The tech you're reading these words on – you have two Dundee uni boffins to thank for that

Fascinating. And all these years the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University held the patents on LCDs. I wonder how the Scots got around them?

So where were CRTs heading?

Back in '75 or '76 there was a commercial exhibition in Hong Kong showcasing the developments in CRT technology.

The Japanese companies were showing small (approx 5 inch) CRTs without the shadowmask, but instead had extra phosphor index stripes that registered the beam as it passed over.

The feedback pulses from the index stripes controlled an RGB switch so that the beam was correct for each of the three colours generated.

They were touted as the future for projection TVs with the extra brightness and reduced heat generated.

So without LCD we could still be using CRTs.

Rate this article: 10 out of 10.

"With seven bar patterns per number, you only need 28 connections; add a few other things on the watch display and you still only come to around 50. "

Honourable mention surely needed here for charlieplexing, which allows creative use of circuit design to massively reduce the number of pins needed to control a display e.g. 10 pins for a 90-element display.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlieplexing

Other than that: which adverts do I have to click on to most effectively help fund more articles like this, and the Geek's Guide?

Sorry, 'social media likes' are not now (and have never been, and never will be) an option for some people.

Two remarks:

- Good ideas are built on other good ideas - they rarely come from nihil.

- European countries are not good at exploiting industrially and commercially their ideas. They've got plenty of ideas but others make money with them.