Nth Degree Technologies invented this product. <a href="http://www.nthdegreetech.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.nthdegreetech.com/</a><p>Here is one relevant patent: <a href="http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8846457.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8846457.html</a><p>Here is an album of various pictures taken earlier this fall (2014), and also just a minute ago with two pieces I had around the house: <a href="http://imgur.com/a/nBB5r" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/a/nBB5r</a><p>The technology is several things: it is real, it is sufficiently bright to stand up to daylight conditions, and it is mass-producible. It has raised interest from various industry sectors.<p>Lastly, this technology is not the work of Rohinni. They bought some pieces from Nth Degree, and what their business plan is, who knows. They did not invent it, legally cannot produce it, and it is doubtful they have the the technical knowhow to do so anyway.<p>In short, Rohinni is taking credit for a product they did not make.
Nothing about this seems plausible to me. I do research on LED technologies though I can't speak about this specifically because they don't seem to have released any technical details whatsoever, but that's part of what makes me so skeptical. The panels they present are so bright, so uniform (both in colour and intensity), so thin and flexible–and they claim they'll be able to mass produce them too? Whatever they've got, I'd be very surprised if they manage to scale it, let alone for it to be "in the wild around the middle of 2015". I'd be very happy to be proven wrong of course!<p>I think in cases like this photoshop mockups (assuming that's what they are) can do more harm than good for setting expectations that might not be realistic.
I'm always suspicious of LED room lights when they don't state the price upfront. They've been pretty price in the past, but the cost is dropping quickly. Some quick Googling found <a href="http://www.environmentallights.com/led-light-panels/ultra-thin-led-light-panels.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.environmentallights.com/led-light-panels/ultra-th...</a> which has 24" x 24" 17W panel for $250. That panel outputs 3000 lux == 3k lumens / sq meter = 1.1k lumens for 4 sq ft. This is the same as a 75W incandescent bulb. A standard 13W LED bulb is $16 for the same amount of light.<p>So the price needs to drop by about 1-2 orders of magnitude before these become practical for most people.
OLED Lighting is LED 2.0. LG [1] is already pushing this into production.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeoJEog1XYE" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeoJEog1XYE</a>
For a glowing-surface product you can get right now, check out electroluminescent paint.<p><a href="http://lumilor.com/" rel="nofollow">http://lumilor.com/</a><p><a href="http://www.litcoat.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.litcoat.com/</a>
Why are they talking about this and not taking over the backlight market for LCD displays? That market wants flat light sources right now and will pay for them. Because, maybe, this doesn't really work?
and why not show off Tron suits? Considering the price of light tapes this might be appealing if its cheap enough to fiddle with.<p>I would like to see it on clothing, particularly bicycle and motorcycle gear. Might be awesome for safety persons too (first responders)
There's something to be said in favor of light emitted from a point, like an HID bulb, or along a line like an incandescent light bulb. The advantages of points and lines is ease of constructing lenses and optics to put the light where you want. This is a problem for LEDs where the light is emitted on a plane, or multiple parallel lines, or space-filling curves depending on the semiconductor process used. What would be some advantages of a planar light like these, if they existed?
Fascinating piece of tech if they actually manage to deliver on it. It'd be amazing if there was some more information on it though, the only stuff I can find is them explaining that it's LEDs mixed with ink between two conductive layers and an additional protective layer. Then a lot of fancy mockups that don't tell me anything about the tech they're selling.<p>Even if this vastly underdelivers, it might do away with the inverters needed for el-wire/panels which would be neat.
This is one of three HN links on the front page that uses this new fad where the landing consists of nothing but a full screen image, no content and a less than obvious notification that you should scroll down to see something actually useful. Stahp.
some more editorial information at:
<a href="http://www.fastcolabs.com/3038890/rohinnis-lightpaper-is-incredibly-thin-and-printable" rel="nofollow">http://www.fastcolabs.com/3038890/rohinnis-lightpaper-is-inc...</a>
One thing I've disliked about the current crop of thin, high-PPI LCD screens is the unavoidable unevenness in backlighting caused by their thin, hard-to-make-optically-perfect diffusers. Even the Retina Display on the MacBook Pro isn't immune from it.<p>Though Rohinni doesn't visualize it in their applications section, Lightpaper looks like it could enable diffuser-less, razor-thin LCD displays with potentially far greater luminance uniformity than current backlight solutions.
Hello my name is Alexander and I am the founder of a French information site for 3D printing. It happens that I wrote an article on "lightpaper" ( <a href="http://www.priximprimante3d.com/led/" rel="nofollow">http://www.priximprimante3d.com/led/</a> ) and wanted to know if the process used to manufacture this device is similar to that used to manufacture OLED.
This paper (2012) shows that it is possible to create LEDs by printing zinc oxide and a conducting polymer on paper:
<a href="http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:515790/FULLTEXT01" rel="nofollow">http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:515790/FULLTEXT01</a><p>Maybe it's derived from this technique?
Perhaps more useful information can be found here:
<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/litcoat-takes-paint-to-a-new-level-with-electroluminescence-2014-10-17" rel="nofollow">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/litcoat-takes-paint-to-a-ne...</a>
<a href="http://www.12newsnow.com/story/26828656/litcoat-announces-availability-of-three-new-electroluminescent-paint-packages" rel="nofollow">http://www.12newsnow.com/story/26828656/litcoat-announces-av...</a>
<a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/litcoat-revolutionizes-the-painting-industry-with-paramagnetic-electroluminescent-paint-282324651.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/litcoat-revolutioniz...</a>
This is called LitCoat and more information is on litcoat.com
LitCoat is nano coating and consist of spray paint layers working together:<p>(1) Conductive -
(2) Dielectric -
(3) EL (Electroluminescent) -
(4) Conductive layer and then you seal it off with the
(5) Top layer. (Once applied save to touch)<p>From principle it can be applied on everything but it is depending on the under-layer trace thickness and uniformity. In case of irregularity of the surface it would require treatment for a more homogeneous surface.<p>DIY:
<a href="http://www.litcoat.com/product/litcoat-electroluminescent-paint-rd-kickstarter-package" rel="nofollow">http://www.litcoat.com/product/litcoat-electroluminescent-pa...</a>