Planar Touchscreens: Information Worth Knowing

Turn your skin into a touchscreen!

2010-03-15T17:13:00.001-07:00

This goes beyond Minority Report! Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft's Redmond research lab are investigating how to turn your body into both a touchscreen "display" and input device using an arm band with a pico projector embedded inside. Blogger Barb Dybwad asks if people are interested in turning their bodies into touchscreens. I think it'd be interesting for demonstration purposes, but I wouldn't be interested in everyday living. What do you think?

HP Wall of Touch!

2010-02-10T17:40:00.000-08:00

Imagine a LARGE interactive display that doesn't even have to be touched for it to respond! That's what HP is testing - a touchless "Wall of Touch". It's made up of nine 43" "zero bezel" displays, each 1.5" thick with a resolution of 1080p, being driven by HP Z-800 workstation. Can you imagine walking by being able to find a store, or see different video feeds with a flick of movement? Check out the WSJ blog posting and video demonstration, and see it for yourself.

Optical Touchscreen Investment News

2010-02-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yet another sign that the touchscreen market is rapidly growing. FlatFrog Laboratories based in Sweden and UK announced they raised the equivalent of $18M US in new equity to develop and productize their cost-effective large multi-touch in-glass displays, mainly targeted at the education, gaming, hospitality and digital signage markets.

This on the heals of the Tyco Electronics acquisition of French touch input technology company Sensitive Object for $62M announced late January, 2010. It'll be interesting to see what Tyco does with the technology - if Tyco plans to go after the small touchscreen markets like Apple iTablet/iPad or GPS markets.

Select Your Touchscreen Guide

2010-02-05T15:14:00.000-08:00

Planar has created an interactive tool to choose the right touchscreen display for a specific application or market. There's a short version - about 14 questions and a longer version (still pretty short - 18 questions). What's even better is you can have someone contact you and guide you on how to get a demo or purchase. Check out the touchscreen guide or click on the link at planartouch.com.

Planar Touchscreen Used in Pizza Restaurant

2010-01-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

Extreme Pizza, located in Beaverton, Oregon chose Planar's PT1550MX resistive touchscreen LCD with integrated cardswipe (MSR) for their POS system. Owner Al Woodward said they've even dumped drinks on the screen with no problems. See the whole video below.

New Touchscreens for Point-of-Sale (POS) and Retail

2010-01-11T08:45:00.000-08:00

Today Planar launched two new touchscreens: the PA1575R 15" touchscreen computer for POS applications, and the PT2275SW 22" wide SAW touchscreen LCD for smaller format digital signage applications or desktop applications requiring larger screen sizes. Read the complete press release here. These products are also on display at NRF, Planar booth 247.

Multiple Touchscreens In Action!

2010-01-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

Interesting consumer application for touchscreens - displaying trippy graphics tied to music on multiple touchscreens, being controlled by one person. I can't tell if these are all-in-one touchscreen computers, similar to Planar's new PA1575R, or if there's one PC supporting multiple larger sized touchscreens (like Planar's new PT2275SW 22" SAW touchscreen). But what a way to show what touchscreens can do! Love the music!

Save The Date!

2009-11-24T16:36:00.001-08:00

Jan 10-12th, 2010 Planar will be attending Retail's BIG show. NRF's 99th Annual Convention attracts more than 17,500 retail professionals from 62 countries! Planar has also expanded their successful PT family of touchscreens by adding the all new 15" PA1575 R all-in-one touchcomputer, which is ideal for retail applications.

Come check out our new product offerings at NRF Jan 10-12th, 2010 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, NY, Booth 247.

To set up an appointment please e-mail touchscreens@planar.com

Touchscreens and Windows 7 - What You Need to Know

2009-11-11T17:14:00.000-08:00

When I read about some of the cool features developed for touchscreens in Windows 7 I got really excited! Being able to just flick my finger across the screen to scroll through pictures instead of using the arrow button seemed pretty neat (even though I've gotten lost using my husband's i-phone like when I've expanded the screen to read the text and couldn't figure out how to get it back to the small text for easier scrolling!)

I found Jay's post on Planar Embedded talking about the advantages and current limitations to using existing touchscreens with Windows 7. Check it out for yourself - Planar Embedded: The Engineer View: Windows 7, Gestures, Embedded Touch screens, and You

ProSolutions for Chiropractic chooses PT1710MX

2009-09-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

ProSolutions for Chiropractic, Inc, a company that provides technologically advanced solutions to the Chiropractic industry, has chosen Planar's PT1710MX 17" resistive touchscreen LCD monitor for its ProAdjuster system. The ProAdjuster is used for spinal analysis and adjustment. The PT1710MX shows the readings from the ProAdjuster instrument. See a full video demonstration on their website.

