LCD Flat Screens Get Flatter

Much like modeling, electronics companies are now competing to make LCD TVs thinner and thinner, Computerworld reports. Sony is leading the way with its release Monday of the world's first organic light-emitting diode (OLED) television, boasting a screen just 3mm thick. Competitors Hitachi, Sharp, and JVC are close behind, with new prototypes bent on shaving a few millimeters off.

Meanwhile, big screen TVs are on the way out; a $35,000 70" Sony TV went largely ignored at the Createc technology exposition in Japan this week. Backlights are the crucial element in thinning out screens, and most companies are keeping their techniques secret. OLED materials light up when electrical current is applied, and do not need backlights. (More technology stories.)