Tag Archives: OLED

Computers

Samsung said to be in talks to acquire German Novaled

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Samsung is reportedly in talks to acquire German organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology developer Novaled.

A Novaled representative declined to comment on reports that Samsung is offering more than US$200 million for the company, but she did say it may have an announcement to make in a few days.

A Samsung spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter and referred to Samsung affiliate Cheil Industries, also known as Samsung Chemical, which would acquire Novaled, according to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. Cheil Technologies did not respond to a request for comment.

Novaled develops technologies and materials that enhance the performance of OLEDs and other organic electronics and sells them to manufacturers of display products.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Science & Technology

LG's Curved OLED TV Launches in the U.S. for $15k

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lgcurvedoled

If you’ve been waiting patiently since CES to grab a first-of-its-kind HDTV, now’s your chance. During an event in Minnesota today, LG announced its 55-inch curved OLED would begin showing up in select U.S. Best Buy stores over the next several weeks. The $15,000 HDTV launched in Korea back in April, and LG executives feel the move gives the company an “early lead” on the OLED market in the United States. Moreover, Best Buy will also be the first major American retailer to carry OLED sets.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Tech

News, Politics, Government

Google Glass Has One Year To Change Your Behavior or Fail

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By Haydn Shaughnessy, Contributor

GM of China executive Bob Socia at 2013 Shanghai Motor Show

Before mobile we used to meet in pre-arranged venues and talk to each other. It almost seems a quaint idea now not to be present in a variety of venues all at the same time, tapping away on a smartphone. The wild success of mobile phones is down to their achievement in transforming the way we spend our time. Google Glass, the heads up display version of the smartphone, also requires substantial behavior change if it is to succeed. Will it be preempted by near-term technologies like flexible displays? Mobiles/smartphones are certainly about to change and why I feel bullish about Apple is that they have the design smarts to take advantage of developments of the type you see in the picture above. It’s a flexible OLED screen imagined for the future, in this case retracting into a pen. Using it requires no adaptation, no new behavior, very little acceptance barriers.

From: http://www.forbes.com/sites/haydnshaughnessy/2013/04/20/google-glass-has-one-year-to-change-your-behavior-or-fail/

Science & Technology

Color of OLEDs can now at last be predicted thanks to new modeling technique

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OLEDs – thin, light-emitting surfaces – are regarded as the light sources of the future. White OLEDs consist of stacked, ultra-thin layers, each emitting its own light color, all together resulting in white light. Up to now it has been impossible to predict the exact light color produced by a white OLED; manufacturers had to rely on trial and error. Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology, Philips Research, Dresden University of Technology and other institutes have now developed a method that allows the color of light produced by a specific OLED design to be calculated with high precision. They did this by modeling the complex processes in OLEDs on a molecular scale. This technique will allow manufacturers to greatly improve their OLED design processes and reduce the cost. At the same time the energy efficiency and lifetime of OLEDs can be increased.

From: http://phys.org/news285226534.html

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why McDonald's Wins as the Dow Wavers

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By Dan Caplinger, The Motley Fool

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Today’s trading in the Dow Jones Industrials demonstrates the ongoing battle between bulls and bears over the prospects for the economy. On one hand, signs of strength in the housing sector have bolstered hopes that the key driver of economic activity will continue to pick up and benefit workers throughout the economy. Yet this morning’s data on jobless claims added to concerns that overall employment trends continue to lag behind, raising fears that the U.S. may join other countries around the world in seeing already-sluggish growth rates decelerate further. After yesterday’s big drop, the Dow has regained 37 points, or 0.25%, as of 11 a.m. EDT today. The S&P 500 is up by a similar percentage, and the Nasdaq is down slightly.

Yet even if the economy is poised for a slowdown, certain stocks will likely benefit. McDonald’s is up more than 1% this morning, climbing above the $100 mark and approaching all-time highs. Even as the company faces a strike in New York City by workers who want better pay, McDonald’s attracts defensively minded investors because of its record of holding up well in past downturns. The fast-food giant was one of the few stocks that actually rose during 2008’s bear market, and with stocks teetering at current high levels, investors want that kind of protection again.

