For all the guilt-tripping about dead trees, we still can’t live without paper. But some day, we may be able to use flexible sheets of digital ink instead. At the Consumer Electronics Show, U.K.-based Plastic Logic demonstrated an E-Ink “tablet” dubbed the PaperTab, which was little more than a thick, floppy sheet of plastic, connected to a high-end Core processor from Intel. Each of these sheets can accept touch input, and can share data when in contact with one another. Think of it like paper with benefits. In one demonstration, a single sheet contained an e-mail, while another sheet was blank. Tapping the blank sheet against the e-mail transferred the message to the other sheet. In another demo, a map was extended across two sheets of the digital paper by placing them side-by-side. Certain functions, such as bookmarking or moving to the next page, could be accomplished by bending the display at its edges. Jared Newman / TIME.com Why would any of this be useful in the real world? I get the sense that Plastic Logic is still figuring that out. But a few ideas start to bubble forth: You might, for instance, want to spread out a bunch of documents on your desk for easy viewing, or throw some sheets in your backpack like a magazine, without worrying about damage. I could imagine sending an article to a sheet, then doing some old-school editing with a stylus. Although Plastic Logic developed the technology, it collaborated with Queen’s University in Ontario on the interface and implementation, and with Intel for the processors. Roel Vertegaal, a professor at Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab, said he expects the sheets to become a product in about five years. The idea is for them to become cheap enough that the average consumer could own up to a dozen sheets. If the name Plastic Logic sounds familiar, you might recall that the company tried to get into the e-reader market a couple years ago with the Que. Like several other hopeful contenders, Plastic Logic got priced![]()
