Mixed Signals
Any sufficiently advanced information is indistinguishable from noise
Thursday 22 January 2009, 10:00 PM
Is this story a waste of ink?
A good example is this story, which I reproduce in part with thoughts interspersed. In this case and against protocol, I haven't linked to the original or identified the source, but it'll take you microseconds to find out through Google, if you want:
U.S. researchers have developed a new type of semiconductor ink that brings companies a step closer to making bendable computer screens or inexpensive sensor tags to help retailers keep track of their inventory.
Well, good. Except that we already have bendable computer screens and inexpensive sensor tags. What's new?
The discovery lies in the new material -- a soluble semiconductor ink capable of carrying a negative electrical charge, said Philippe Inagaki, chief executive officer of Polyera Corp, a specialty chemicals company in Skokie, Illinois, that makes materials for flexible and printed electronics.
Polyera do indeed do this. No wonder they're keen to get their name out there.
In the traditional silicon world there are two fundamental types of semiconductors: P-type, which carry a positive charge, and N-type, which carry a negative charge. So far, most semiconductor inks, such as one developed by a team at Xerox Corp in 2004, have only been capable of carrying a positive charge, they said. The new ink -- developed by researchers at Polyera and BASF SE unit BASF Future Business GmbH and described in the journal Nature -- is an N-type.
Note that 'most'. Polyera already lists nine different N type semiconductor inks on its site. Lots of other people have made them. And have been making them for some time. So, what's special about this?
"When you have both you make chips and circuits that are faster and more reliable and more energy-efficient. And that's a pretty big deal," Inagaki said in a telephone interview.
When you have both p type and n type, you have a semiconductor. That's how they work. Chips and circuits with just p type or n type materials would indeed be slower and less reliable. They wouldn't work at all (pace Schottky, but if we're talking about speed...).
He said the new semiconductor ink can be printed onto flexible materials, such as a thin film of plastic or even paper, using a modified ink-jet printer. "What you really want to do is print it like a newspaper," Inagaki said. "That is really fast and really cheap."
It is (and that's why silicon chip fab plants are really enormous, mutant, poisonous printing presses). But the problems with doing this with liquid organic semiconductors are much greater than just having the right inks - of which, as mentioned, there are many. How does this new ink help? We just don't know.
And so on, and so forth. Now, here's the problem. The story as it stands is no story. There could be a story there - the mention of a paper in Nature is promising - but without anything else to go on, it looks like one of hundreds of similar 'breakthrough' stories that don't really stand scrutiny.
But the story is going to be - hell, has. Go check Google News - been widely taken up. If I spend time researching it, then it's going to take a day or two and I'll look like I've missed the news that everyone else has already printed - or, I'll end up with nothing except lost time spent on a non-story. In any case, I can't afford to do that for every story that looks superficially interesting but wobbles alarmingly in a stiff breeze. If I ignore it, then it looks as if I'm missing the news altogether. I can't run the story as it is, because it isn't a story. It is smart PR, that understands how to manipulate the news.
So: what should I do? About the only useful thing I can think of is running a list of science - and sciency - stories at the end of each week, with a short review (much shorter than this one) and a star rating. At least that way when I do get something completely wrong - as I might have here! - I'll learn when the unhappy PR sends me a remonstrative note...
PreviousComments on this post
Seems like it could do with its own 'maybe-maybe not' or 'things to watch' type sub section, making it clear that this is the case. Then it's every angle covered.
The fundamentals of a technology simmering away, with different ingredients being added maybe the solution. A sort of hierarchy - top layer flexible screens , then below the companies that are working on solutions to this with race positioning, in which new stories push them up the tree, or drop them down (depending your take on the article), giving a progressive current viewpoint.
Separately -
Managed Smart PR does seem to be getting done more and more by large coporations - take moneysavingexpert.com (the forums), there a few threads where some guy says 'I just inherited a lump sum of cash, can anyone help?' , next the responder recommends a certain well known bank (you know they are happy water skiing most of the time) The discussion continues down to a specific account - analysis of different threads finds these responders respond very quickly to negative comments, with postive comments /bullet lists - its all very professional (and response is quick) and makes me think the certain bank has infiltrated the message boards to make sure bad PR is turned into Smart PR, i.e call centre staff monitoring posts or more alarmingly, starting the initial thread.
Waste of ink ? Yes.
Waste of time? Maybe.
Waste of marketing? No.
Dangerous waste? Definitely. Makes RoHS look like the paper it was printed on. Materials made with semi-metallic ingredients with high electron mobility and organic solubility can make excellent poisons. Don't want this stuff in my ground water or burnt, in my air.
Its bad enough that there are millions of "throw-away" cellphones containing Lithium batteries. Now we have to add disposable printed displays to the landfills?
I wasn't too worried when the semiconductors were "sequestered" on hard substrates (integrated circuits) and sealed in with plastic or ceramic covers but with the ability to print circuitry on practically any surface makes the likelihood of semiconductor poisons getting into water and air a lot higher.
Reminds me of the stories of the Medieval monks doing book copying who un-intentionally poisoned themselves with black ink that had arsenic in it. Arsenic, selenium and a host of other semiconductor elements are poisons in high enough concentrations. Because they are soluble in fats and lipids of all kinds, they have a tendency to stick around in the human body. Poisoning will take some time.
The good side of this product announcement? Magazines with embedded "printed" CPUs driving active pages with flash displays using organic LEDs might become a new media. Imagine being able to watch the latest "wanna-be-famous" media darling gyrate around on a printed page. Manga would become active media. Car ads would be a lot more interesting.
The solution for ZDnet UK might be to create an "Infomercials" page...