Best Buy has gained almost 10% after making a deal with Samsung to feature in-store Samsung shops within Best Buy retail locations. With Best Buy having announced yesterday that it would discount third-generation iPad tablets by 30%, it’s clear that the electronics retailer is trying to play the rivalry between Samsung and Apple to its best advantage. Apple shares have dropped 0.8% this morning, as the Best Buy move only highlights the iDevice giant’s struggle to convince investors that its growth story is still intact.

Finally, organic LED specialist Universal Display has risen 6.7% after getting an upgrade from analyst firm Needham. The stock remains well off its lows, as the company has waited for display makers to adopt its OLED technology in larger applications, especially big-screen TVs. With plans to ramp up production in the next year, though, Universal Display remains a valid long-term play on the future of OLED use in mainstream tech products.

Today’s gains for McDonald’s don’t change the fact that it was one of the worst-performing blue-chip stocks of 2012. Our top analyst on the company will tell you whether the most recent rebound in McDonald’s is for real, and he’ll shed light on whether McDonald’s is a buy at today’s prices. Click here now to read our premium research report on the company.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Linux

KWin Magnifier Plugin Improvements

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Over the years I’ve been in KDE, one thing has always bothered me, as I am sure many users feel the same way as I. The topic that comes up the most, and honestly, is the most important of all other developments in KDE, is that of pixel perfection.
It is really bothersome when I’ve seen so many developers worry about less pressing things like porting to this new “Qt 5” and “QML” nonsense. Or adding more features, porting to other platforms, etc.
But what about refining existing basics? I think that is more important, every developer I know simply does not care about pixel perfect alignment, as if they’ve got more important things to do with their time.
However, there is a bit of a problem – not every developer has vision as fantastic as mine and are not as keen at picking out these glaringly obvious sore thumbs of GUI elements that could be as much as 1 pixel misaligned!
So it finally struck me! What if every developer could easily see these obvious issues? If they can see them, they will fix them and hold off every release until every one of these pixel misalignment issues are fixed.
The past two weeks I’ve been working on revamping the KWin Magnifier plugin, a plugin traditionally used to help those who are disabled. But then again, I guess revamping it to help those developers that are disabled (because they cannot see things at a subpixel level, sadly) is just as much of an aid as the Magnifier’s original purpose.
What exactly did I do? Well, the magnifier now shows, upon hovering over an area, the alignment and values of the subpixels of your monitor. This was actually quite complex to do, as I had to dig into a lot of X code in querying the display type and calculating and rendering the result properly.
This is especially important because each display type, e.g. CRT, OLED, LCD have different designs of their layout of pixels on the screen. So in order to properly match this with the image before it is rendered to screen, one needs to take this into account.
Before, using regular KWin Magnifier:

After, using the new KWin SubPixel Magnifier:

I believe the results speak for themselves, really. From now on I expect every developer to stop what they are doing and use this useful plugin to eliminate all of these types of bugs.

Don’t forget to report your bugs, and most importantly..mark …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet KDE

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

U.S. Department of Energy Honors PPG Scientists for Advances in OLED Lighting

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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U.S. Department of Energy Honors PPG Scientists for Advances in OLED Lighting

PPG develops low-cost integrated glass substrate for commercial OLED lighting

PITTSBURGH–(BUSINESS WIRE)– PPG Industries (NYS: PPG) has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for “significant achievements” in advancing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting technology. Dennis O’Shaughnessy, Ph.D., PPG associate director for flat glass research and development, accepted the award on behalf of the PPG team during the 2013 Solid-State Lighting (SSL) R&D (Research and Development) Workshop in Long Beach, Calif.

PPG‘s advances are the result of a two-year project initiated with the DOE in 2010 to promote the commercialization and mass production of OLED lighting. The PPG team led by Abhinav Bhandari, Ph.D., project engineer, has demonstrated a float glass-based integrated substrate with scalable light-extraction technologies and transparent conductive films for OLED lighting applications.

The results indicate significant cost and performance advantages over conventional indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated display-grade glass substrates. PPG‘s light-extraction technologies are compatible with the conventional float glass manufacturing process and result in significant enhancement of device efficiencies, according to O’Shaughnessy.

Dick Beuke, PPG vice president, flat glass, said the new glass substrate is one of several major initiatives PPG is advancing to reduce energy use in the U.S. “At PPG, we are proud to be developing glass technologies to make OLED lighting more viable for mass use,” he said. “This research enhances and complements the work our scientists are doing in architectural glass and coatings to make homes and buildings more energy efficient, and in solar technology to help that industry achieve grid parity.”

