This afternoon I noticed what seemed like a small dustmote but what appears to be a -sort of- dead 'pixel".

It not exactly dead because it lights up white when the rest of the screen goes dark and it is dark when the rest goes white.
More of a "negative" pixel.
I made an extreme close-up of it.
In reality it is smaller then an ordinary pixel, like I said the photo is an extreme close-up.

Tomorrow I'll contact Irex about it.

Seems that it has changed its polarity. Interesting! One wonders what happens if you apply a strong electric field...(I would not do that, it would probably produce a total mess)...

No experimental microwave oven for my Iliad?
Hmmm... I'll have to think about that.

It is just a very, very small "pixel", not even annoying.
From the picture you can see it has a round shape and is not at all the blocky pixelshape that ordinary screenpixels have.

It seems something in the physics or chemistry of the display, nor the electronics backplane.

Even if it's just a very small pixel, it would bother the heck out of me ;)

The E-Ink consists of positively charged white particles and negatively charged black particles. By applying an electric field between the layers of the screen you can make "pixels" black or white.

black partice (negative charge): x
white particle (positive charge): o

Screen cross section (screen shows black from front and white from behind):

------------------------------Positive Charge
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo
------------------------------Negative Charge

Screen cross section (screen shows white from front and black from behind):

------------------------------Negative Charge
oooooooooooooooooooooooooo
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
------------------------------Positive Charge

By applying different charges to each individual pixel (or better call it cell) "-" a picture can be created which will look inverted when viewed from the inside of the iLiad.

Now the interesting part is probably creating positively and negatively charged particles. I assume that this process is tricky and that under certain circumstances a charge inversion of some particles can occur. Does anybody know more about this?

By applying different charges to each individual pixel (or better call it cell) "-" a picture can be created which will look inverted when viewed from the inside of the iLiad.

E Inks illustration suggest that these cells can support more than one 'pixel' as long as there are enough pigment subcells in each larger cell: if one cell covers two electrodes, both those electrodes can be used to 'paint' ...

I don't know if the cells are just randomly spread out -- in which case they're only to keep the pigment cells in one place, and the electrodes are the 'pixels' -- or if they're aligned by the electrodes, and so the combination of them act as the pixel.

I imagine that if a cell doesn't contain any pigment subcells it might appear dead ...

That the funny part, it's not dead its "negative".
Every pageturn it goes white when the rest of the page goes black.
I must say that is is ever so small, half the time I really have to look for it to be able to find it, it doesn't bother me one bit.
Never did get around to contacting Irex.