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[Phoenix]

Super-tough coating for cellphones and discs


10:15 30 October 04

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.

The colour LCD screens on cellphones and PDAs can get badly scratched in pockets stuffed with loose change and keys. And CDs and DVDs become unplayable in no time when children use them as indoor frisbees. Now a tough, transparent polymer coating developed by chemists in Japan is set to make scratched phone screens and scuffed discs a thing of the past.

In one of the most convincing technology demonstrations this reporter has witnessed, I was handed a CD, a wire-wool pan scourer and some permanent marker pens, and invited to scratch or mark the discs. Hard as I tried, I could not make a single mark on the disc with the scourer. And the ink simply wiped off.

The only person to have succeeded in damaging the disc had undertaken a determined attack with a Swiss army knife, according to TDK, the company that has developed the coating.

Two years ago TDK, a maker of tape and disc-based recording media, began developing what was initially a single-layer coating to make DVDs more resistant to scuffing. But the new coating is far tougher, and it is transparent to the full spectrum of visible light rather than just a DVD’s red laser, so it can also be used to protect the plastic surface of colour liquid crystal displays (LCDs).

Source (and more details)

 

[Megafoo Chavez]

those crazy japaneese

 

[Funky Papa]

I want all the motherfucking Xbox press discs to come coated on that. MS is cheap like no other when it comes to this.

 

[Lemurnator]

Something like this should be used on the DS screen.

 

[Minotauro]

Something like this should be used on the DS screen.

You stole my post. As insane as I usually am about keeping my screens pristine, I suspect it will be worse with the DS.

 

[Naked Snake]

Something like this should be used on the PSP screen.

Fixed.

 

[jenov4]

Nice, I wonder if they can apply this to the auto industry. Say Bye bye to those assholes who key your car.

 

[Brofist]

those crazy japaneese

haha..why everytime the Japanese invent something do I hear this. I never hear anyone say, those crazy Americans. It's not like they developed an 8-way retractable dildo or something ridiculous, this is something that has many very practical purposes.

 

[Manabanana]

I want it to be made for consumers. If I could buy this shit, I'd be pretty happy. My glasses, GBA screen, iPod screen...everything gets coated.

 

[belgurdo]

Stiff polymer condoms

Fetish doujins to come later

 

[Tea Master]

haha..why everytime the Japanese invent something do I hear this. I never hear anyone say, those crazy Americans. It's not like they developed an 8-way retractable dildo or something ridiculous, this is something that has many very practical purposes.

They're the same idiots that use JAP as an abbreviation for Japan.

 

[radios shipping overview]

Something like this should be used on the DS and PSP screens.

Everybody's happy.

So if Sony Ericsson have their own coating of this kind, might it be in place on the PSP? (Probably not...the divisions likely don't interact that well.) If DS doesn't already have a strong screen coating, then Nintendo need to license this.

 

[Dead]

I read the thread title as " Japaneese create new scratch poop coating" and didnt even think twice about it....

 

[Jim Bowie]

haha..why everytime the Japanese invent something do I hear this. I never hear anyone say, those crazy Americans. It's not like they developed an 8-way retractable dildo or something ridiculous, this is something that has many very practical purposes.

Those crazy kpop100ians.

 

[aoi tsuki]

haha..why everytime the Japanese invent something do I hear this. I never hear anyone say, those crazy Americans. It's not like they developed an 8-way retractable dildo or something ridiculous, this is something that has many very practical purposes.

Have you even used the 8-way retractable dildo?

8-way retractable dildo action >>>> you + 7 of your friends

 

[Jim Bowie]

8-way retractable dildos are the best. Have you tried the Cthulhu model?

 

[PS2 KID]

TDK should just license the technology to automobile makers.. think about how many freaking times a moron would key a car.. and sometimes it would happen to you! Make it an extra thick coating.

 

[Tim]

Nice, I wonder if they can apply this to the auto industry. Say Bye bye to those assholes who key your car.

Fuckers like those (please all burn in hell) will find a way, trust me. Some time ago my dad his van's mirror got ripped off and left besides the car, just for...fun I guess?

 

[Vormund]

yeah they'll just kick your door in instead.

Still it would come in handy for thing like stone chips and other minor scratches that occur.