Body-hugging monitors

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Jun 12, 2001

NEW YORK (NYT) -- A flexible liquid crystal display has been developed that may lead to screens that roll up into a small tube for storage. "The idea of being able to roll up your display is an inviting one, but I see the idea of this being a thinner, more lightweight and durable display being the much larger attraction," said Dr. Michael Kane, an electrical engineer at Sarnoff, who developed the screen along with researchers from Penn State University and Kent State University.

The flexibility of the screen is a result of a thin base of plastic that is used instead of glass as in conventional LCD's. To produce a working screen, researchers had to develop special transistors that were based on plastic rather than silicon. Others have built plastic-based screens with plastic transistors, Kane said, but he said his group's screen was the first that was able to display video images. For the moment, however, those images are only monochrome. Adding color, Kane said, is one of the group's next steps.

Besides making laptop computers less fragile, Kane said he expected that the flexible plastic screens might lead to new types of consumer electronics. "It's possible that wearable displays that conform to the shape of the body a little bit may appear," he said.

Dining at Caddyshack

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (AP) -- Bill Murray and his five brothers hope to cash in on the success of the classic golf comedy Caddyshack with their new restaurant at the World of Golf Village. Murray was the host of a party at The Murray Bros. Caddyshack barbecue restaurant on Saturday. Friends and celebrities including Peter Bonerz from the TV show Three Sisters and Saturday Night Live alum Tim Meadows showed up, and Grammy winner Emmylou Harris performed.

Murray played Carl, the eccentric greenskeeper obsessed with a destructive gopher, in the 1980 movie. The theme restaurant, the first of three in the works, is described as a "country club gone awry." The Murray brothers also are filming a new Comedy Central show called The Sweet Spot, scheduled to air in January, in which they'll travel to golf courses across the country.

And that's the way it was

NEW YORK (AP) -- Today is the 163rd day of 2001. There are 202 days left in the year. Here are some business and legal highlights from this date in history:

In 1776, Virginia's colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights.

In 1838, the Iowa Territory was organized.

In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y.

In 1963, one of Hollywood's most notoriously expensive productions, Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison, premiered in New York.

In 1967, the Supreme Court struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

In 1971, Tricia Nixon and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden.

In 1979, 26-year-old cyclist Bryan Allen flew the man-powered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel.

In 1981, major league baseball players began a 49-day strike over the issue of free-agent compensation. (The season did not resume until Aug. 10.)

In 1987, President Reagan, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."

Ten years ago: The Chicago Bulls won their first NBA championship, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one.

Five years ago: A panel of federal judges in Philadelphia blocked a law against indecency on the Internet, saying the 1996 Communications Decency Act would unlawfully chill adults' free- speech rights.

One year ago: The Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, said patients cannot use a federal law to sue HMOs for giving doctors a financial incentive to cut treatment costs.

E-commercials with a TV finish

NEW YORK (NYT) -- Boil down all the complaints that advertisers have raised about pitching their wares on the Internet and you find the central criticism: they wish the Internet could be more like television. Now, at least in one way, they can have their wish. Some visitors to Iwon.com now see flickery 30-second commercials for Toyota vehicles and ThermaSilk Shampoo, complete with audio.

Aaron Silverberg, the brand director for ThermaSilk at Unilever, said the new Web technology allowed a more subjective approach than its past Internet ads. "The television commercial we run on Iwon is based on very powerful imagery," he said.

Iwon is among the first sites to use technology from the Atlanta firm EyeWonder. It allows video to be included on Web pages without requiring users to download viewing programs or software plug-ins. EyeWonder is also working with AOL Time Warner's' CNN.com, the search site Lycos and the advertising network DoubleClick.

In recent months, as online ad spending has tailed off, many sites have been experimenting with creative, intrusive, sometimes downright obnoxious forms of advertising. Many of these ads incorporate sound and motion, often using Macromedia's flash technology, which in essence creates animated slide shows. But designing and producing such ads is expensive and time consuming. By contrast, the EyeWonder technology uses standard television video, albeit reduced to the size of a baseball card.