PIXEL QI TO RELEASE DIY KIT

Pixel Qi has started the mass production of its much-anticipated 3Qi displays. The first batch of displays is going to be used in ‘specialized tablet devices with multi-touch’. According to Mary Lou Jepsen, the founder of Pixel Qi, the displays used in such devices will be thinner over time. She, however, added that some customers have expressed a preference for displays with traditional thickness.

Jespen also says that in the first quarter of 2010 the company will make a limited number of displays available for DIY users. Details haven’t been announced and it is not known who among you will get to try the display. Requests for displays are not to be made until their next blog post with how-to information arrives.

The 3Qi displays consume less power. They are also readable in bright surroundings.

UPCOMING NOTION INK TABLET TO HAVE PIXEL QI DISPLAY

Pixel Qi says that its 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel displays are already in production. And now the company has announced that Notion Ink is going to be first manufacturer to release a product with its transflective display. The upcoming Notion Ink tablet will run Google’s Android. It will be powered by a NVIDIA Tegra T20 chipset. The Tegra chipset will give it enough power to handle 1080p HD video while at the same time reducing overall power consumption.

The Pixel Qi display can operate in two modes: fully saturated color mode and grayscale ePaper mode. The ePaper mode will save energy and make the display readable in bright settings. And while working indoors you can change the settings to fully saturated color mode and use the device as a computer. The tablet doesn’t have a physical keyboard, but it can be used for surfing web over WiFi. It can also be used as an eBook reader. Notion Ink says that you will be able to play HD video continuously for up to 8 hours.

The tablet is feature-packed. It supports WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G wireless and GPS. It has USB, HDMI, SD card slot, headphone and mic. It also has a 3 mega pixel webcam. For storage there is a 16GB or 32GB onboard flash storage.

Notion Ink is expected to show off the device at CES. No word on pricing or availability as yet.

PIXEL Qi TO MASS PRODUCE ITS 3 Qi LOW POWER DISPLAYS

Pixel Qi plans to start the mass production of its 3 Qi displays from next month. These displays consume less power while at the same time offering high contrast. The 3 Qi displays can be used in two modes. When used in full color saturation mode, you can hardly distinguish between a Pixel Qi display and a normal LCD display. And when used in high contrast mode, the display will consume significantly less power and you will get more battery life. The 3Qi displays are also readable in bright surroundings.

Pixel Qi is founded by Mary Lou Jospen who is also associated with the One Laptop Per Child project. She has been distributing screen shots of the display for quite sometime, but the real product hasn’t been released as yet. But now with mass production just around the corner, we will not have to wait too long to see the displays used in real notebooks.

Pixel Qi is also developing an HDTV that consumes less than 10 watts of power while most HDTVs use at least ten times more energy. Pixel Qi said that its technology would make HDTVs available in areas with limited access to power. And at just 10 watts the TV could run on a battery.

PIXEL Qi: 40 HOUR LAPTOPS

You might recall that a few days ago I blogged about the 35 hour battery that some researches in South Korea were working on. Well Pixel Qi says that they have a 40 hour laptop that you could see as early as 2Q next year.