Crave

(Credit: Design Boom)

A rocking chair with an integrated OLED lamp would in and of itself be cool enough to feature here on Crave, but the Murakami Chair is different. The power to run the light, you see, comes from your own rocking motion.

As you rock, nano-dynamos built into the chair's skids (I love a job where I get paid to type things like "nano-dynamos") convert the kinetic energy of the motion into power, which is stored in internal batteries during the day or sent straight to the light when dark.

The concept chair was developed by American designer Rochus Jacob, which means it even looks cool. It nabbed first place in designboom's green life competition.

The lighting is all made possible by advances in OLED technology, which make it a very efficient way to convert energy into light. If I had a more high-tech grandpa, I'd get him one of these if it hit the market. That way he could read a book as he sits on his front porch with his shotgun to make sure the kids keep off his lawn.

Really, though, we could see even more practical applications of this technology. Imagine adding nano-dynamos (again!) to the bottoms of your shoes. As you walk around they charge your cell phone or MP3 player or Virtual Boy. OK, maybe not your Virtual Boy. That would be dangerous. And stupid. On many levels.

I've written articles in the past explaining various TV technologies, including the differences between 720p and 1080p and 120Hz and 240Hz LCD TVs. But with Samsung, LG, Sony, and other manufacturers pushing so-called LED TVs these days, it's high time that I--with an assist from our resident video guru, David Katzmaier--sort through all the marketing mumbo jumbo and provide some insight into just what an LED TV is. Here goes.

1. An LED TV is not a new kind of TV.

I appreciate a good marketing ploy as much as the next guy, but an LED TV is just an LCD TV that's backlit with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) instead of standard cold-cathode fluorescent lights (or CCFLs). And while they've become best-known this year with Samsung's ultrathin models, LED-backlit LCDs have been on mainstream store shelves since 2007, when Samsung's LN-T4681F debuted.

Unlike plasma and OLED, which are emissive technologies where each pixel is its own discrete light source, LCD is a transmissive technology where each pixel has to be illuminated from behind, or backlit.

2.There are two types of LED backlighting.

Initially, LED-based displays like the Samung LN-T4681F were backlit by what's referred to as a "full array" of LEDs behind the LCD across the back of the panel. But to create superthin TVs, engineers needed to eliminate that extra layer of LEDs and move it to the sides of the display. With this form of backlighting, the LEDs are affixed to all four sides of the TV and light is projected inward to the middle of the TV via "lightguides." These types of TVs are commonly referred to as "edge-lit" LED-based LCDs.

Samsung is the main maker of such sets this year with three series of edge-lit sets, although Sony did release one model earlier this year, the KDL-40ZX1M, and has another flagship series, the KDL-XBR10 models, waiting in the wings. Samsung, Sony, Sharp Toshiba, LG, and Vizio all have non-edge-lit, or "full array" models, available today. See our comparison of edge-lit vs. local dimming for more info.

Edge-lit LED-based LCD by Samsung explodes--photos

3. Of the two, local dimming can produce deeper black levels, but also creates "blooming."

Local dimming LED backlights can dim or turn off individually as needed.

The type of backlighting can impact how deep a shade of black a TV can produce. All current LED-based LCDs with rear-placed, "full-array" LED backlighting--except the Sharp LC-LE700UN series--feature a technology called "local dimming." With local dimming, specific areas of the backlight can be dimmed or brightened when different areas of the picture get darker or brighter.

With fluorescent backlighting and edge-lit LED backlighting, by contrast, the entire backlight dims or brightens at once, if at all.

Being able to dim specific quadrants helps reduce the amount of light that leaks through to darkened pixels, and the end result is blacks that appear darker and more realistic. Since black levels are crucial to contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks, the more the picture--and colors--appear to pop. Also, the image as a whole will seem crisper. A great example of local dimming done right is Samsung's UNB8500 series, which is one of the best-performing TVs we've ever tested.

One downside to local dimming is an effect called "blooming," where brighter areas bleed into darker ones and lighten adjacent black levels. ... Read more

(Credit: LG Display, via Gizmodo)

With the introduction of a solar-powered e-book from LG Display, owners will soon be able to read for hours on end, so long as they're outside and the sun is up.

This is because the new offering boasts both an e-book and a thin-film, 10cm solar cell. Surprise!

Four to five hours of sun exposure yields an additional day's worth of reading time. You can read inside too, of course, thanks to the battery, but if you do that how will you show off the fact that you're on the cutting edge and hip with your e-book?

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

Sony's flexible OLED-based Vaio notebook--not coming to a store near you.

(Credit: Scott Ard/CNET)

CHIBA, Japan--Perhaps to distract from the fact that it has no organic light-emitting diode TV on display here at Ceatec 2009, Sony is instead showing off conceptual uses for its flexible OLED technology.

Mind you, these are just prototypes, nothing even close to a real product, like the XEL-1 TV that Sony actually sells but is notably absent from its booth here. But the ways the company is thinking of perhaps using its flexible display tech are certainly cool.

Take the dual OLED screen Vaio notebook. It features the 0.2 mm OLED on both the screen and keyboard area. It's not a functioning prototype, though, so it doesn't do much besides sit in a plexiglass case and look pretty.

