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Getting a Round to It
 LCDs are getting about as thin as they can. So, what about changing a different dimension? Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology actually has a good reason — besides standing out at the display shows — to make circular displays: round displays fit in car dashboards better than hard-edged rectangles.
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HDTV Smackdown
 Sure, companies constantly trumpet their new LCD HDTV models. But when will they actually be available and how do they stack up for real users? CNET's reviewers compared and contrasted five LCD HDTVs that are on store shelves now. Their pick for overall performance goes to Sony; for picture quality, it's Samsung.
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Super Thin OLED TVs
 Sony plans to start selling the first commercial organic LED TV in December. The 11 in. screen size isn't worth writing home about, but it is more efficient and thinner than LCD displays. Samsung and Epson scrambled to keep up, showing prototype OLED displays at a trade show only weeks later.
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Future's So Bright...
 Sometimes it's better to drop the competition over flash and size for unobtrusive-but-functional displays. Athletic performance sunglasses incorporate a 320 x 240 pixel LED display that weighs only 7 grams. The display is powered by a rechargeable polymer battery, which also powers the wireless data link to a wristwatch-like device that monitors heart rate.
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The Perfect Eye
Photonfocus AG
Photonfocus announces the new DS1-D1024-40-CL 10 and U2 10 camera series designed to support cost-sensitive machine vision applications without sacrificing key features, performance, or quality. The unifying concept of the control software, PFRemote 2.0, assures full compatibility between the DS camera series and the MV camera series for your applications.
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Custom Display Integration
Advanced Input Systems
Advanced Input Systems integrates a wide variety of display technologies into user interface products — with great design and cost flexibility. We translate your needs into the ideal display solution to meet variable lighting, environmental, and user conditions.
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Diamondoids Emit Better Electrons
 Field emission devices (FEDs) based on Nanosized electron emitters are a flat-panel technology that promise efficiency, sharper images, and wider fields of view — but aren't available yet. The best candidate for an emitter has been carbon nanotubes — until now. Diamondoids (cage hydrocarbons), nanometer-sized molecules featuring diamond-crystal cage structures appear more efficient.
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Organic Electroluminescent Displays
 Seiko Epson announced that it plans to start selling organic electroluminescent panels. OELs use less power and offer wider viewing angles than LCDs, but had been limited by considerably shorter lifetimes. Seiko says lifetimes are now comparable to LCDs. They will start offering 8 in., 2.8 mm thick monitors.
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Flatter is Finer for Cellphones
 A super-thin LCD for cell phones and other mobile devices incorporates proprietary substrate and backlight technologies into the Mobile Advanced Super View LCD. It provides a 2.2 in. display with a thickness of 0.68 mm. The specs: a high contrast ratio of 2000:1, response speed of 8 ms, plus a viewing angle of 176°.
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Auto-Dimming for Phones
 Battery life is as big an issue as reception for mobile phones. So minimizing the power required for displays can make a big difference in usability. A new LCD controller automatically adjusts backlight brightness. According to the company, brightness control on the chip can reduce power use by up to 50%.
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Industrial Flat Panel LCD Displays
VarTech Systems
VarTech Systems Inc. offers a wide variety of LCD flat panel displays ranging from 6.4 in. to 47 in. Mechanical configurations include chassis mount, rack mount, panel mount, wall/arm mount, and rugged tabletop. VarTech Systems Inc. even has flat panel displays to replace many legacy CRTs.
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Anti-Glare Hard Coat for Large Displays
Silver Cloud Manufacturing Co.
Silver Cloud Manufacturing's DURALAN II Contrast Enhancement Filters offer features that make them excellent vandal shields for large, expensive LCD displays. These rugged filters are available in various thicknesses and in the +40 in. diagonal sizes commonly used in large LCD display systems. DURALAN II vandal shield filters are offered in several surface finishes, depending on the application.
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A Better Job Search by Design
Dice
DiceEngineering.com offers thousands of quality engineering jobs at top technology and engineering companies. Find jobs in your area of expertise.
Search now.
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Consumer Electronics Driving Displays
 International CES is the world's largest tradeshow, and it will include a section specifically for displays and sessions on consumer electronics and autos. The Consumer Electronics Association has organized an area called the Advanced Display Technologies TechZone to showcase the latest developments in a-Si TFT LCDs, LTPS TFT LCDs, AMOLEDs, PMOLEDs, PDPs, reflective, flexible, and 3D displays. The show runs from January 7-10, 2008, in Las Vegas.
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Wake Up and Smell the Coffee Shop Sign
Why stick to just one sense, when humans have five senses that can be marketed to? In Japan, NTT Communications is testing Internet-controlled aromatic signs in locations including retail stores and cafes. The signs, being tested now, are billed as the world's first advertising sign system that can emit multiple aromas while displaying electronic images. Testing in bookstores showed that an orange/lavender scent boosted sales by 5%. The Kirin City Beer Hall is next on tap for testing in December. Is that fair?
What do other engineers think of this?
See for yourself at
CR4 — GlobalSpec's Engineering Community.
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