Technology never ceases to amaze. Consider e-paper: a thin plastic substrate overlaid with technological doohickies and thingamajigs that can display an image with reflected light while using little to no power. The only drawback is the ability to display shades of a single color--usually grey. Philips research is reporting that monochrome e-paper is no more. They’ve figured out how to infuse different colors into a single layer, while controlling each color separately, taking e-paper to a whole new multi-chromatic level.

This new variant of e-paper Philips calls “e-skin”. E-skin possesses the same inherent flexibility of e-paper. And, because of its low energy requirements, it is readily applied to mobile electronics. Philips speculates that e-skin could be used on cell phones, allowing them to be easily “changed to match your outfit, mood or environment.” They could also be used for portable gaming systems--downloadable skins to match a game’s look and feel.

Every day, it seems, we creep one step closer to realizing the reality of Zaphod’s Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses.

Image Credit: Philips Research

Many tech analysts feel e-book readers will have to breach the $100 price point if they are to go beyond their niche audience. With the number of companies lining up to try their luck in the nascent e-book reader market increasing rapidly, the contenders will soon realize that e-readers will need a wider audience for even a few of them to stay in the hunt.

According to Scott Liu, chairman of electrophoretic display (e-paper) maker Prime View International (PVI), e-readers will not be breaching the $100 price point in 2010 as the demand will stay strong. He told Digitimes that electrophoretic displays are becoming affordable but his company is still not offering them to clients at reduced prices.