Author: Julie Campbell

Mobile technology is headed to more Disney parks

| May 29, 2015

The announcement was made at the New Fantasyland ribbon-cutting ceremony in Disney World, Florida.

Disney has implemented a billion dollar mobile technology system in many of its different theme parks in order to help its guests to be able to reduce the length of time that they spend standing in line, and to be able to pay for the items that they want at the gift shops.

Now, it will be expanding this mobile tech to reach into other parts of its Disney resorts and parks.

The MyMagic+ $1 billion program uses mobile technology build into wristbands and an app that make it possible for guests at Walt Disney world resorts and parks to be able to pay for food and merchandise, open their hotel room doors, book their ride times, and even make meal reservations at restaurants. This makes it possible for the guests to book more of the different parts of their trips in advance, to reduce waiting time, personalize their visits, and allow them to move through the park more quickly, without delays.

So far, there have been more than 11 million of the mobile technology wristbands (MagicBands) used.

According to Tom Staggs, the chief operating officer, “The folks who are saying the MyMagic+ experience is excellent is the vast, vast majority of folks who are using it, and that, we know, is good for our business.” Staggs was speaking from the Disneyland Resort at an apartment once occupied by Walt Disney, during the 60th anniversary year of that park.

Staggs had been the head of the Disney parks and resorts division from 2010 until February 2015, when he became the COO. It is believed that he will be next in line for the CEO position when the current chief exec, Bob Iger, steps down in 2018.

One of the many ways in which Disney intends to continue the growth of its business is to ensure that it keeps on top of the latest in wearable and mobile technology. According to Staggs, they intend to continue to bring additional versions of MyMagic+ to their different parks and their other businesses across the globe.

Technology news is buzzing with LG’s new OLED “wallpaper” display panel

| May 27, 2015

The tech giant has now created an incredibly thin 55 inch display that is less than 1 mm thick.

The display arm of LG has been making massive technology news headlines as it unveiled a new detachable organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel that has been compared to wallpaper in its thinness.

This wallpaper OLED display uses a magnetic mat to adhere to a wall with great ease and simplicity.

The panel is exceptionally thin, at 0.97 mm (which is the equivalent to 0.038 inches), and is also very lightweight, at only 1.9 kg (the equivalent to 4.18 pounds). The display is a 55 diagonal inch screen. Comparatively, the existing OLED panels that are currently on the market by LG are much “thicker” at 4.3mm, which is still an achievement as they are thinner than the slimmest smartphone in the world, the Oppo R5, which is 4.85 mm. It isn’t hard to tell why technology news headlines are on fire to cover this story.

The LG wallpaper panel was revealed in a technology news press event held in South Korea.

Technology News - LG OLED Wallpaper Display PanelThe technology industry is currently predicting that OLED panels will be the next hot evolution in display tech. They differ from the current LCD (liquid crystal displays) because they do not require backlighting in order to function. T he reason is that they are based on organic material that will emit its own light. Therefore, an additional backlighting unit is not required, making it possible to create a panel that is considerably thinner and more flexible than the current LCD displays.

That said, one of the primary barriers to the widespread use of OLED tech is that it is quite expensive. This has caused its delay to be quite slow, so far. Moreover, what makes this struggle worse is that there is a notably low yield rate to OLED panels. What this means is that a considerable percentage of those that are produced in factories will not comply with quality control standards, causing the expense associated with their production to rise.

The expectation is that technology news in the near future will be reporting on improvements in these areas as production techniques continue to improve. Reducing the waste associated with their manufacture will have a meaningful impact on the price tag that will be seen by the consumer.