Interesting Sharp Website

Trying to find when the first big LCD TVs were made I found

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/the-history-of-flat-screen-tvs

Intrigued by the mention of Plasma Addressed LCD which I had never heard of I found a very technical paper from Sharp.

https://global.sharp/corporate/info/rd/tj2/pdf/8.pdf

In hindsight that PALC was one of many display technology dead ends, Canon's Field Emision displays being another.

Finding that site led me to

https://global.sharp/corporate/info/history/only_one/

which answered my question on when I saw their 20" LCD TV. 2001 or maybe a little bit earlier if it was a prototype they were displaying.

There are loads of cutting edge (for the time) gadgets shown although the only audio gear seems to be the VZ3000. It is worth having a browse around the rest of the site as well.

This document gives the full history

https://global.sharp/corporate/info/history/h_company/pdf_en/all.pdf

 

Of the screens which did not “stick” I miss the first Amazon Kindle with b&w screen.... battery lasts forever, it does look like a paper, not iPad: gentle on my tired eyes. But being b&w with extended refresh rate, it was dead from the start with the youngsters
Lucky me, I bought a few (one for each member of my family) but now I am on my last one

@Mister X Thanks for the tip! Have no idea what it means, but now I will use this with The Boss: “I have to do some heavy wrenching!” when going outside for a smoke!

 

A funny story about the Kindle. Technical Publications, at work bought one to evaluate for user manuals etc. When it arrived the lady there spent a couple of minutes trying to peel the protective film giving details about the device from the display. Then she realised it was the display itself she was looking at ! It really does look like the printed stickers they put on things like MP3 players to show you what the display will look like when they are turned on; the difference being that the display on the Kindle is always on.

A different colleague then bought a Kindle to use on the WWW. At the time, when using any kind of data abroad cost a small fortune, Amazon gave Kindle buyers WWW access for free. I guess they knew no one would be watching movies on it but my colleague said that for things like checking flight times it was O.K. I wonder if that feature still works ?

Amazing to think that 2009's latest tech is 2019's history lesson.

p.s Sony did eBooks with the same type of display.

 

That is correct, I remember being able to buy books when vacationing on Jamaica... wow, this sounds dorky but it was really convenient!
Unfortunately, my favorite Kindle DX (its screen size is about the same as a hard-cover book, not a paperback) is no longer connecting to my Amazon account. They must have changed security protocol or something, and there is no updates for old Kindles. Amazon help line, although friendly, could not even understand what I am asking about. As @Longman said, for those young computer geniuses Kindle DX is like a medieval history

 

The first flat screen TV I saw was a Philips, on display in a local department store. It was showing the film Apollo 13 (so some time after 1995} and there was a small crowd of people gawping at it. To this day I don't know if they were amazed by the huge 42" screen or the £10000 price tag. Even today can buy a new car for less than that !

 

I remember going to the Philips Research Labs on a science field trip when I was at college around 1995ish, we had to be suited up in the white garbs, covers over our shoes and a sticky floor to walk on to stop dust. They were developing an LED TV, they showed us a small section and a demo unit, was pretty amazing! The sad thing is that those labs are no longer there, they were demolished in the early noughties and sat barren for years. I think its were they developed the CD-I console as well.

 

Interesting recollections Lupogtiboy. For the past five years I have worked in what used to be Philips main UK semiconductor factory. They sold off the Optronics part where I work to Marconi. Despite two subsequent changes in ownership it is still going. In contrast the more normal IC design and manufacturing part which designed Philips first CD player and Teletext ICs became part of NXP, who then sold it to Trident who closed it down. Unbelievably, a ten year old office complex, named after Philips founder Gerard Philips was demolished and replaced by a Builder Merchants. I found this picture on the Architects website after the building had gone !


Meanwhile we are in the original 1956 building.

I suspect this Philips building came down more easily than this one:



I was going to ask where it all went wrong for Philips, who no longer have any design or manufacturing in the UK.
Then I found this video.



I guess that is what they call offshoring.

 

The lab I went to was in a place called Salfords, about 5 miles from Gatwick Airport. They used to have a building like the first image you posted in Crawley on the industrial estate, the building is still there but I don't think Philips are. I seem to remember the Salfords lab had a building on either side of the road, in the main entrance was a small 'shop' where staff could purchase certain Philips products cheap.

I went to a boot sale in Epsom and bought a CD-I quite cheap, it came with a load of hand-written discs which all said 'Not for re-sale'. When I questioned the seller, he said his uncle used to work at the Salfords lab and bought the system cheaply and they gave him the discs with it.

 

I have heard about the staff shops. Here is a history of the site where I work.

http://pepnet.org.uk/yourarticles/Southampton/History.pdf

It was originally set up to make transistors. If you have an early 1960s UK made transistor radio there is a good chance the transistors in it like the famous OC71 were made there. There is an interesting bit in the history about them building the factory with a high roof so they could install CRT making machinery if the new fangled transistors didn't catch on. As it was they went on to make ICs there. I expect your CDi would have some ICs either designed or made there.

 

I was in Currys (the UKs largest electrical retail chain) and noticed they had this for sale.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07747FR44?tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_4s1f4ymfv4_e

It still uses the eInk display. On the sales card it said "Perfectly legible in bright sunlight"

 

For the sake of your Older Self, get yourself one! ... I bought a few (as with the original DX, bought them for my Family... but since I seem to be the only "reader" here, they are all mine now )
PaperWhite Kindle won't stress your tired/old eyes as much as computer/iPad screen does. The only reason I Love my Kindle DX is because the screen is twice the size of a PaperWhite Kindle:



But PaperWhite has an edge: with lights OFF it is still readable:

 

Kindles are the best e-readers IMO, been a fan of them for quite a while,
recently upgraded to the latest Oasis 2019, my wife is still on my PaperWhite one.

 

While looking for portable DVD players in the Argos catalogue I spotted these two entries in the 2003 Argos catalogue. Which would you have chosen bearing in mind that Bush isn't a premium brand.

 

the normal tv for me as it was actually a bigger screen lad, to give you an idea i have a 17" and 18" laptop

 

I think that was the case for 99% of the population back then. A turning point for me in buying things was when I saw an LG LCD TV similar to that Bush in House of Fraser reduced from £1000 down to £650. I came very close to buying it but decided £650 was still a lot of money. About 2 years later I bought a 22" LG LCD Monitor TV for £200. About 14 years later I am actually still using it at the moment to type this.