Pixel Qi is showing off at Computex this week in Taipei, and Charbax just posted a detailed interview with Mary Lou Jepsen from the floor.   Look for the “Qi” button at 0:25, and serious geeking out on the physics and fab process starting at 5:00… and for the rest of the video! (For a quicker soundbite, he also posted this side-by-side iPad / iPhone / 3Qi comparison video yesterday.)

Notion Ink's Adam tablet, with 3Qi screen

Pixel Qi are having a good quarter.  They are offering a variety of display options, including wide-view, anti-reflective coating, and a capacitive touchsreen. And they have started winning industry awards. More details, and a Notion Ink interview (they say their Adam tablet will release on time in a few months), after the jump.

• In April, the 3Qi screen won the The IEEE Spectrum‘s Emerging Technology ACE Award, honoring the year’s new technology “with the greatest potential for financial success”.
• Last week, it took second place in the Society for Information Display’s “Display of the Year” awards (coming in first: a 47-in. 3D LCD by LG).  And they and their first laptop partner, Notion Ink, have been drawing steady praise.
• Now they have lined up more partners, with Innoversal’s Lattice tablet and a drawing slate (pen and touch-based) from AccuSee both sporting a capacitive 3Qi.  (Note to manufacturers – keyboard-lovers want sunlight-readable displays too!)

And last but not least, DIY Pixel Qi conversion kits (for all models?  just the vanilla display?) should be available by next month.

Notion Ink interview

As for Notion Ink, they nixed their initial plans for a June launch of the Adam, in part to make sure that Flash was running flawlessly on it.  But the Adam still looks like the best of what’s coming.

Notion Ink’s young Hyderabad-based team were recently interviewed by Mint business news about their ambitions and work.  Founder and Adam designer Rohan Shravan says he was inspired by OLPC’s mission, and by how difficult it was to get OLPC’s costs down to $100.  “I wanted to build something cheaper and more universally accessible than a laptop.”  Good for him!  (Sadly they’ve hinted that their first model will come out around $300.)

”’Update”’: they say they will release the Adam on their current schedule (as of this Spring), which is to say in a few months… with at least two models: a Pixel Qi and a regular-LCD model, in an effort to bring down the price of their most inexpensive offering.