Kent Displays is not a name which will immediately bring recognition to consumer electronics industry veterans, but it’s one to watch out for. The company, based in Kent, Ohio, makes a unique and patented variant of LCD displays, Reflex™, and after many years of trying different professional applications finally came out with its consumer-oriented Boogie Board towards the end of 2010. According to CEO Albert Green, the company’s initial sales projections of “a few thousand” were vastly exceeded, with several hundred thousand sold in the run up to Christmas. Boogie Boards were available at $39.99 in Brookstone stores if you were lucky enough to find one. Sales will exceed one million this year. What are they? Basically they are small, very light, notepads, and require no power to retain the image since they use reflected light. The image can be erased instantly and this function requires a small 3V watch battery. The writing experience truly is very similar to paper, in fact in many ways it is much better. When the company adds local storage in future iterations, this will become a powerful, simple, low cost and easy-to-use notepad which could synch directly to a PC or smart device for further processing. I can’t wait to get my hands on one before next year’s CES. David Mercer