Business Bytes
Jan 26, 2011

What CES had to Offer for the New Computer Screen

 

Life was never meant to be viewed through a little window, and I believe neither was technology.  Look at TVs, computers, cell phones:  all of these technologies have increased their screen size so that we can see a bigger picture.  I'm always thinking ahead about what great technology is still to come.  One of my interests is in having giant computer screens and having technology get me out of my seat, literally.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is known for its innovation.  At this year's CES, two products stood out to me concerning innovation in computer screen technology:

Samsung and LG's Flexible AMOLED Displays

AMOLED uses organic materials to transmit light.  Flexible AMOLED displays have popped up at CES before, but what made this year different is the material they are using to make these flexible displays:  plastic.  In the past, these displays were made of glass, which meant that the display was flexible only once and after that it would break.  Considering what is available at this year's show, it isn't too hard to imagine that a computer screen will soon be on these displays.

Microsoft Surface 2

Any product that will eventually make the computer mouse obsolete is good in my book.  Microsoft Surface 2 is an improvement on the first Microsoft Surface, which was a touch screen tabletop, connected to a bulky cabinet in order to hold cameras.  The cameras read your fingers, replacing the computer mouse with touch.  Now Microsoft Surface goes beyond a tabletop by reducing the thickness to just four inches, so it can be mounted on a wall.  I love how big it is at 40 inches.  With PixelSense technology, the Microsoft Surface not only reads your hands, but can also read text written down on a piece of paper and then place it on the screen.  This interaction of actual paper with a computer screen could go beyond scanning, as shown at CES where they had a flyer for the Royal Bank placed on the screen, showing if a customer's flyer was the winner or not in a drawing.  PixelSense can read any object placed on the screen.

My dream would be for these two technologies to be used together to create large screens (my preference being 30ft by 10ft) that can be mounted anywhere with flexible AMOLED technology and that I can touch with PixelSense so I don't have to sit down.  Here's the interesting thing about these two pieces of technology right now:  Samsung is involved in both.    Hmm…

CEO Curt Finch founded Journyx in 1996 on the premise that we should all strive to spend our time – and lives – on things that matter.


Curt Finch has more than two decades of software development and distributed workforce management experience. In 1997, Curt created the world's first internet-based timesheet application and the foundation for the current Journyx product offering. Curt has a B.S. in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. His book, All Your Money, is available on Amazon. @curtfinch