Mehran Arbab, Ph.D., PPG director, glass science and technology, said, “OLED lights have the potential to emit four times as much light per watt as incandescent bulbs. Widespread commercial use of this technology could significantly reduce energy use in homes, buildings and workplaces.”

PPG was the only company honored in the OLED lighting area at the three-day workshop, which brought together nearly 300 researchers, manufacturers and industry insiders who are promoting and monitoring the latest developments in SSL technology. The DOE supports SSL R&D efforts to accelerate market introduction of high-efficiency, high-performance SSL products. Its mission for the SSL R&D portfolio is to “create a new, U.S.-led market for high efficiency, general illumination products through the advancement of semiconductor technologies, to save energy, reduce costs and enhance the quality of the lighted environment.”

PPG: BRINGING …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

2 Winners From Samsung's Galaxy S4

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

Samsung Galaxy S4 with AMOLED display. Source: Samsung.

On the display front, Samsung has put a full 1,080p HD resolution into the 5-inch display. There was speculation that the company was having trouble manufacturing OLED displays of this caliber and would switch to a different display technology, even though the company has been one of the biggest proponents of OLED technology. Fortunately for Universal Display investors, Samsung has gone with an AMOLED display in the Galaxy S4, which will boost UDC‘s material sales.

If the Galaxy S4 does as well as the previous generation, these suppliers will hitch a ride to the upside.

Universal Display has a powerful patent portfolio behind OLEDs, a technology poised to dominate the displays of the future. Its placement at the center of OLEDs makes the company an underappreciated way to play the

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South Korean heavyweight Samsung has now taken the wraps off of its latest and greatest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4. Leading up to the event, there was a steady stream of rumors and supply chain leaks as to what the company might have up its sleeve for the follow up to its popular Galaxy S III device.

From the perspective of smartphone component suppliers, higher volumes mean scoring a design win in the device can be quite a boon for the top line. The previous Galaxy S III was the No. 3 smartphone in the world in the fourth quarter, and the new model has potential to fetch similarly high volumes. Two of the more important possible suppliers heading into the unveiling were Qualcomm and Universal Display .

Expectedly, Qualcomm scored some of the processor win with its Snapdragon processors. Samsung targets a wide range of carriers and geographies and tailors different variants to different regions. Since Qualcomm has huge advantages in LTE integration, Snapdragons will be found in the U.S. variants, since LTE is a requisite feature of any high-end flagship hoping to compete domestically. In other parts of the world that are still primarily on 3G, Samsung is using its own Exynos 5 Octa chips.

Samsung Galaxy S4 with AMOLED display. Source: Samsung.

On the display front, Samsung has put a full 1,080p HD resolution into the 5-inch display. There was speculation that the company was having trouble manufacturing OLED displays of this caliber and would switch to a different display technology, even though the company has been one of the biggest proponents of OLED technology. Fortunately for Universal Display investors, Samsung has gone with an AMOLED display in the Galaxy S4, which will boost UDC‘s material sales.

If the Galaxy S4 does as well as the previous generation, these suppliers will hitch a ride to the upside.

Universal Display has a powerful patent portfolio behind OLEDs, a technology poised to dominate the displays of the future. Its placement at the center of OLEDs makes the company an underappreciated way to play the enormous sales growth in tablets and smartphones. However, like any new technology, there are plenty of risks to Universal Display. I’ve written a new premium report that dives into reasons to buy the company as well as the challenges facing it. For access to this comprehensive report, simply click here now.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Here's Why Shares of Universal Display Rose Today

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By Steve Symington, The Motley Fool

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Even as the wider market pulled back, shares of OLED specialist Universal Display  rose more than 7% during Friday’s trading, though they gave up some of those gains as the day went on.

So why the optimism?
As fellow Fool Eric Bleeker noted on Wednesday, Samsung was all set to release its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, yesterday evening. Given Samsung‘s incorporation of OLED tech in its past Galaxy phones — and considering the fact the Korean conglomerate is currently responsible for the vast majority of Universal Display‘s total sales — anxious investors have remained on the edges of their seats to confirm to what extent (if at all) the Galaxy S4 would utilize Universal’s OLED materials in its screens.

