E Ink announced that its new Advanced Color ePaper(ACeP) E Ink panels has been used by Japan's Toppan Printing and Isetan Mitsukoshi to develop the world’s first color e-paper digital point-of-purchase (POP) sign.
Isetan Mitsukoshi says that the new POP signage will be helpful in reducing paper waste from in-store promotions. Isetan Mitsukoshi will install a prototype in the Isetan Shinjuku store for their “HANABANASAI” campaign that launched a few day ago.
Lenovo started shipping its Yoga Book C930 Windows 10 tablet/laptop hybrid that features a 10.8" 2560x1600 LCD display and a large (around 8", it seems) E Ink display that operates as a dynamic keyboard, a notepad or an e-reader. Other features include an Intel m3-7Y30 or Core i5-7Y54 processor, 4GB RAM and up to 256GB of SSD storage.
You can now buy the Yoga Book C930 at Amazon.com (note: affiliate link to Amazon).
The Likebook Mars is now shipping for $239 (note: affiliate link to Amazon.com). This is a high-spec e-reader/tablet that features a 7.8" 1404x1872 (300 PPI) E Ink display, an octa-core RK3368 chipset, 2GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, microSD and a modified Android OS.
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.
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).
Papercast and Trapeze announced a new partnership under which Trapeze will integrate Papercast' paper display technology into their Operations Control System. Trapeze dispatchers will be able to use both Trapeze displays and Papercast e-paper displays utilizing their existing Trapeze platform.
The aim of the partnership is to enable public transport operators to embrace the benefits of e-paper display technology with a seamless, cost-effective and fully integrated solution. Papercast uses E Ink displays coupled with solar panels to enable sustainable mobility systems.
E Ink Holding's president Johnson Lee says that EIH expects to enjoy strong sales in Q4 2018 - and the growth momentum will continue in 2019. The increased sales will be driven by strong demand for electronic shelf label (ESL) products.
EIH's current production capacity is fully booked - and even though the company is increasing its capacity at its Linkou Taiwan plant, this will not be enough to meet the surging demand. EIH is now considering converting some of its production capacity at its US plant to produce ESL displays (the fab is currently exclusively making e-reader displays).
The West Bengal State Government Housing & Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), in an effort to gain a IGBC Platinum status for the Newtown municipality is adopting several new environmentally friendly initiatives.
One of these is the usage of E Ink signage in bus stops. In the pilot project, an E Ink display was installed in the city's Eco Park Gate 2 bus stand.
China-based display maker BOE demonstrated smart label displays using what seems to be E Ink displays:
This is the first time we hear of any E Ink project by BOE (one of the world's largest display producers). This demonstration was part of BOE's Global Innovation Partner Conference 2018 (BOE IPC-2018).
Waveshare is offering a wide range of E Ink displays for Raspberry Pi, and the company has now added 7.5" display option. The 7.5" E Ink display offers a resolution of 640x384, and can support either 2 colors (black/white) or 3 colors (black/white/red). The display costs $65 for the black and white version and $77 for the 3 color one.
Waveshare is now offering E Ink Raspberry Pi displays ranging from 1.54" to 7.5" in size. All of these displays are available on Amazon.com.