Running through the labyrinth that is the showroom floor of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a feat in of itself, but it makes it all worth it when you find something like the Explorer Premium Wireless Inspection camera. A device that, for all intents and purposes, could be used perfectly for a plumber, and with the aesthetic appeal of a hardware store enthusiast, the Explorer Premium is “Your Extended Eyes & Hands!”
While the hands part may be a bit overboard, the Explorer Premium does indeed give you the ability to see things in otherwise inaccessible locations. Whether that’s a pipe, or under a door frame and into the other side, the Explorer Premium can handle it. Featuring a 3.5-inch TFT LCD display (that isn’t a touchscreen), and the ability to use a microSD card to save your recorded video, the Explorer Premium is the perfect gadget for those who need to be able to see into tiny locations.
There’s a USB port on the side, and a video output. And the box comes with the device, the flexible tube, a hook, and a magnet — giving you the ability to hang the camera somewhere where you can easily see it.
Any busy family or professional has to write things down on occasion. I know in my house we go through more scratch paper and note pads than I never dreamed we would. A company called Kent Displays has a cool digital replacement for all those paper notes some folks make called the Boogie Board.
The device is a LCD writing tablet that is pressure sensitive and uses a LCD from Kent called the Reflex No Power LCD as a writing surface. The tablets are surprisingly cheap at $41.95 each and the company has unveiled six new colors for people to choose from. More features and more colors will also be unveiled this year according to the maker.
The new colors and tablets are on display at CES 2011 right now. The table comes white, red, pink, yellow, black, green, and blue. You can order this up now.
AOC has unveiled a range of new monitors, including a 9.6mm thick LCD and a Full HD 3D display. The AOC 2436Vwz is a 23.6-inch LCD running at 1080p HD resolution and using a 3D-capable screen; it’s not clear at this stage what type of 3D technology AOC is adopting.
Still, it has the usual range of connectivity, with VGA, DVI-HDCP and USB 2.0, though we’d have liked to have seen HDMI on there as well. Meanwhile, the AOC i2353Fh is the company’s super-skinny model, a 23-inch flatscreen which is just 9.6mm in thickness. It has a pair of HDMI inputs.
There are also new business and home displays, detailed in the press release below. AOC is being pretty miserly on the specs, availability and pricing at the moment, but we’ll update when we know more.
Press Release:
AOC presents innovative displays on the occasion of this year’s CES in Las Vegas
Berlin, 6 January 2011 – From 6 – 9 January 2011 AOC presents its new products in parallel to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Next to attractively designed 3D and business monitors, the display specialist will also introduce a sophisticated super slim display with a profile of less than 1 cm.
A profile of just 9.6 mm: AOC i2353Fh
Ultra slim design display
With its profile of just 9.6 mm, AOC’s i2353Fh is one of the slimmest displays worldwide. The attractive 59.8 cm/23.6?-sized model with two HDMI connectors is suitable as the ultimate design statement for both office and home.
3D model AOC 2436Vwz
3D display for exciting entertainment
With the 59.8 cm/23.6? model 2436Vwz AOC presents its very first 3D display. The Full HD LCD offers numerous connections (VGA/DVI-HDCP/USB 2.0) and will wow any user with razor-sharp images. Thanks to the quick response time, even the fastest action scenes can be displayed without delays.
AOC e2450Pa
New line of business displays
Display specialist AOC sets new highlights in the office and at home with the 50ID, a series of versatile LED monitors with screen diagonals ranging from 47cm/18.5? to 59.8 cm/23.6?. The slim widescreen models in a timelessly classic black design are equally suited for office applications and entertainment. Thanks to numerous features and innovative LED lighting the displays impress with an excellent image quality.
43ID series: pure lifestyle
Lifestyle displays: new 43ID models with 2x HDMI
Right from their launch at the end of 2010, the 43ID series proved to be very popular. During the first quarter in 2011 the latest generation with a response time of 2 milliseconds will enter the market. It offers one VGA and two HDMI connections, providing a lot of flexibility for attaching digital audio/video sources. With a slim profile of just 1.29 cm, an attractive design and an impressive performance, the 43ID series is directed at design-conscious ambitious users in the professional as well as the home environment.
MMT has outed a new USB external monitor intended for road-warriors desperate for extra screen real-estate. The MMT Monitor2Go is a 15.4-inch, 1280 x 800 folding, twisting secondary display using DisplayLink’s virtual GPU technology to hook up via your laptop’s USB port rather than a graphics output. It has a built-in stand or can be propped in portrait or landscape orientation.