The Galaxy S4 will go on sale next month and boasts a massive 5-inch AMOLED screen — up from 4.8 inches in the Galaxy S III — with an impressive pixel density at 441 pixels per inch. As a basis for comparison, note Apple‘s iPhone 5 has a pixel density of just 326 pixels per inch.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean Apple fans will be swayed, especially when we remember CEO Tim Cook’s recent assertion that OLED screens’ color saturation is “awful,” while at the same time noting Apple’s own retina displays are nearly twice as bright. Even so, those comments seemed especially interesting after I noticed that, just a few days earlier, Apple may have quietly hired an OLED expert away from Korean electronics giant LG Display , fueling further speculation of Cupertino’s interest in the versatile technology.

In addition, just this morning analyst Brian Lee of Goldman Sachs added fuel to the fire by suggesting that, based on his channel checks, Universal Display remains “well positioned to benefit from [Samsung’s] upcoming Galaxy S4 ramp given its leverage to both red and green phosphorescent (e.g. emitter and host) materials” in the design of its display.

What’s more, Lee estimated Universal Display could end up collecting between three and four times as much revenue from each Galaxy S4 device as it did from every S III smartphone, “given its expansion in materials supplied from one to three types.” 

Of course, Lee’s perspective should come as little surprise considering the fact he has long remained a proponent for Universal Display‘s business and currently holds a $41 price target for its shares.

The bear case
On the other end of the analyst spectrum, let’s not forget Piper Jaffray analyst Jagadish Iyer who, just a few weeks ago, lowered his firm’s price target for shares of Universal Display from $18 to $16 after voicing concern that Samsung may also be using green host materials from Japanese OLED supplier Nippon Steel.

While Iyer’s comments helped shares of Universal Display fall by as much as 13% that day, his concerns appeared to be considerably overblown after the company skyrocketed 16% just a few days later following its solid fourth-quarter earnings results.

Now tell me how you really feel
While Samsung currently remains …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Day the iPhone Died?

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By Douglas Ehrman, The Motley Fool

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With Samsung scheduled to release the new Galaxy S IV powered by Google‘s Android OS tonight, many have speculated that this will be the moment when Apple‘s iPhones loses the top spot among smartphones, possibly forever. Of course, there is an equally large contingent of Apple supporters and tech insiders that believe the latest addition to the Galaxy line will be as underwhelming an advance as the iPhone 4S was for the iPhone 4. While some of the new tech that may be included in the device has potential, an underwhelming release could be a huge reinvigoration for the iPhone maker.

Ultimately it is Samsung’s broad market approach that poses the greatest threat to its Cupertino brethren. Recent reports suggest that in addition to the release of a new flagship Android device, the Korean company is planning to release a 4G LTE smartphone in the Indian market with a roughly $100 price tag. By hitting every price point in the market, Samsung is making it hard for any other company to keep pace.

What to expect from the Galaxy S IV
The only devices that have more speculation surrounding their release are iPhones, and Samsung has learned from that, building hype through carefully crafted advertising. In 2012, Samsung spent more on advertising than Apple, spending $401 million in the U.S. as compared to the $333 million spent by Apple. Central to Samsung’s campaign has been the tag line “The next big thing is here,” which has helped the company poke fun at Apple. The response from Cupertino has been a series of ads that highlight how much sense iPhone makes. For example, Apple has asked us to see the common sense of a smaller screen because that is how far our thumbs can reach.

This ad divide provides a natural segue to some of the new features of the Galaxy S IV. Among other advances, the new device is expected to follow the trend of previous Galaxy updates, bringing users a larger screen. The new device is expected to include a nearly 5-inch screen to go with an OLED screen and potentially the ability to scroll through websites using a new eye-tracking technology. Additionally, the new smartphone will have an upgraded camera.

U.S. models will likely utilize a Qualcomm processor; non-U.S. versions will likely get Samsung’s own eight-core processor. The inclusion of the Qualcomm chip, if this is indeed the direction taken by the company, comes as a reaction to supply constraints already being faced by the company. Supply chain issues proved a major problem for Apple with the release of the iPhone 5 which, despite record sales, was believed to have been limited by availability problems.

