THERE IS A COMMON SIGN IN THE TAIPEI SUBWAY
It reads: “If you read books or newspapers, please be careful not to disturb other travelers!” But here in Taiwan’s capital city, if you look around you will mainly see faces lit by the glow from the displays of various compact reading devices. Actual books are the exception, and newspapers on paper seem to be extinct. No reader interferes with his neighbor’s view.
Displays are everywhere. As soon as people arrive at the office they sit down in front of one, and later they watch TV on yet another display. Does this mean that the age of printing, which was initiated by the Chinese around 2,200 years ago, is absolutely over? Not at all, because state-of-the art displays made of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are bringing the printer’s art into the electronic age.
However, at the moment people are mostly viewing LC displays (LCDs). With this technology, liquid crystals control the light emitted by a backlight in a way that makes text appear on the display. LCD technology utilizes a complex array of components including colored and polarizing filters as well as a backlight. It was this technology that made smartphones, laptops, and large, flat-screen televisions possible. Now OLEDs are sparking the next stage in display technology, thanks to their obvious benefits, including the fact that they can be manufactured using less expensive printing processes.