Editorial Too Many Conferences, Not Too Much Information. By Stephen P. Atwood Guest Editorial Synergy through Systems-Level Considerations Gives LCD Technology a New Edge. By Jim Anderson President's Corner Investing for the Future. By Paul Drzaic Ultra-Slim LCD TV Enabled by an Edge-Lit LED Backlight System As always, thin is in when it comes to flat-panel TVs. LCD designers and engineers have been striving to make their TV sets thinner and thinner, especially as the threat from OLED TV looms. This article examines the problems encountered when trying to develop an edge-lit LED backlight and how Samsung overcame these hurdles to introduce its 10-mm-thick 40-in.-diagonal LCD-TV prototype in late 2007. By Taeseok Jang High-Contrast Low-MPRT OCB-LCD with Dynamic-Backlight-Control Technology Slow response time and low contrast ratio still plague the performance of many TFT-LCDs. Solving one issue does not necessarily address the other. This article puts forth a potential solution: an OCB-mode LCD with dynamic-backlight-control technology. By Shigesumi Araki, Kenji Nakao, Seiji Kawaguchi, Yuuki Nishimoto, Kazuhiro Nishiyama, Ken Shiiba, Akio Takimoto, Ryosuke Nonaka, Masahiro Baba, and Go Ito Increasing LCD Energy Efficiency with Specialty Light-Management Films With increasing focus on the demand and costs of energy, LCDs must become more efficient in terms of utilizing light and energy. Low-loss components in LCDs can greatly improve system efficiency and help address the need to reduce power consumption. This article describes tests that show that LCD efficiency can be improved 50% or more by using a reflective polarizer and high-efficiency reflectors. By Tao Liu and Mark O'Neill Information Dominance, Situational Awareness: The U.S. Army's Requirements and Methods for Procuring Displays The U.S. Army of the 21st century is almost as dependent upon state-of-the-art displays as it is on trained soldiers. This means there are tremendous opportunities for display manufacturers to have their wares integrated into Army equipment. Here, a retired Army general gives a glimpse of what the Army demands from its displays and how it goes about securing the best equipment to support its missions. By Ed Harrington, Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Retired) In a World of Ubiquitous Mobile Displays, New Technologies Continue to Emerge From OLEDs to pico projectors to LCDs, displays for mobile devices are currently receiving a great deal of attention. At SID Mobile Displays 2008, attendees learned of the latest state-of-the-art mobile displays and applications and got a glimpse at future technologies that will shape the market for years to come. By Alfred Poor Journal of the SID Preview Selected papers appearing in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of the SID are previewed. By Aris Silzars