No doubt inspired by the Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga that overlays scrolling comments over videos during playback, the Anobar sits on top of a TV and scrolls messages from others watching the same channel in real time, along with emails, Twitters, news headlines, or any other feed. The Anobar uses a pricey 640 x 96 FED display, which ensures zero motion blur on all of the dick jokes whizzing by. For now it’s Japan only, and the prototype cost nearly US$2,000 to manufacture, but I’m kind of hypnotised by this live video stream of one in action.
Sony is probably OLED’s most vocal prophet as the TV of the future. But according to Nikkei, they’re hedging their bets and getting more serious with another next-gen display tech: field emission display, which is a lot like a good ol’ cathode ray tube, except that it’s super thin–it has all the benefits too, like deep blacks and zero motion blur. A “dream panel” says Nikkei. Plus, they’re easier to build at large sizes than OLED TVs. Sony just agreed to take over a plant run by Pioneer to begin mass production of FED panels in late 2009 after holding the tech at arm’s length for years.
