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Samsung Display Newly Established as World’s Largest Display Manufacturer "Samsung Display Co., Ltd., a global leader in display panel technologies and products, announced today that it has begun conducting business as a newly merged corporation with Samsung Mobile Display and S-LCD corporations. Samsung Display is the world’s largest display manufacturer, now with 39,000 employees and seven production facilities worldwide. ...Kwon said, “Samsung Display is destined to attain virtually unlimited growth, through continuous efforts to combine our proven know-how in the display field with an overwhelming creative spirit.” He added, “Our combined strengths will guide Samsung’s display business through the next decade and longer, in turning the many synergistic benefits of the company into far-reaching, tangible results.” ...Through its merger with Samsung Mobile Display and S-LCD corporations, Samsung Display plans to expand the company’s management efficiencies, while optimizing the synergistic effects of its LCD (liquid crystal display) and OLED (organic light-emitting diode) business initiatives. The company also intends to strengthen its global competitive edge by combining OLED production technology with precision large panel operations and seasoned supply chain management." via BusinessWire
Ideum Multitouch Tables Pro & Platform Are 55″ Wide
"Ideum, a New-Mexico based company has come up with its fourth-generation multitouch tables, which by the way are becoming popular at museums and educational institutes. Ideum has two types of tables – the Pro and the Platform. Both of them are 55-inch LED LCD multitouch displays and run on 64-bit Microsoft Windows 7 Professional. With a depth of just two-inches, there are 40 simultaneous touch points on both tables and feature a 30,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Both tables support Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and RFID. Ideum tables are built for sturdiness and are made up of micro-etched, low-friction surface created from a sheet of hardened, ultra-clear, low-iron tempered glass." via CrazyEngineers
Intel planning boom in touchscreen demand for new laptops "With demand for tablets and smartphones surging, Intel Corp. is betting that supplies of touchscreens will start to run short just as PC makers begin to introduce touch-enabled laptops and other devices. To ensure that PC manufacturers don't get squeezed out, the chipmaker last month said it had agreed to pay four Taiwanese touch-screen makers to secure supplies of the parts. ...While touch-screen makers have enough capacity to cope with smartphone growth, according to DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim, laptop screens are at least three times the size of those used in phones. That means growing sales of touch-enabled notebooks would significantly increase demand. And as touch screens get larger, there's a greater chance they will have defects, Shim said." via The Detroit News
Virtual Reality Helps Service Members Deal with PTSD "One therapeutic PTSD tool, the Virtual Iraq/Afghanistan program, is in place in close to 50 hospitals and clinics across the U.S. The system offers a variety of scenarios. With the smell of gunfire and body odor in the air, troops can drive along a desert road only to have their Humvee hit an improvised explosive device. Or they can walk the town as the call to prayer rings in their ears, passing a spice market only to hear gunfire break out. It will never replicate the traumatic event a service member had in the war zone, but it doesn’t have to. ...Although increased graphics and options will certainly make the simulation more realistic, Rizzo emphasizes that the basis of the therapy is in the scientific research and results behind it. Exposure therapy works effectively, and the data are just starting to trickle in for virtual reality therapy. ...PTSD tools are not constrained to a set of goggles or a head-mounted display; several tools are available through virtual worlds accessed via the Internet. SimCoach is an interactive program with four different avatars that users can talk with about PTSD. The coach can give the user an assessment, suggest local care facilities, give information about the disorder, and offer an anonymous place to talk. ...Virtual reality programs — whether they rely on goggles or laptops — all face the same struggle when trying to provide proper levels of realism. Users are aware that they are looking at something computer-generated, and programs that try for complete realism may tumble instead into the “uncanny valley” — where not-quite-perfect human avatars can be off-putting." via DefenseNews
High resolution displays for notebooks, tablet PCs becoming tight, say sources "The supply of high resolution displays has been falling short of demand recently, since more and more notebook and tablet vendors have followed Apple to adopt high resolution panels for their devices, according to industry sources. ...Meanwhile, despite rising demand, panel makers in Japan and Korea are ramping up their capacities for high resolution panels cautiously, resulting in an increasingly tight supply in the segment, the sources commented." via DigiTimes
Chimei to mass produce AMOLED technology followed by In-Cell technology "Chimei-Innolux will focus on mass producing touch-screen panels that use white AMOLED during the second half of 2012 followed by In-Cell technology during 2013, according to the company's chairman, Hsing-Chien Tuan. ...However, in 2013 In-Cell technology is expected to become more widespread in touch screen panels as Windows 8 and ultrabooks gain more popularity, said CMI. In-Cell technology eliminates the middle layer of glass in a device, combining the LCD and touch components of the display into a single layer. The technology will reportedly be used in Apple's next generation iPhone and will be adopted by other touch-screen makers in the future, said sources." via DigiTimes
Wintek Garners Google’s Big Order for OGS Touch Panels "With its efforts on developing OGS (one glass solution) technology paying off, Wintek Corp, a Taiwan-based maker of touch panels, has garnered a big order from Google for OGS touch panels for use in its Google Nexus 7 tablet, confirmed the chairman Hyley Huang. ...Huang stressed that OGS touch panels are expected to replace traditional models using two pieces of glass in the coming years, considering that the trend is being driven by Intel and Microsoft, both of who have actively promoted next-generation laptops that feature use of touch panels computable with new chipsets and Windows 8. He furthered that his company is optimistic about market outlooks for OGS, which is likely to become the mainstream in the global touch panel industry starting in 2013, and will step up development of the technology to ride on the trend. " via CENS