SmartWrap - vaporware rules the world
Its an old hat and I am sure I reported on it earlier - the coolest invention of the last 5 years - that has yet to show some actual products to get money loaded hands on is printing circuitry with inkjet printers. The newest incarnation is printing solar cells and OLEDs on a piece of see through plastic and using that as a wrapper for your house. Again no actual product - all laboratory tests and the name "DuPont" on the package make me shiver and a "believe it when I see it" kind of product. The announcements of these kind of tech start to bore me - same goes with "unlimited storage" "epaper" and the like - I still only see classic LCD panels even in the most expensive phones - there is barely a company using OLEDs yet (and they are said to be "in production" since at least three years) no epaper to buy and no holographic storage to pick up at the local store that holds all my data. All very nice concepts and I am sure the scientists have a field day in the laboratory conditions and using all this cool tech while mass market application seem to be out of question. So yes I want to print my own wallpaper screen for $5 dollars the square meter that even converts its own energy - and I am sure about a billion other people as well ... where is it? Vapor ware is ruling the technology market as of late - phone companies annoluncing products 12-18 month in advance of shipment (just to ship stripped down unfunctioning version then). We hear about phantastic speed gains in processors in "less then 24 month" just to see them cut down to reality 3 month before introduction (Intel just today). It really gets on my nerve. If any company exec is reading this: Announce a product when its ready to ship - it helps customer confidence in your company - doesn´t make you look bad when you are unable to ship it (as this would then not happen) and generally would be healthy for society.