Oxford University researchers developed new technology based on phase-change materials (similar to ones used in re-writable DVDs) that can be used to create non-volatile highly-efficient e-paper displays. Oxford established a new company called Bodle Technologies to commercialize this new technology.

The phase-change materials can manipulate light - by electrical, optical or mechanical means - they can be used to filter, steer or dim light using very little power. Bodle already demonstrated a sub-100nm pixel size and a very rich color gamut (they say it exceeds "other display technologies"). David Fyfe (the executive chairman of Oxford Photovoltaics and the former CEO of Cambridge Display Technology) will serve as executive chairman.

Two years ago, E Ink announced the Spectra e-paper panels that feature three pigments - black, white and red. Today the company announced an expansion of that product line to include the Spectra Yellow, which can show black, white or yellow colors.

The Spectra panels are aimed for electronic shelf label (ESL) retail applications. E Ink says that red and yellow are two of the most widely used colors relevant to in-store displays and signage. Spectra panels support both active-matrix and segmented format displays.

Pebble Technology, the company behind the successful Pebble smartwatch, is now developing a new version called Pebble Time - that sports a color e-paper display. The company launched a kickstarter campaign with an aim to raise $500,000. It took them one hour to raise $1 million, and a few days later they already passed $8 million in funding.

The Pebble time uses a "color e-paper display" The original pebble used a 1.26" (144x168) monochrome memory LCD (transflective LCD made by Sharp). It's not clear what kind of displays will be used in the new Pebble, but as far as I know sharp do not produce a color memory LCD.

E Ink announced their new Spectra e-paper panels which features three pigments - black, white and red. Spectra panels are aimed towards retailer applications which will benefit from the extra color. E Ink will start producing spectra panels in Q3 2013.

According to Bloomberg, Samsung wants to sell its electrowetting display unit LiquaVista which they bought back in January 2011. They are currently in talks with Amazon, that will pay a sub-$100 million sum to Samsung for the unit. According to the report, a Samsung spokesperson admitted that the Liquavista acquisition "didn't meet its expectations".

I believe Amazon does want to bring new life into its Kindle e-reader line, and LiquaVista's display can enable color e-paper displays with a fast refresh rate compared to E Ink. On the other hand the technology is much less mature and I'm not sure if Amazon is the sort of company to actually succeed in commercializing such a technology. This one is going to be interesting to watch...

ICAP Patent Brokerage is going to auction an IP package of high-definition, full-color e-paper innovations from the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, Yonsei University.

ICAP says that the IP package features a flexible electrophoretic display capable of displaying multi-color, high-definition images. The IP portfolio covers a grayscale representation unit with various charged particles for displaying grayscale by using light reflection and transmission. The color in the display is presented by using colored particles in an electrode placed above the grayscale unit. These colored particles are made of metallic nano-particles and formed in a specific pattern on the upper electrode for presenting a high-definition, multi-color colored display. Manufacturing of the colored particles or layers may include slurry process, screen printing, ink-jet, or nano-printing that may have high industrial applicability and is cost effective.

E Ink is showing some new color Triton (Gen 2) E Ink prototypes, including one with front light. The displays are getting better, they say it's now almost like LCDs. Even though quality is better, and production costs have gone done, E Ink still does not see mass adoption of these panels by e-reader makers any time soon.

E Ink managed to get the color filters closer to the E Ink microcapsules, which means that more light is reflected from the displays. Coupled with the front-light technologies, the displays look better then before.

Japan Display unveiled two new reflective LCD prototype displays. Those new LCDs, targeted at e-paper applications are low-power (there's no backlight), visible under direct light and can offer fast-refreshes, high resolution and color.

JD showed two 7" panels. The first one offers a resolution of 768x1044 and a bright reflection of 40%. The color gamut is just 5% NTSC. This panel is ready for mass production soon. The second panel has a lower resolution (576x1024) but has a much better color gamut (36% NTSC) and will take longer to commercialize. Both panels consume only 3mW when showing a static image (the display retains the current image so a static image consumes less power).

Project Vivit (a Japan-based company) unveiled a 6" color E Ink prototype that is fast enough to display video. They wouldn't disclose any more technical details, beside the fact that it uses a Seiko Epson SoC which enables the fast response time.

Researchers from the Novel Devices Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati developed a new e-paper technology based on plastic sheets coated with aluminum with pores that hide black ink behind them. To show a black pixel, the display pushes the ink through the pore and onto the front of the sheet.

The research already developed a first prototype - a 6" round display that features 150 ppi. The refresh rate is very fast - about 67 times a second. It has a very bright white background - due to the aluminum coating.