August 2005

Creative Technology announced its smallest music video player to date the MuVo Vidz, available in 512MB and 1GB measuring a mere 32 x 66 x 15.7 mm and weighs only 33g. Despite its diminutive size, this player packs a punch.

Creative MuVo Vidz is one of the trendiest player supporting music video playback and photo viewing. The player is equipped with a high-quality 65K color (1.18-inch) OLED display for music video playback as well as photo viewing, and supports up to 10 hours of continuous playing time for music tracks.

As a versatile portable music video player, the MuVo Vidz accepts a wide range of formats. It can save and play WMA/MP3 files, video in MPEG-4 format as well as displaying JPG images on its colour display.

The new 1.5-inch color OLED from One Stop Displays (OSD) features an ultra-thin 1.60mm thick display that suits next-generation ID, security cards and programmable cards, and other audio and video applications.

According to the press release, its new display features the SSD1338 driver IC that supports 262k color depth, delivering remarkably clear images for picture IDs and other images relevant to maintaining security. With a viewing area of 34(W)-by-34(H)mm, the display is cost-effective and offers the most remarkable viewing characteristics available, added OSD.

QD Vision Inc. has raised at least $6 million in an initial round of financing as it designs new device displays.

The startup, which lists a Watertown address, was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to produce organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), promising displays which produce super-crisp images or video from any angle.

A joint venture established by Canon and Toshiba to develop and commercialize a new flat-panel display technology called SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display) will begin trial production of displays this week.

SED technology has been under development for more than 20 years and is being positioned by Canon and Toshiba as a better option for large-screen TVs than PDP (plasma display panel) technology. SED panels can produce pictures that are as bright as CRTs (cathode ray tubes), use up to one-third less power than equivalent size PDPs and don't have the slight time delay sometimes seen with some other flat-panel displays, according to the companies.Canon and Toshiba are hoping to see the first SED televisions available in Japan sometime in the first half of next year.
But before those TVs can come to market the companies must be able to mass produce the SED panels.

As part of their work towards this goal they established SED Inc. in October last year and committed ¥200 billion (US$1.8 billion) towards SED research, development, production and marketing.

NEC has announced a thin (11.9mm) clamshell phone called the L1 (it is 2 mm thinner than Motorola's RAZR). The main display is a 176x220 LCD, and the external one is a blue PMOLED panel. Other features include tri-band GSM/GPRS, 1.3mp camera and 32MB of memory.

NEC L1

Sony announced a new MP3 player, the Walkman 'Bean'. This flash-based player (512MB or 1 GB) features a pop-up USB jack, a single-line PMOLED display and 50 hours of play time.

The Sony Walkman Bean is available in the following colors: Tropical Ice (Blue), Cotton Candy (Pink), Licorice (Black) and Coconut (White).

OLED company Novaled GmbH has developed a red top emission OLED that produces 10 lumens per watt at 500 candelas per square meter, with a projected lifetime of more than 100,000 hours.

According to Novaled, the OLED achieves a breakthrough by combining the highest power efficiency and longest lifetime for a top emission OLED, using transport layer doping technology. The part uses a red phosphorescent emitter from Covian Organic Semiconductors GmbH with molecular dopant materials from Novaled.

Philips NV has signed a deal to sell its PolyLED unit to OTB Display, a company specialising in developing and building manufacturing lines.

Philips New Displays CEO Harrie Brunklaus said in a statement that PolyLED "did not become as viable as we expected within an acceptable period of time."

A Philips spokeswoman commented to AFX News that it was better to sell PolyLED "at this time," adding that the technology provided by PolyLED "no longer fitted into our displays strategy." She also said that the sale does not mean a shift in Philips' strategy.

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Revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2005, of $0.7 million sequentially was unchanged from first quarter level. Revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2005 was $0.7 million and $1.3 million as compared to $1.4 million and $2.0 million for the same periods ended June 30, 2004.

Net loss and loss per share applicable to common stock for the three and six months ended June 30, 2005 was $4.5 million, or $0.05 per share and $8.0 million, or $0.10 per share as compared to a net loss of $1.4 million or $0.02 per share and $8.0 million, or $0.14 per share during the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2004.

Balance sheet showed $8.7 million in working capital at June 30, 2005 as compared to $14.9 million on December 31, 2004.

"I'm pleased to report that we are shipping our newest product, the Z800 3DVisor, to direct consumer customers as well as OEMs. We believe that this product represents a major breakthrough for the emerging virtual imaging industry," said Gary Jones, chief executive officer of eMagin.

Revenues in the second quarter of 2005 were $2.7 million, compared with $2.6 million for the corresponding quarter in 2004, an increase of 4%. First quarter revenues for 2005 were reported at $1.6 million. The majority of revenues continue to arise from Technology Services and Development and include receipts from companies including Samsung Electronics, Sumitomo Chemical and Toppan.

Net loss was $6.7 million for Q2 2005 (2004: $3.8 million), bringing the first half net loss to $15.4 million; net loss for the first half of 2004 was $21.5 million. The 2004 figure included a $12.2 million accounting charge connected with the acquisition of CDT Oxford.