In layman's terms, the innovation arrives thanks to a liquid semiconducting layer that potentially bends and flexes more reliably than the "vacuum thermal evaporation" technique employed by Samsung.

In the researchers' case, the liquid, officially known as ethylhexyl carbazole (EHCz), will constantly deliver a fresh supply of semiconductors to the emitting layer. To you and me that means better, more flexible screens that might not degrade as quickly as once thought, if and when they arrive in the (near?) future. Just don't try and drink one. [PhysOrg via OLED Info - Thanks, Ron]

The chip (see it in action here), of unspecified capacity, actually uses transparencies like your grampa used to use with his overhead projectors. This clear plastic is flexible, unlike silicon chips. We've been seeing flexible components lately, most notably displays, but memory is tiny and has to be inside the gadget anyway. I've been thinking for at least a minute and a half and I can't figure out a circumstance in which flexible memory would be preferable, besides maybe a gadget that isn't so much folded as rolled like a poster. So give me a hand: What's the point of all this? [Wired]d

[Paini via Limitedhype]

Samsung couldn't accomplish this with a normal glass substrate for obvious reasons, so they pioneered a new "sputtering" technique to coat the panel with a flexible membrane. Here's how it goes: a block of the coating material is blasted with an ion gun, causing it to eject bits of itself into an thermodynamically unbalanced cloud of atoms, which then cling to and form a film on anything else in the vacuum chamber — namely, this floppety panel.

This looks like it is just a one-off, unpriced expo unit, but at least we know it's possible. This tech come interesting close in capability to Samsung's other recently demonstrated ultra-thin color display, so we might have the beginning of an confusing display tech overlap. Cool, Samsung. Please sort that out, and wake me up when my shirt is a TV. [TechOn via OLED Display]

There's sliders three keyboard pieces that form together to make one Voltron keyboard, one that has a dual-screen clamshell (which we've seen before in other people's patents), one with OLED hard-keys that change displays depending on where you are (think Optimus) and one with a display that stretches from normal size to King Kong/Naomi Watts/weird bestiality theme size. We're not sure how these will actually play out on phones, but it's good that Samsung's not standing still. [Unwired View]

All very cool, but what will it be used for? Well, stretchiness allows the material to be used in more places than simple "flexible" circuits. Once it's scaled up into real devices it could be used to make wearable computers, or to dot the exterior of aircraft with sensors. The Illinois team also predict it would be perfect for making sensors that wrap around the brain, making a powerful detector for seizures and other brain activity. [BBC News and New Scientist]

Plus, since it's "virtually indestructible" and "water-resistant," you can probably chance taking it into the tub without completely breaking it. Just don't submerge it entirely underwater. The shock from two AAA batteries may not kill you, but it does sting the gonads a bit. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Brando]

Samsung claims biggest flexible LCD panel ever [TheInquirer]