lcd

We've written about mirrors that tell us more than whether we have a piece of spinach stuck between our teeth. A year ago, a Harvard-MIT student showed off a mirror that's able to read certain vital signs.

Now The New York Times Research & Development Lab is taking things a step further--bringing body tracking, shopping, news, and of course advertising to one's most intimate of places: the bathroom.

The group's "magic mirror" uses LCD and Kinect technology (it's really more of a computer with a reflective surface) that lets users browse the Web while brushing their teeth.

How is this better than using a smartphone in the bathroom? For one, it's hands-free. In fact, in the group's demo, one of the designers simply places a box of meds on the mirror's small ledge; it uses RFID tagging to recognize the type of meds and pull up information about dosages and where to buy more.… Read more

Back-to-school shoppers looking for a space-saving printer to fit in a dorm room may find a match in Epson's newest desktop printer, the Stylus NX430. The company is so proud of its ultracompact chassis that it's inventing a new category for it, along the same lines as the Ultrabook, except the printer version is being touted as the Small-in-One. Get it?

Despite its small stature, the NX430 competes with larger models with an ample 2.5-inch touch panel and a vibrant screen for light-duty photo editing directly on the machine, superquiet operation, and the mobile benefits of Epson Connect, another proprietary way to print from the cloud by sending jobs to a unique e-mail address assigned to each printer.… Read more

Not feeling the urge to buy a new TV? You're not alone, according to a new survey by research firm IHS.

The survey of buying behavior during the second quarter of this year revealed that only 13 percent of U.S. consumers who had not purchased a TV during the past quarter are planning to buy a new set during the next 3 to 12 months. That figure is down from 32 percent in the first quarter, the firm says.

One could conclude that the great surge of LCD sales over the last several years (though it's now beginning to slow) would inevitably lead to periods of purchasing decline. It's also possible that the roller-coaster state of the U.S. economy is playing a role. … Read more

Most headphones have tiny dynamic drivers, basically miniaturized versions of the drivers used in box speakers. The Audeze LCD-2 features a completely different technology: it uses thin-film planar magnetic drivers. I first checked out the Audeze LCD-2 headphones last year and absolutely loved them. The company redesigned the drivers to produce even better sound, made the earpads thicker, and now covers the headband in real leather. I found the sound improvements of the revised model significant enough to warrant a new review.

The styling is bulky and retro, but the quality feel of the LCD-2 is more than skin deep; … Read more

Much like birds building nests, people seem to like shiny objects. The truism holds, apparently, for laptop and LCD TV screens as well. Samsung was among the first TV makers to popularize the shiny, glossy screen with its LNA650 series, and we complained about it, albeit to no avail. The company expanded its gloss-coated reach to encompass most of its LCD screens, and many other makers followed suit.

The sole picture-quality advantage of glossy screens we've observed, at least when done correctly, is that they can in some cases preserve black-level performance--dark areas stay darker--in bright rooms with overhead … Read more

Unlike older cathode ray tube (CRT) displays that scan an electron beam over a phosphor screen to create light, LCD displays are composed of a fixed grid of tricolor pixels that change transparency based on a range of voltage levels provided by the monitor's controller. Without a voltage the pixel is opaque and blocks the screen's backlight from transferring through it, and when a full voltage is applied then the pixel allows full transmittance of the backlight. When this is done over the entire pixel grid in patterns, then you see those patterns on the screen.

At a … Read more

OLED, or Organic Light-Emitting Diode, televisions have been promised for years. With the potential for plasma-beating contrast ratios and LED LCD-beating thinness, many enthusiasts still hope for this "ultimate" technology in meaningful screen sizes.

Now, I've made my views on OLED pretty clear, but what do you all think?

Would you be willing to pay extra if the performance warranted it? What if it's a lot more expensive?

The better current-gen plasma and … Read more

This is an update of a deal I posted a few weeks ago. I know monitors are a little dull, but this one has a decidedly newsworthy price.

You can have my second monitor when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands. I can no longer compute productively without it. Most of the time I keep my browser open on one screen and Outlook on the other. It's awesome.

If you, too, want to experience the joys of a second monitor, now you can do so for less than $100. Best Buy has the Acer A221HQV 21.5-inch LCD monitor for $99.99 shipped (… Read more

Apple is planning to invest $1 billion in a Sharp LCD plant, Reuters is reporting.

For several months, rumors have swirled that Apple is looking to invest heavily in Sharp's LCD plant. So far, however, the companies have not publicly said that they will, in fact, work together.

According to the news service, Apple's expected investment in Sharp's LCD plant stems from its desire to secure displays for its iPhones and iPads while limiting its reliance upon any single supplier. One such supplier, according to Reuters, is Samsung.

Apple and Samsung are currently waging a bloody patent battle … Read more