Planar at Global Gaming Expo 2009

2009-08-31T15:46:00.000-07:00

Planar will be exhibiting at Global Gaming Expo - November 17-19, 2009 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, booth 837. We will be showing new touchscreen products which will begin shipping in January 2010. To set up an appointment please email touchscreens@planar.com.

Planar Touchscreens in Healthcare Bundle!

2009-08-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

Vertical Systems Reseller (VSR) Online wrote an article about ScriptRx’s use of Planar’s PT resistive touchscreen monitors in its electronic patient discharge system for use in ERs, retail health clinics and other ambulatory care environments. Read the full article here.

Planar 17" Resistive Touchscreen LCD Chosen for POS System

2009-07-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

eMazzanti Technologies, computer network solutions provider based in Hoboken, NJ chose Planar's PT1710MX 17" economical resistive touchscreen LCD for the Bergen County Camera POS system installation based on the Windows® 7 operating system platform. Case study link is below. Watch for the PT1710MX starting at 1.24.

Ingram chooses Planar touchscreen for POS bundle

2009-07-14T17:24:00.000-07:00

Ingram's DC/POS just announced that Planar's PT15 resistive touchscreen is the featured LCD in their new security-focused POS solution bundle for small retailers. Other hardware and software partners include HP, MagTek, Uniforce Technology, Cherry Electronics, Citizen and Payment Processing. Read the entire ChannelWeb article here. Or view the SecurePOS SMB Bundle datasheet for more information.

War Games on a Multi-Touch Screen Table

2009-06-15T16:08:00.000-07:00

For those of you wanting to know where multi-touch screens are heading, check out the use of a multi-touch table for the new Ubisoft RUSE war game introduced at E3 2009. I'm looking forward to hearing about innovative uses for multi-touch screens in a business environment.

Playing Blackjack with a Planar touchscreen!

2009-06-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Found this post on YouTube. Newmarket Highschool created Jak, a Blackjack dealer robot. Jak uses special software that analyzes a webcam image and outputs its value. A Planar touchscreen is used for input.

Newmarket Highschool won 1st place in the Ontario competition and is now going to the international competition. Good luck, Newmarket Highschool!

New removable touchscreen netbook available May/June 2009

2009-03-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

I thought this was an interesting concept, a new ARM-powered netbook running Linux O/S with an optional keyboard! A user could use the keyboard to respond to emails, or remove the touchscreen to watch movies, read an ebook, take notes with a stylus, or play games. The touchscreen can even be mounted to a refrigerator as the back is a magnet. Economically priced as well - $399 for the complete netbook or $299 for the touchscreen portion.

Planar Touchscreen running a Tormach Milling Machine!

2009-03-06T16:15:00.000-08:00

Planar touchscreen monitors are indeed everywhere - even with a Tormach milling machine! The user had this to say about the set-up: "I am using the Tormach version of Mach 3 but did make a new screen with the screen editor. Got rid of the stuff I don't use and added the stuff I do. This is really a great setup!"

Emerging Display Technology article from PCMag.com

2009-03-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

In Michael Miller's PCMag.com article - Emerging Display Technology: OLEDs, Touch Screens, Flexible Displays and Pico Projectors - Geoff Walker from Elo makes the point that there's no one silver bullet when it comes to choosing the right touchscreen technology for your unique application. Each one has advantages and disadvantages. See the complete article at http://blogs.pcmag.com/miller/2009/03/emerging_display_technology_ol.php.

Multi-Touch Tables for Museums

2009-02-05T13:39:00.000-08:00

This interactive multi-touch table for museum exhibits is pretty cool! According to a news release, it has a bright 50-inch diagonal surface with a high-resolution (1280 x 720) display, which is higher than Microsoft’s Surface multi-touch table. Just where will touch technology take us next???

SAW touchscreens in a digital signage application

2008-10-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

I was searching on You Tube and found this cool video from EETI showing the use of SAW on a 32" display. Perfect for use in a digital signage application! Thought you all may find it interesting as well!

Planar Touchscreens - where will they show up?

2008-07-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

It was pretty cool to be walking through Fred Meyer's (part of the Kroger family) and see the one of Planar's touchscreen LCDs in action with the photo kiosk. Next time I'll take my camera and take pictures of someone using the LCD!