A further two USB ports allow you to daisy-chain up to six displays from a single host USB on the notebook, though as we’ve seen with previous DisplayLink implementations it’s the strength of your CPU and RAM which generally decides how many screens one laptop can manage. The Monitor2Go weighs 4lbs and supports both PCs and Macs.
MMT expect the Monitor2Go to be priced at $279 when it goes on sale. That’s more expensive than a regular LCD screen of the same size, true, but considering we’ve seen 7-inch USB sub-displays priced at the $200 point you’re getting plenty more pixels for your money.
Press Release:
DisplayLink USB Virtual Graphics
Power Elegant, Portable Monitor2Go
Industry’s first 15.4-inch, high-quality, truly take able-wherever-you-travel display
PALO ALTO, Calif., and BOSTON, Mass., Jan. 4, 2011 – Consumers and computing enthusiasts who enjoy using two or more full-size PC monitors at their desks can now get that same multi-monitor convenience and productivity while on the go.
DisplayLink and Mobile Monitor Technologies today announced MMT’s Monitor2Go – the first totally portable, yet desktop-quality, 15.4-inch display that’s easy for people to pack up, plug in, and put to use wherever they are. Another innovation to use DisplayLink USB virtual graphics, Monitor2Go combines a large display screen with a slim, lightweight clamshell design to give users true portable productivity.
The two companies will unveil Monitor2Go during the International CES show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Jan. 6-9, 2011. At an estimated retail price of $279, Monitor2Go will be available to consumers later this quarter.
“Monitor2Go will be one of the most useful products shown at CES and that consumers can buy,” said Larry Pensack, MMT’s president. “It’s a high-quality, full-size display that can be used with virtually any notebook or desktop PC, and that you can be hung, stacked or set just about anywhere to expand your visual workspace and get more done faster. And with DisplayLink’s USB virtual graphics technology, there’s no connectivity or cable hassles.”
“Most multi-monitor fans are frustrated when they have to leave their desktop set-up behind and are limited to one screen while traveling,” said Dennis Crespo, DisplayLink executive vice president of marketing and business development. “By having a USB-connected portable display that is the same size as some of the most popular notebooks on the market, there is no more compromise necessary.”
Monitor2Go comes with a built-in stand that allows the screen to sit at eye level, like a notebook display, and to be positioned in either portrait or landscape mode. The device is also designed for hanging. Additionally, up to six screens can be daisy-chained off a host computer’s single USB port to create an instant video wall.
Besides being easy to connect via USB, other Monitor2Go features include a light weight of four pounds, a durable design to withstand travel rigors, and a sleek profile to slide into backpacks and briefcases. The 15.4-inch diagonal LED-backlit display provides a crisp 1280×800 resolution, and works with both PCs and Macs (beta).
Private Monitor2Go demonstrations are available at the DisplayLink CES booth, MP25231 in the South Hall Lower Level of the Las Vegas Convention Center. To schedule a meeting, contact tradeshow@displaylink.com.
About MMT
Multiple displays have been proven to provide as much as 35% more productivity than computing on a single display. Mobile Monitor Technologies, based in Massachusetts, specializes in portable displays for the accounting and financial industries with its Field Monitor Pro series. Its first entry into the consumer market, Monitor2Go will bring the same high quality, productivity optimized displays to the home and office.
In a new report from market research firm DisplaySearch, general shipments of LCD TVs are going to rise in 2011, but when compared to last year, it won’t be anything to get excited about. The firm says that the growth will be noticeable, but that the growth simply won’t be as high as it has been in the past. However, despite the fact shipments will rise, it’s the price erosion for the LCD market that will leave the market seeing its “first ever revenue decline.”
DisplaySearch reports that in 2011, the overall shipments for LCD TVs will rise 13 percent, accounting for 215 million total units. Unfortunately, that pales in comparison to what 2010 looked like, as the LCD TV market saw an overall increase of 31 percent, when compared to 2009. That means that 190 million units were shipped. While the market research firm is unable to project how much lower the overall revenue would be, they believe that a lingering mentality from the recession has left the state of LCD TV sales in a state of decay, and it seems to be worsening.
Paul Gagnon is DisplaySearch’s Director of North America TV Research, and he says that “North America continues to be a tough market for TV sales.” He goes on to add that, As unemployment remains high and consumers remain sensitive to price, budget-conscious consumers have been surprised by limited price declines, partially influenced by a much stronger mix of advanced TV technologies introduced this year like LED backlights, 3D, and Internet connectivity which offset any price declines.”
You don’t have to own an iPad or be an Apple fan to know that the gadget is very popular right now. Other tablets are coming to market that will challenge the iPad, but for now it is the king with the vast majority of the tablet market. The screens for the iPad are made by Samsung and LG.