The low end of the spectrum
According to a recent release from the Times of India, the native Reliance Industries has selected Samsung to help it spearhead the buildout of a 4G LTE network in that country. Associated with the initiative is the expected rollout of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Samsung Galaxy Is Unveiled Tomorrow: Key Storylines to Watch

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By Eric Bleeker, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Tomorrow’s the big day when Samsung finally takes the wraps off the Galaxy S IV. In the following video, senior technology analyst Eric Bleeker discusses why there’s such a high level of excitement for the phone’s launch, and some possible investment plays related to its launch. 

As Eric notes, high-end smartphones soak up profits like sponges. While Apple  is the most profitable smartphone vendor, Samsung controls the majority of Android profits. Its dominance of the high-end market is a huge reason for that; its Galaxy lineup has shipped more than 100 million units. 

What are some expectations from the phone tomorrow? Each successive Galaxy phone has shipped with a larger screen. From the first Galaxy’s 4-inch screen — the same size as the iPhone 4 — to the 4.8-inch screen on the Galaxy S III, it’s highly likely Samsung will continue bumping up the screen size, probably to 5 inches. 

Eric also notes that, much like how Apple used Siri as a differentiating technology with the iPhone 4S launch, rumors of eye-scrolling technology in the S IV could be Samsung’s attempts to differentiate itself. With an R&D budget that swamps other Android vendors, Samsung could increasingly position proprietary technologies as a way of maintaining its brand cachet. 

Finally, Eric discusses that with big phone launches, its not just about the company’s themselves. For example, speculation has been rampant about whether Samsung will go with OLED technology on its newest Galaxy model. Such a move could be a boon for a company like Universal Display , which owns key OLED patents. Also, last-minute reports from Bloomberg have the phone using a Qualcomm  processor in the United States, while an international version would use Samsung’s internally developed Exynos “octa-core” processor. 

To see Eric’s full thoughts, watch the video.

After its recent sell-off, is there reason to sell Apple, or is this an opportunity to be greedy and buy more when others are fearful? The Motley Fool’s new research report on the company gives you the right information so you can make a decision whether Apple has a place in your portfolio. Best of all, it comes with continuing updates and exclusive reports. To get started, just click here now.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ eventType: “TickerReportPitch”, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Nokia Goes Bigger With Big Red

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Late last year, Microsoft and Nokia hooked up with Verizon Wireless. The triad was notable because Big Red had mostly abandoned Windows Phone for a year and a half, focusing its efforts on Google Android.

Over the following months, it was clear that Verizon was giving Windows Phone another shot as it continued to expand its product portfolio on that platform, adding HTC’s Windows Phone 8X and Samsung’s ATIV Odyssey shortly thereafter. That brings Verizon’s Windows Phone lineup up to 4 devices. For some inexplicably strange reason, the priciest by a long shot is the HTC Trophy, a device that was launched in May 2011 and runs the un-upgradeable Windows Phone 7, while the rest run Windows Phone 8.

The Nokia device that heralded the renewed vows was its Lumia 822, a mid-range model initially priced at $100 on contract (currently free on contract). The Finnish vendor’s flagship Lumia 920 was still exclusive to AT&T at the time, but now The Verge is reporting that the Lumia 928 is debuting on Big Red‘s network next month.

Lumia 920. Source: Nokia.

That device is more than just a variant of the Lumia 920, and is reportedly getting a fancy aluminum casing of higher quality than the polycarbonate used in the 920. On top of that, the 928 should get a xenon and LED flash combination for the shutter bugs out there. The overall weight and thickness should both be reduced as a result of these changes, even though the overall design is still very similar. The 928 will have a 4.5-inch OLED display, while the regular 920 doesn’t use OLED.

Nokia’s Lumia sales have been on the rise, lifting Windows Phone‘s market share in tow. The company moved 4.4 million units last quarter, which was the majority of the estimated 6 million Windows Phones sold. Getting distribution of a high-end device on the largest domestic carrier will add to that momentum.

Nokia’s been struggling in a world of Apple and Android smartphone dominance. However, the company has banked its future on its next generation of Windows smartphones. Motley Fool analyst Charly Travers has created a new premium report that digs into both the opportunities and risks facing Nokia to help investors decide if the company is a buy or sell. To get started, simply click here now.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Does Under Armour's Futuristic Sports Suit Make It a Must-Buy?

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By Steve Symington, The Motley Fool

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Few people can seriously argue that Under Armour isn’t an innovative company.

