Submitted: The Two Sides Team October 30, 2013

Did you think the days of using paper were over? Well with a new technology developed by Disney, we may be using the material for years to come.

via Digital Journal – October 16, 2013

Did you think the days of using paper were over? Well with a new technology developed by Disney, we may be using the material for years to come.

According to Mashable, Disney just has just developed a way to make the old-school material a source of energy for its interactive books.

Gizmodo reported that technology involves rubbing or touching a piece of paper to make a charge. The piece of paper makes "use" of materials that hold a semi-permanent charge, also called electrets. One example of the material, as shown in the video from Mashable, is a piece of Teflon that when rubbed on paper that has "conductive ink" can generate a small charge.

MAKE said that while the charge is small the voltage generated can be as much as 1,000 volts which is enough to power a "row of LEDs, e-paper displays, infrared devices, or even to communicate with a computer."

This was developed, according to MAKE, by Ivan Poupyrev and Emre Karagozler. Poupyrev is the principle research scientist at Disney's Interaction Technology Group located in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Poupyrev said in a statement, according to Mashable:

We can imagine any number of ways to use this to add sights, sounds and other interactivity to books and other printed materials inexpensively and without having to worry about power sources.

Mashable also reported that Disney did not say if they plan to "commercialize" the paper generators.

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