Google has unveiled a simple new 3D-printed Google Assistant device called Google Assistant Connect. Using a small E Ink display, this is Google's idea of how a smart gadget can combine communication, display and its own assistant software and service.
This seems to be just an early prototype, and we don't know if Google aims to actually produce such devices in the future or suggest this has hardware reference designs to third party developers.
France-based LDLC's Nemeio is a smart keyboard in which each key is a small E Ink display. All the keys are customizable with the bundled application, and the keyboard can change according to the running application or website.
LDLC's plan is to ship the Nemeio in the "summer of 2019" for $300-$500.
Idemia developed a new credit card that has changing CVV codes, that can help reduce online credit card fraud. To enable the dynamic code, the credit cards use a small E Ink display that shows a new code every refresh cycle in an efficient process (a one-hour refresh rate has a four-year lifetime).
US-based PNC Bank is now running a pilot project to test the new cards, which will run for 90 days. Upon the successful end of the trial, Idemia hopes to start offering the new credit cards to customers in early 2019. It is estimated that a "Motion-Code" credit card with the E Ink display will cost about $15 (compared to $2-4 for a regular chip-based card).
2018 is soon over - and it's nice to reflect back to the year we had experienced. The focus of the e-paper industry continues to shift from e-readers to signage and retail applications, even though the e-reader continues to be a successful and stable market.
Here are the top 10 stories posted on E-Ink-Info in 2018, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):
E Ink Holdings introduced a new digital paper film, branded as JustWrite, which aims to bring writing functionality "on every surface".
JustWrite combines an E Ink display with touch functionality - without the use of a TFT backplane. EIH says that JustWrite features almost no latency in pen writing - and so it closely resembles writing on paper, natural surfaces or marker boards. The film is produced via a roll to roll process and requires only a writing stylus and simple electronics to enable functionality.E Ink can produce JustWrite films up to 3-feet in width.
Ford launched a City Of Tomorrow challenge in Miami-Date County, Florida - with a goal to improve mobility in the city. One of the two winners was Soofa - with its solar-powered benches and information display signs. Sofa was awarded with $50,000 and will deploy its signs in up to three neighborhoods in the county.
Soofa uses 32" E Ink displays (and a system developed by Visionect) to show bus and train arrival times, alternative modes of transportation available and also local events and activities.
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