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Photos: Roll-up, roll-up, for the roll-up laptop
Ditch those bulky laptop bags and put it in your pocket...

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Monday 25 September 2006

Welcome to the screen you can slot in your pocket. A team of engineers at the University of Cambridge have developed 'morphing materials' which have the ability to retain up to three structures, meaning within five years' time it could be possible to roll-up your laptop screen as easily as a newspaper.

With the right electronics in place, the potential applications of morphing materials are huge. Download a document to your phone and then view it on this A5-sized screen you can fit in your pocket, pull out a full-sized keyboard from your PDA or view your songs on a larger but roll-up ipod screen.

This prototype, made by Dr Keith Seffen, lecturer in structural engineering at the University of Cambridge, would hold the main electronic components along the wooden strips on the vertical sides of the screen, Seffen envisages.

Photo: Gemma Simpson