One of the coolest products unveiled at the CES 2013 is PaperTab, a flexible, paper-thin touch screen that offers an intuitive way to present and interface with data.
"Developed by Plastic Logic, PaperTab has a flexible touchscreen that lets users send files and emails and navigate through pages of documents using hand gestures," writes Stan Scroeder at Mashable. "One can also combine several PaperTabs into one larger surface by placing them side by side, or share files by touching one tablet to another."
Portability may be an issue, however, since PaperTab currently requires a wired connection to its processor.
"PaperTab is powered by an Intel i5 processor, which seems to be separate from the actual display and connected to the PaperTab with a thin data cable," writes Schroeder.
Still, anything approaching the digital paper seen in sci-fi movies is an impressive achievement.
PaperTab utilizes interface methods that will be familiar to old-fashioned book users.
"Users will be able flick through a document by bending the screen, or by joining screens together for a larger display," writes Rory Carroll in The Guardian.
"Each PaperTab will also be aware of other PaperTabs nearby, helping users keep track. Email can be sent by placing the device in an out tray or by bending the top corner of the display. The PaperTab can also store thousands of documents -- obviating, its developers say, the need for stacks of paper or a traditional computer monitor."
For now, PaperTab is just a prototype, and an official release and pricing scheme have yet to be announced, but it has backing and input from Intel, so the technology is headed to living rooms around the world once it's ready, and like most innovative technologies, it's bound to start showing up in other applications, as well.
E-books with real pages, anyone?