Behind the screen

Of course behind every LCD you have a computer doing the hard work but the technology to do this is getting smaller and smaller, with the intel atom processors, you can have a computer that's only a few inches across.

Review display System's new compact atom design is just 102 x 146mm so fits behind a 5.7" LCD screen for highly compact computing.

This system also has the advantage of minimal power requirements; it uses just 14W, where most desktop computers will use in the region of at least 10 times that, some even exceeding 100 times that!

This makes the board fantastic in a lot of personal and industrial display systems such as sealed units, places where space is an issue and where portability is required. Not to mention, it's a fully functional unit on its own and very capable, the lower power consumption can make it hugely useful and cost effective anywhere!

Bulletproof LCDs

following on from the last post about how LCD screens can be protected with special glass layers; here are a few videos of straight LCD monitors that can stop bullets on their own:





I wouldn't trust it enough to stand on the other side though ;)

Protective windows and screens; how they work.

We’ve all heard of bulletproof glass, whether from movies, general knowledge or coming across it, and we know it isn’t just glass, but what exactly is it that makes it so durable and what other functions could it have?

Well, the term glass in it isn’t totally untrue, bullet resistant glass does have glass in it. This will be layered into the bulletproof glass several times, only this has normally undergone a tempering process whereby the glass is much sturdier than ordinary glass.

The layers between the tempered glass are then formed of polycarbonate and thermoplastics which are much tougher than glass. This allows a much stronger constructions able to withstand significant impacts and while this is often associated with armoured vehicles and such designed to actually withstand impacts from gunfire, such forms of glass have countless uses outside of military applications.

For a start, anything that is outside and could be vandalised can benefit greatly from having things tougher than glass protecting them. Good examples here include shop windows, which need to be resistant to impacts to help deter robbery, help kiosks, which need to protect LCD display screens from vandalism and dispensing machines which need to protect from both vandalism and theft.

On top of this, protective screening has some incredibly good uses in industrial computer monitor LCDs. In industry environments can be harsh and knocks and scrapes can be an occupational hazard of any equipment in them not to mention, high temperatures and potentially damaging chemicals. This makes screening similar to bulletproof glass, very desirable for covering over display systems and touch screen interfaces which may be used on a plant.

Combining the technology to make durable glass with some clever touch screen technology; projected capacitance can then allow you to make incredibly durable protective layers able to withstand huge impacts, without tarnishing the important stuff inside, this is often how touchscreen kiosks found in town and city centres all over the UK are constructed as well as touchscreens used in industrial applications like on chemical plants, refineries, food processing plants etcetera.

Such glass can also have protective layers on top of that too. This is often to provide a level of scratch resistance to keep the glass clear and usable though again going back to industrial examples, it can be required to have a protective layer to stop chemicals from damaging the surface, again, which could cause problems otherwise.

Vandal Proof Technology

Looking at the rugged end of LCD technology to vandal proof systems designed for applications such as information terminals; specifically outdoors ones and industrial display monitors where the harsh environments can be unforgiving to less sturdy materials.

Anyway, here's a demo of a vandal proof screen:



Not really pushed but lets have a look at how hard the materials used to protect the screens are:



Using a 42kg iron weight, that's packing a lot of punch. Looking at another side of vandal proof design, these guys have a look at how vandal proof stuff hold up in the real world:

The human LCD

Not quite the same technology levels as what we've seen so far, but interesting nonetheless; the human LCD.




And another video with close ups so you can see what people are actually doing:



Certainly some practice that went into that.

Holographic Laser Projection

Well if touchscreen technology wasn't enough, holographic laser projction essentially turns any surface into a touchscreen!

This awesome technology is unfortunately largely an industrial display system where is it used to great effect to mitigate issues such as cross contamination or simply in harsh environments where normal interfaces might be inadequate.

You have to wonder though how long it will be until technology like this starts to be integrated into our everyday lives and on a bigger scale, these displays currently are only about 10" across.

No worries though, it's unlikely for this technology to take long considering how affordable normal touchscreens are becoming now, some are even similar in price to standard LCD screens only a few years ago!

Home Multidisplay Systems ~ Eyefinity

There are definitely some awesome displays in the world. This awesome display is using AMd's Eyefinity technology with 3 large monitors for playing video games!



Taking the notch up by double that again for a staggering resolution of 5760x2400; a showcase from AMD themselves: