Multiple monitors: They are not just a wish list item

Christopher Null of the blog "The Working Guy" had a great entry:

Two monitors = 44 percent increase in productivity

He writes about "...the New York Times which cites research that -- on certain text-editing tasks -- users were 44 percent faster using two 20-inch monitors instead of a single 18-inch screen."

See the original NYT story titled Boss, I Need a Bigger Screen. For Work Efficiency, of Course.

We've seen this for years. Multiple monitors are like adding a room on your house: the add more floor to stretch out in and more space to work in. The efficiencies can be seen in adding a second monitor to a laptop or 2 or more monitors to a desktop computer. The extra virtual room will increase your productivity simply in the fact that you don't have to keep using the mouse or keyboard to get back to the other three projects you are working on at the same time.

And don't forget the interruptions for Instant Message chats, incoming mail notices, and the screen space used by toolboxes, tool palettes, task bars and docks.

Xscreen is reaching out

It looks like the reception to our Xscreen line of products has been really positive. The people who have had a chance to get in front of the screen and see it for themselves have been really impressed. AVing has a nice write up.

It seems that some people aren't quite understanding that this is a screen that is supposed to be used with a projector. There's an impression out there that the Xscreen itself is producing the image. So let's be clear: the Xscreen is a projection screen that makes the image from a projector look great, even in regular lighting.

A glowing review of our new products

The fine folks over at CRN magazine recently noted:

Planar Systems does displays right. Not only do they have more than 20 years of display expertise and experience, but they understand the target market and customer applications, as well as trends from the supply side. Recently, the company released a new line of LCD monitors, which will be available with a QuadStand base for resistance-free height, tilt, swivel and pivot adjustments. The new line of monitors offers versatile viewing angles and more than five inches of height adjustment so business professionals can easily configure the position of the monitors for ideal viewing.

Man, that sure was nice of them. The whole review is quite long, but that first paragraph makes us proud. But come on guys, would it kill you to put a link to the PL line pages?

Watch this 'Space'

Keep watching this space as Planar gets set to roll out some interesting new developments. Other sites like GenX Tech have started to catch up on our 3D technology and some of the great uses that StereoMirror is being put to. If you've not heard about our StereoMirror, GenX Tech's Recap of Planar's 3D Monitor isn't a bad place to start. After that you can see our product details on our StereoMirror specs page.

Matrox and Planar: Like Peanut and Butter.

Matrox has introduced a new video card that is specifically designed to support Stereo 3D monitors like our SD1710.

We've been working with Matrox for over a year to demonstrate the combination of our SD1710 and their line of Parhelia graphics cards. Matrox developed the new Parhelia Precision SDT card to eliminate the need for an extra inverter card that mirror flips the video to the top monitor while providing speed and power for manipulating large image files and 3D graphics. The new card supports OpenGL stereo for many professional applications and, because it's PCI based, it can be used in a wide variety of systems without requiring a more advanced graphics slot.

Our SD1710 works with a number of different cards (like the nVidia Quadro or 3Dlabs Realizm lines), but this new Matrox Parhelia Precision SDT is a great solution to setup a stereo workstation.

• Matrox Parhelia Precision SDT card for Stereo/3D displays
• The Planar SD1710 Stereo/3D monitor

Planar writes the next chapter for retailing kiosks

The magazine, Direct Marketing News wrote an article on the future of kiosks on the floors of retail shopping locations. The article highlights the Hot Wheels kiosk that Planar developed for FAO Schwarz, the high-profile toy retailer.

Our own Rob Baumgartner is oddly quoted: "Kids are a great application." Of course in context, Rob was pointing out that using the kiosks to communicate with youth is a great way of applying the technology. "They find [the kiosk] so engaging," he went on to say.

It's great to see how a tool that Planar is helping to pioneer is really taking big steps forward.

Read the article here, or learn more about Planar's kiosk products.

Planar: The Gathering

Lots of great information from Display Guru has been migrated over to our new server. If you haven't read Display Guru's blog before, you've been missing out on some great articles. The old http://displayguru.blogspot.com has been moved to its new home at: http://blog.planar.com/guru/ and you can expect to see new posts coming soon!

We've also brought the newborn blog "Embedded" for and by engineers onto the blog server. Check out the stress test videos and pictures at: http://blog.planar.com/embedded/ and see what new technologies and tools are showing up.