Also showcased here is the company's e-book Reader with an OLED screen and a futuristic update of the time-worn Walkman brand, in which the audio player takes the form of a wearable wrist device.

As cool as those are, they're just concepts. And none of them can make us forget that Sony was once the leader in commercializing OLED TVs and now seems content to let LG and Samsung take charge.

Vaio with flexible OLED screen.

(Credit: Scott Ard/CNET)

The Sony Reader and Walkman redone with flexible OLED technology.

(Credit: Scott Ard/CNET)

LG's 15-inch OLED TV, which is set to go on sale in Korea by December.

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

SAN FRANCISCO--Though LG's eye-popping OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display wowed audiences in Berlin last month, it's best not to get too excited. There's not going to be more where that came from, at least for a while.

The industry is still at least three years away from churning out standard-size televisions of 32 inches or larger at something approaching acceptable prices. And though Sony grabbed all the attention in early 2008 with its $2,500 11-inch OLED, it's faded into the background when it comes to nudging the technology forward. Initially promising to follow up with 21-inch and 27-inch models, Sony's deferred those plans while battling bigger problems with its TV business.

With Sony on the sidelines, it seemed like we were witnessing yet another false start for a technology that's been intent on challenging existing TV standards like LCD and plasma for almost half a decade now.

Beset by the standard issues that come with bringing a new technology into the mainstream, like the exorbitantly high cost of development, OLED TVs might be on the verge of shifting out of neutral as new standard bearers for the technology emerge. The ones to watch now are Samsung and LG Electronics, which have each signaled that they're ready to make larger investments in OLED technology for TVs.

Energized by their widespread use in cell phones, worldwide sales of OLED displays hit a record high of $192 million for the second quarter of the year, according to a report released this week by DisplaySearch.

Second-quarter sales of OLED displays rose 22 percent over the same period last year, and 32 percent over the first quarter of 2009, noted DisplaySearch's latest "Quarterly OLED Shipment and Forecast Report," which came out Monday.

The report said that shipments of AMOLED displays were especially strong thanks to their use in mobile phones, with more than 15 different AMOLED cell phone models released in 2009.

AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) screens use less energy than PMOLED (passive-matrix) displays, making them better-suited for portable devices such as phones and MP3 players.

"AMOLED displays have become an important differentiating feature for high-end electronic products," said Jennifer Colegrove, DisplaySearch director of display technologies, in a statement. "This technology is not only used for mobile phone main displays, but has also penetrated the market for portable media players, digital still cameras, and other applications."

(Credit: DisplaySearch)

Making OLED TVs has been a costly, time-consuming challenge for most manufacturers. Despite demonstrations of flashy new products from several companies, Sony remains the only firm with an OLED TV on the shelves.

How do OLED TVs from Sony and LG work? MIT professor Vladimir Bulovic explains using a glowing pickle and an accent to die for. Essentially, electrons pass through the pickle (or any other active organic matter) and charge the substance. When positive and negative charges collide, they release a photon (light).

This pickle represents just one of millions of OLEDs in a potential display. It also means that Vlassic stock will skyrocket if they can only cut those Bread and Butter chips a little bit smaller.

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

It's time to rethink what you think you know about Zune.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft's Zune HD portable media player has been sitting in a sealed box on my desk for two weeks now. Don't worry, I haven't lost my professional fascination with portable media players. The only reason the box has stayed sealed is because the Zune HD is little more than a $219 paperweight if it doesn't have the Zune 4.0 software client to connect to.

The wait is finally over. As of this morning, Microsoft's free Zune 4.0 software is available for download. Perfect timing, too, since the Zune HD officially goes on sale today and with any luck, preorders will be dropping on the doorsteps.

So what's new in version 4.0? Well, there's a new look, a new opening Quickplay page (shown above), an updated store stocked with new HD movies, rentals, and TV shows, a Genius-like Smart DJ feature that can leverage your Zune Pass subscription for an unlimited on-demand music-streaming experience that makes Pandora look like child's play.

But perhaps the biggest part of the new Zune 4.0 experience is that Microsoft is giving Zune Pass music subscribers a way to stream music over the Web by logging into their Zune.net accounts on any Mac or PC. We're still a far cry from being able to sync a Zune with a Mac, but at least Zune Pass users can now dig into the Zune Marketplace's deep catalog and stream music wherever and whenever they want.

To see more of what the Zune 4.0 software has to offer, head over to our CNET slideshow.

Update: Some users are encountering software installation problems with the download package from Zune.net. For a more comprehensive software download (and larger file) you may want to try downloading from Microsoft's Download Center.

Zune 4.0 software--photos

(Credit: Erica Ogg/CNET)

BERLIN--Spotted in LG's enormous booth here at IFA: a razor thin OLED TV with a 15-inch screen.

That's still about half the size of the average person's LCD or plasma TV, but it's progress. Currently Sony is the only company that sells an OLED and its measures just 11 inches diagonally. LG will officially one up its rival when this hits the market in Korea first next year.

Called "The Object," this display is 0.1 inches thin and weighs in at just over 11 ounces.

See more after the jump. ... Read more