Remember SEDs? Those surface-conduction electron-emitter displays were around for quite a while, competing with FEDs (field emission displays) until Sony decided to pull the plug on the latter back in March last year. That gave one company, Canon, enough of a push to continue to believe in SED. Canon even filed new patents on SED technology in the US in May 2009. But that’s over now (we kind of anticipated this as early as December 2008).

Canon yesterday decided to freeze development of SED technologies, mainly because the company was unable to push down production costs to an acceptable level. The plan to establish SED as the next standard for flat TVs also proved to be more difficult than expected because Canon faced a lawsuit based on their work with SEDs in the US (the picture shows a Canon SED prototype from 2008).

Toshiba left a joint venture with Canon that was aimed at developing SEDs in 2007 already. Now if only the hardware makers would focus on producing affordable OLEDs (Samsung Mobile Displays’ Sang-Soo Kim said this week he expects OLEDs to be the standard for flat TVs in about five years).

We have numerous super-light laptops, a plethora of netbooks, and the iPad to choose from. But some companies still produce portable DVD players. One example is Sony, which yesterday in Japan announced [JP] just that, the DVP-FX950. The player has two selling points: a 9-inch LCD screen that features an LED backlight and a battery life of 7.5 hours (up 25% from the previous model).

Other than the LED backlight, the screen features a resolution of 800×480 and a viewing angle of 180 degrees. Next to DVDs and CDs, the player also has a USB port, meaning you can plug in a USB stick to view JPEGs or listen to MP3s (other formats aren’t supported through USB). The player, which is sized at 227×170.8×34.4mm and weighs 0.88kg, also has an internal speaker.

Sony plans to start selling the DVP-FX950 in Japan on June 16 (price: $390). The company hasn’t said yet whether the device will go on sale in other markets as well.

OLEDs, which are said to lead the next wave of innovation in the TV space (after back-lit LCDs and 3D displays), come with plenty of advantages: they produce gorgeous images, they are self-luminous, light, and they’re flexible – very flexible. Case in point: a super-thin, Sony-made 4.1-inch OLED that actually wraps around a pencil, shown today in Japan.

The display is just 80μm thick, offers 432 x 240 resolution (121 ppi), a contrast ratio of around 1,000:1, and produces 100 cd/m2 brightness. Sony says the OLED can be wrapped around a pencil with just a 4mm radius. And the OLED can actually continue to display images and video while being rolled up, which is (according to Sony) a world’s first.

Unfortunately, the OLED is just a prototype, but those of you who attend the SID event in Seattle this week will be able to see the screen in action. All the others can drool over the display in the short (but pretty cool) video embedded below.

OLEDs, which are said to lead the next wave of innovation in the TV space (after back-lit LCDs and 3D displays), come with plenty of advantages: they produce gorgeous images, they are self-luminous, light, and they’re flexible – very flexible. Case in point: a super-thin, Sony-made 4.1-inch OLED that actually wraps around a pencil, shown today in Japan.

The display is just 80μm thick, offers 432 x 240 resolution (121 ppi), a contrast ratio of around 1,000:1, and produces 100 cd/m2 brightness. Sony says the OLED can be wrapped around a pencil with just a 4mm radius. And the OLED can actually continue to display images and video while being rolled up, which is (according to Sony) a world’s first.

Unfortunately, the OLED is just a prototype, but those of you who attend the SID event in Seattle this week will be able to see the screen in action. All the others can drool over the display in the short (but pretty cool) video embedded below.

Mind-reading devices are nothing really new, but Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) apparently sees a huge potential for that market in the near future. The MIC will join forces with selected private tech companies to develop and commercialize robots and consumer electronics that can be controlled through thought. The project kicks off this fiscal year and is supposed to end by 2020.

The MIC says Japan should use its strength in fields such as brain science and IT to come up with TVs that could be operated without using fingers or cell phones that could send out emails via thought alone, for example. Other potential applications include a car navigation system that automatically displays the nearest restaurants when the driver thinks of having a meal or robots that can come to the rescue when elderly or disabled people are in trouble.

The MIC says it eyes working together with companies such as Toyota, Honda (see picture above) or Hitachi (all of which are experienced in developing brain interface technologies). Partners from the academic sector include Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Osaka University, and the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International.

We’re about to get yet another 3D display. This time, it’s Toshiba Mobile Display Corp. that’s prepping such a screen, an autostereoscopic (glasses-free), 21-inch 3D HD display “for use in next-generation 3D monitors”, to be more exact. Toshiba says the main selling points is that its new “integral imaging system” with 9-parallax design makes it possible for users to view 3D images from a wider range of viewing angles.

According to the company, that system required the development of a new “ultra-high-definition LCD module”, but ultimately leads to less eye fatigue and produces better images than 2-parallax 3D displays. The company teamed up with Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in the development of the HD display.

The device features WXGA (1,280×800) resolution, 480 cd/m2 brightness, and ±15 degrees (horizontal) 3D viewing angle. Toshiba expects it to be mainly used for advertisement and entertainment purposes. The display will be showcased next month at the SID 2010 International Symposium in Seattle.