The Denver Business Journal (via MSNBC)
runs a story today on a small start-up company called Treeless Systems LLC which is currently seeking partners to invest in a flexible computer system equipped with a screen that can be folded or rolled up like a broadsheet newspaper. Like many other near-future display technologies we've heard of lately, the final product will use a reflective display that doesn't require backlighting.
According to CEO Dave Lester, Treeless System's product would allow readers to customize their newspapers in ways print newspapers can't, such as
readers selectively subscribing to different sections of the newspaper -- for instance only sports and business! The device also could convert text to speech, enlarge text portions, and enable live-video footages.
There is no information who is going to supply Treeless System with the display technology, but it seems likely that it'll be someone like
Cambridge-based Plastic Logic or E Ink who are already working on screens that can bend to a radius of 5mm.
The biggest hurdle right now is finding a willing investor with $50 million in his pocket to eventually (within the next three years, according to Lester) bring the product to the market.