After all, the relatively small performance-apparel specialist largely built its name by creating a new class of moisture-wicking material for physically active consumers. This enabled the young company to effectively challenge industry behemoths such as Nike , even tripling its revenue from around $600 million in 2007 to more than $1.8 billion last year.

In fact, just two weeks ago, my colleagues ranked Under Armour 10th in The Motley Fool’s list of the 25 best companies in America — a group, incidentally, in which the globally focused Nike didn’t even appear. 

True to form, Under Armour certainly isn’t content resting on its laurels. To the contrary, the company continues to push the innovation envelope, as evidenced by its recently announced Armour39 biometric chest strap, which can monitor your heart rate, calories burned, real-time intensity, and your “WILLpower” — a term Under Armour uses to describe the overall intensity of a workout on a scale from 0 to 10. Once Armour39 has collected your information, it can sync it in real time, either with an Armour39 watch or Under Armour’s mobile app.

Of course, while the product isn’t available yet, Under Armour has given us a sneak peek in a few select promotional videos, including this one released just last month.

Source: Under Armour YouTube channel.

Curiously, though, the video ends with a segment showing an athlete wearing a remarkable suit capable of changing colors and with a touchscreen display integrated into the arm. All the while, the narrator states, “The next great athletic innovation isn’t available just yet, but it’s being built at Under Armour right now.”

Of course, the images are undoubtedly simulated, but who wouldn’t drool over the prospects for a wearable display like this?

 

Source: Under Armour YouTube channel.

In fact, this futuristic athletic wear looks more like something that would be dreamed up as part of Corning‘s ridiculously awesome “A Day Made of Glass” concept videos, or perhaps akin to Apple‘s rumored wearable “iWatch” devices.

This also reminds me of a more streamlined version of the ruggedized, wrist-worn OLED devices that Universal Display created and shipped to the U.S. Army back in 2010. When we consider that OLED displays can be made not only flexible but also virtually unbreakable, Universal Display‘s tech would seem a logical candidate for incorporation into Under Armour’s latest ideas — at least for the wrist-display aspect of the suit. (Don’t ask me how they’re planning to get it to change colors!)

All things considered, the fact Under Armour is willing to dream big is just one of the many reasons I’m convinced that its stock will have proved to be one of the world’s greatest investments 50 years from now. If you’re looking for a solid long-term growth play, then consider making room for Under Armour in your portfolio’s closet.

More expert advice from The Motley Fool
Universal Display has a …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

eMagin Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Financial Results

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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eMagin Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2012 Financial Results

Display Revenues Up 11%, Net Income $2.3 Million in 2012

BELLEVUE, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– eMagin Corporation (NYSE MKT: EMAN), the leader in the development, design and manufacture of Active Matrix OLED microdisplays for high resolution imaging products, today announced fourth quarter and full year 2012 financial results.

“Our leadership position in Active Matrix OLED microdisplays and manufacturing was further strengthened in 2012 with the introduction of innovative new products and technologies that are opening up new markets and driving the replacement market for existing LCD-based products. This is due to our displays’ superior performance characteristics, our extensive, broad line of microdisplay products and our ability to meet even the most demanding specifications,” stated Andrew Sculley, president and CEO.

Mr. Sculley continued, “We have continued to experience some delays caused by the repairs and modifications to our new OLED deposition tool. Demand for our products remains strong. We expect to ship over $2 million of orders this quarter that were scheduled to ship in the fourth quarter, which will augment first quarter results. We have recently completed repairs on the new OLED deposition tool, and it is now operating at a higher pace than the Company’s existing OLED deposition machine. We will continue to optimize the new tool up to its full potential and we remain confident that the greater capacity and production efficiencies to be gained from the new machine will enable us to better address our key markets, which involve a range of military, commercial, industrial, medical, and consumer applications.”

Quarterly Results

Revenues for the fourth quarter were $8.3 million versus $8.0 million for the comparable period in 2011. Gross margin for the fourth quarter was 49% of revenue on gross profit of $4.1 million, compared to a gross margin of 49% the prior quarter and for the full year 2012. Gross margin for fourth quarter 2011 was 65% of revenue. The year-over-year decrease in gross margin was mainly attributable to higher costs for production, depreciation and labor as well as a lower average selling price.

