On Dec 9, 12:38 am, "Roger Worden" wrote:
In the current issues of aviation magazines, there are ads for eFlyBook.
This device contains various flight documents for power pilots, but the
interesting part is the use of a "digital paper" display. Other than retail
store signs, this is the first commercial use of digital paper that I have
seen. Digital paper is a technology that uses tiny rotating beads, black on
one side and white on the other, electrostatically rotated, forming a
non-volatile, non-luminous display. The upside is that it is clearly visible
in full sunlight! The downside is that right now DP is limited to
monochrome. I am hoping that the PDA makers will someday produce a DP-based
unit, which might eventually be useful with SeeYouMobile, WinPilot and the
like. It's really hard to see the display on my HP IPAQ in the cockpit, even
though the one I selected was recommended as one of the most visible. I did
some searching and did not find any hints of such a product yet.

Anyone have more information?

eInk has a terribly slow update rate, such that entry of a numeric
value the way we do it in the SN10 is very difficult. Also high UV
sensitivity. It is definitely a technology to watch but has a long
way to go prior usability for flight computers. As a replacement
for very static display (ie, paper map), it is quite good. Extremely
high contrast (better than newsprint, much much better than LCD).

First consumer product to use this was a Japanese-only eBook
a couple years back, followed by the recently available in USA model.

Best Regards, Dave

PS: Anyone that attended my SSA talks on past&future
glider instrumentation a few years back, already knew this ;-)