In April 1997, researchers at the MIT Media Lab (MIT: Massachusetts
Institute of Technology) created the company E Ink to develop an
electronic ink technology. Very briefly, the technology was the
following one: caught between two sheets of flexible plastic, millions
of micro-capsules, each of them containing black and white particles,
are in suspension in a clear fluid. A positive or negative electric
field indicates the desired group of particles on the surface, to view,
modify or delete data. In July 2002, E Ink showed the prototype of the
first screen using this technology. This screen was marketed in 2004.
Other screens followed for various reading devices, including the first
black and white flexible displays announcing the forthcoming
"electronic paper".