Research and development expenses for the fourth quarter of 2012 were 14% of revenue compared to 12% for the prior year period due primarily to the development of the new digital SVGA microdisplay.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Samsung's Galaxy S IV Arrives Next Week: Here's What to Expect

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By Evan Niu, CFA, The Motley Fool

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South Korean giant Samsung is set to unveil its latest and greatest smartphone, the Galaxy S IV, on Tuesday at an “Unpacked” event in New York. One of the ways Samsung has successfully replicated Apple‘s success in recent times is that there’s quite a buzz going around about what Samsung may have up its sleeve to follow up its successful Galaxy S III.

The company isn’t mincing words here, either. Make no mistake: the Galaxy S IV is being unveiled.

Source: Samsung.

Samsung has had incredible success with its Galaxy S series of smartphones, announcing in January that it had reached 100 million in unit channel sales. The company was the largest smartphone vendor in the world in 2012 ,and the Galaxy S III was ranked the No. 3 smartphone worldwide in the fourth quarter behind the iPhone.

Galaxy S III. Source: Samsung.

What can we expect on March 14?

Keep on biggering
Samsung has continued to push the envelope with device size and is one of the leaders of the phablet movement. Each generation of the Galaxy S has gotten successively bigger, and the S IV isn’t expected to break this trend.

Model

Display Size

Display Resolution

Galaxy S

4 inches

800 x 480

Galaxy S II

4.3 inches

800 x 480

Galaxy S III

4.8 inches

1280 x 720

Galaxy S IV

5 inches*

1920 x 1080*

Sources: Samsung and SamMobile.
*Rumored.

There’s been some debate over the display. Samsung is one of the biggest proponents of OLED displays, which has been greatly beneficial for OLED specialist Universal Display over the past few years, as Samsung’s unit shipments have soared. The company was reportedly facing some production challenges with manufacturing AMOLED displays at the full HD resolution it wanted, and as such it may have been considering a different display technology.

However, the most recent rumblings from SamMobile suggest that Samsung is going with a new type of AMOLED display that will be 25% more power-efficient. That’s incrementally beneficial for Universal Display, even if the company is still waiting on OLED TVs to ramp up.

All that and a bag of chips
On the processor front, Samsung had also been reportedly running into power issues with its Exynos 5 Octa processor and was thinking about sticking with a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. The Exynos 5 Octa combines two different quad-core processors and is among the first implementations of ARM Holdings‘ big.LITTLE architecture, where high-performance cores sit alongside energy-efficient cores. In this case, Samsung is using four Cortex-A7 cores and four Cortex-A15 cores.

The Exynos 5 Octa technically has eight cores and as such will inevitably marketed as an eight-core processor, although this is slightly misleading, since only four cores can be active at any given time, depending on the task at hand. Qualcomm CEO …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Science & Technology

Samsung's 'Floating' 4K Ultra HD TV to Cost $37,900

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Samsung has announced a price for its 85-inch ‘floating’ 4K Ultra HD TV that was introduced last week at CES and received our Best of CES award. According to The Verge, the company will sell a limited quantity of the new display in Korea for a price of 40 million won, roughly $37,900. As we saw with LG‘s 55-inch OLED display, which was priced around $10,000 in Korea and $12,000 in the U.S., Samsung’s new 4K Ultra HD TV could cost even more when it finally arrives in North America. Only 77 units were available for pre-order and initial shipments are expected to begin in March. There’s no word on when the company will start offering the 95-inch and 110-inch versions of the design, or, what’s more, when any of the models will be available in the U.S.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at IGN Tech

Computers

OLED and 4K at CES 2013: The fantasy and the reality (video)

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LAS VEGAS—Is it possible to have deja vu while staring into the future? For the second straight year, the CES show floor was dominated by the same two HDTV technologies. They’re both being hyped as the next big thing, at least for oil tycoons and gold barons.

I’m talking about OLED and Ultra HD (or “4K”) sets. And according to the vast majority of Las Vegas cab drivers I’ve surveyed this week, 4K and OLED sets are what most CES showgoers are talking about, too.

All that attention is warranted. If you’ve seen an OLED or 4K set in action, you probably want one. If you want one, you probably can’t afford one. And if you can afford one, you probably should be watching it right now instead of reading this story. Shame on you, moneybags.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld