September 7, 2011

From Planar Systems comes another entry for the “Famous Firsts” list at TheLongestListOfTheLongestStuffAtTheLongestDomainNameAtLongLast.com: the first integrated multi-panel touch screen display. While that may not roll right off the tongue, it’s a tremendous breakthrough. Prior to the launch of the Clarity Matrix Touch on June 15th at InfoComm 2011 in Orlando, Florida, multi-panel touch screens had to be cobbled together from different vendors with various components. It was a situation that would challenge the inestimable Dr. Frankenstein’s skills of stitching parts together.

You can now order a 2-by-2, 2-by-3 or 3-by-3 video wall made up of Clarity Matrix displays. That means that you can have anywhere from a 92 inch diagonal display to a 138 inch screen. On this gigantic display you can touch, tap, drag, pinch and swipe. The multi-touch capabilities can be used to manipulate all sorts of interactive applications from digital whiteboards to maps to playing a giant game of Spider Solitaire. The Clarity Matrix Touch comes with full support for the Windows 7 Touch Pack, so you can just hook up a computer and start working.

For the worrisome-mom types out there (you know who you are) who are already thinking of how many ways this can be damaged by all of the wanton poking and touching it will receive, you can rest easy. The Extended Ruggedness Optics (ERO) glass that covers the screens protects them from finger pointing and even more. The ERO glass provides another first: the Clarity Matrix is one continuous touch surface that is made up of separate pieces of glass. In the past touch screens couldn’t go past the edges of a pane of glass, either requiring a huge pane of glass or a smaller touch screen. Planar has solved that problem with an optical bonding process so the Digital Vision Touch technology provided by SMART Technologies sees nothing but the open expanse of one touch screen for your fingers to roam.

July 8, 2011

By James Wood

It used to be that you could just paint your name and business information on a shingle and hang it out in front of your shop or office. The simple market method was enough to drive business so that the phrase became an idiom for starting a new venture. Especially in the American West, doctors and lawyers could show up in a new town and immediately have business.

As technology advanced the signs got a bit more complex with colors and designs. Logos and brand recognition became important marketing features. But most marketing was done through tools like the phone book, that’s why there are so many “AAA Locksmiths” around the country. The idea was that being first in the alphabetical phone book listings would drive more business (and it often did). The medium is slightly different, but the effect is nearly the same as hanging out a shingle.

Technology hasn’t paused so now we have amazing tools like the Clarity™ Matrix Display Wall that can show anything you can dream up. You can leverage the high definition, multi-panel display to offer advertising to your clients as well as showing off the features of your new building. But the move from hanging out a shingle to the type of technology available in a Clarity Matrix display is leaving the old paradigms behind. You can show stunning HD pictures of the billboards that your clients have designed. You can even play the commercial’s they’ve recorded for television. The number of advertisements that reach the eyes of people will drastically increase with the ability to change the display constantly and the efficiency built in to be able to run the Clarity Matrix 24/7 with minimal down-time.

Now let your imagination run wild. Consider an interactive display with a touch screen interface so that the people passing the wall-sized display can call up the information they want based on what they’re looking for. When the ads are served up, not by some random rotation, but by the specific request of the people they will be more effective since they meet the specific need of the customer at the time they have the need.

With the Extended Ruggedness and Optics technology, Planar’s Clarity Matrix can stand up to the rigors of being touched and handled thousands of times. The ERO glass is tough, resistant to scratching, bonded directly to the screens of the display wall and supports touch screen input. Planar has skilled partners like Mtek Kiosk who can integrate the Clarity Matrix displays into touch-based kiosks that connect people with content. We’ve moved a long way from hanging out a shingle, but the purpose is still the same as it’s always been. Let us handle the technology so you can handle your business.

June 2, 2011

By James Wood

Glass has a reputation for being weak. When a boxer wants to talk about a foe who’s weak he might say: “He has a glass jaw.” Or there’s the old saying: “Those is glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” We think of glass as being the weak link in our houses or cars. Wood and steel will protect us where polished glass will fail. Granted, the reputation of glass has been earned over a long time, but what glass is doing now is anything but weak.

Glass is used to stop bullets in armored cars, to protect astronauts in space and to cover the screen of your smartphone. The brittle analogy for weakness has come a long way through the coaxing of engineers to become a top-tier solution for protecting assets. Glass is essentially melted sand, but with the careful addition of other elements and control of the manufacturing process the result can be incredibly tough, yet still smooth and clear.

At Planar we tackled the challenge of putting vibrant digital signage at eye level through LCD displays and mounts that are 60% thinner than anyone else. So sports arenas, airports and shopping malls can mount gorgeous screens right were people are looking. But that leaves a new problem, what happens when the screens get touched. General access to the public also means general access to sticky toddler fingers, rough suitcase bumps and countless other touches.

We put on another pot of coffee for the Planar engineering team and they rewarded us with Extended Ruggedness and Optics glass, or ERO for short. This marvel of melted sand is incredibly strong and resistant to damage, so it protects the LCD screens behind it, which is fantastic. But our engineers weren’t satisfied with just that much. They added enhancements to boost the contrast of the image on the screen by 300 percent, so not only is it tough, but it’s also easier to see. Finally they threw in a bonding technique so that the glass fits over the Clarity Matrix LCD screens without any gap for moisture or dust to get in and degrade the image. That little gem earned the engineers a dozen donuts.

The reputation of glass may have been earned over centuries, but with innovations like ERO protecting your Clarity Matrix display wall you’ll begin to think of glass differently.