If you thought the iPad 2 was an exciting new development, check out these innovative transparent LCD screens from Samsung. Requiring no direct backlight, they are a thin transparent piece of plastic on which we view onscreen graphics. Utilizing ambient lighting with LED units along each side, they are incredibly energy efficient using 90% less electricity compared to the standard screen and they also feature HDMI and USB ports for straightforward integration with multiple devices. With vivid colours and yet the ability to see through it with up to 20% transparency, users are able to display a product and employ graphics alongside it, creating a home-shopping-network-esque product pitch, but way cooler. An example of this can be seen in the photo above, the tablet on the left is real and the transparent screen is in front of it.

Leading the global market with the world's first mass-produced transparent LCD screen, Samsung initially rolled these out at tech conferences throughout 2010, and have just announced that it has gone into mass production in a 22-inch model. We envision these to shake up the advertising and business sectors, as a new way of branding. Opening up a whole new host of applications for this kind of display technology, Samsung have also demoed laptops and television screens with the transparent LCD screen, though as cool as it sounds we're not sure just how useful that might be.

Expect to see one of these bad boys integrated into a wall near you. Read more about it here.