your desk will recognize you by looking at your face. Hidden cameras snap photos as you walk in, compare them to a database of users, and unlock laptops, doors and personal data. To make sure new facial hair or dim lighting doesn’t throw the system off, University of Tennessee researchers and others are investigating 3-D images that focus on difficult-to-change bone structure.
Never Lose Another Memo
Soon, staples won’t just keep papers together—they’ll make sure you keep them, period. As RFID tags shrink in price and size, Swingline wants to embed them in staples so that lost documents can radio their location to a tracking device.
Technology in 2050
Concept future technology
Constrained Ball interesting device
Future computers
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