DigiTimes reports that LG shipped 1.5 million iPad panels in November and that Samsung shipped another 1.2 million iPad screens the same month. In 2011, the report claims that LG Display will produce 35 million iPad panels for the year and that Samsung and a new screen supplier Chimei Innolux (CMI) will each produce 15 million units in 2011.
CMI will start producing its first iPad panels in Q1 2011. The impressive part of these stats comes when you add up all the screens that estimated to be made in 2011. If the reports are accurate, Apple plans to ship about 65 million iPads in 2011. Previous estimates for iPad shipments for 2011 have been in the 45-48 million range. Apple is expected to ship 16.76 million iPads in 2010.
Pixel Qi displays should be in greater supply next year, with the transflective screen company announcing a manufacturing partnership with CPT. The deal will see the two firms release three new screens “of various sizes” in the new year, including a 7-inch 1024 x 600 panel that is expected to go into mass production in early Q2 2011 after making its debut at CES in January.
The partnership between the two companies was apparently prompted by CPT’s demonstration of a transflective display of their own development, presumably the 1366 x 768 panel we covered back in June; the company went on to show the CPT SunLight Viewable panel at the Taitronics show in Taipei in early November. “Discussions between the two companies at that show made it apparent that Pixel Qi and CPT should work together to bring stronger product to market faster” Pixel Qi founder Mary Lou Jepsen says, “a close alliance was formed and the teams have been working together quietly all fall.”
CPT currently produces nearly 40 million screens per month, making it the second-largest mid-size LCD manufacturer in the world. The news hopefully means that stock shortages of devices like the Notion Ink Adam will be addressed as production capacity for Pixel Qi tech displays increases dramatically.
Acer, ASUS and Lenovo are apparently planning to take a leaf out of Apple’s book with the construction of their new Intel Sandy Bridge based ultraportable laptops, with ultra-slim form factors and, in particular, slender screen lids being cribbed from the MacBook Air. Scheduled for release at the end of Q1 2011, the 13.3- to 14-inch notebooks will apparently borrow Apple’s display panel construction method which has resulted in screens 3-5mm thinner than previously common.
Rather than source the entire LCD assembly from the original panel manufacturer, Apple has shifted to what’s known as open-cell assembly. This allows for more customization in the construction of displays – the chassis of the laptop lid itself can be used as the core module for the LCD, for instance – and slimmer overall notebooks. Other details on the new ranges are unknown, though Acer is expected to replace its existing TimelineX line with the new ultraportables.
As far as concepts for cellphones and smartphones go, they can be pretty creative. As most concepts are, truth be told. But usually, they tend to have a few features in there that we’d love to see in our actual pocketable devices. For example, ZTE Corporation’s concept design for the Double smartphone, which has the same features that plenty of today’s favorite designs have, but also throws in plenty of interesting aspects that would probably be great additions for our smartphones of the future.
Right from the start, the Double has an eye-catching design. Especially with that lime green middle hinge. And then you notice the solar cells that stretch across the length of the device. That hinge, with its green tint, is a 360-degree hinge, which will allow the device to flip back and forth. And thanks to the solar cells on the face, there’s a good chance that you won’t actually run out of power throughout the day — as long as the sun’s up, and feeding your phone the energy that it needs.
Other features include a 3.2-inch LCD display, with touch controls. There’s a transparent display that’s been thrown in too, so that when you get notifications, that’s how they’re displayed. Just like the self-sterilizing door handle that also won a Red Dot Concept Design award, the Double smartphone from ZTE Corporation is a design we’d love to see actually make it into the real world.
Apple’s practicing its self-imposed rule of supplier polygamy this week and Japan’s Nikkei is telling us all about it. It started off on Monday, when we learned that Toshiba’s throwing down some cash to build a new smartphone display production plant, with Apple as the key investor and subsequent consumer, and today we’re hearing pretty much the same story, only with Sharp playing the role of Japanese producer to Apple’s hardware whims. A “large portion” of the $1.2 billion cost — identical to what Toshiba’s said to be spending — of expanding Sharp’s Kameyama factory is expected to be shouldered by Jobs’ cash-rich crew, a postulation also confirmed by Reuters, who’s managed to dig up a pair of sources agreeing with the Nikkei. Our Japanese team reports that Sharp has made its expansion plans official, but obviously there’s nary a peep about any Apple connection, while DigiTimes says Toshiba has outright denied any involvement with Cupertino. Guess we’ll just have to wait for the iPhone 7 teardowns to find out.
