Flexible, full-color video displays could be closer to market because of a new advance by researchers at Arizona State University's Flexible Display Center (FDC) and at Universal Display, in Ewing, NJ. The researchers have made bendy organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays employing processes and tools that are used to make today's flat-panel LCD screens. They demonstrated a new 4.1-inch video-quality display at the 2009 Society for Information Display conference last week.

OLED displays, which are lighter and less power hungry than LCDs, are used in cell phones and MP3 players. OLEDs can also be printed on plastic and offer the promise of bright color screens that can be rolled up and stowed in gadgets, worn on wrists, or plastered on clothes. Electronics makers Sony, LG, and Samsung M