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he stepping down of Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs was a shocker to most but expected by some. But the fact remains that syn- onymous to the man’s name is the legacy he is leaving behind, iPad in- cluded. For some, the tablets’ coming is a clear portent that the post-PC world is already here. Tablet com- puters, exemplified by Apple’s iPad, are post-PC devices, as Forrester analyst Ted Schadler sees it. And they’re coming to businesses, like it or not. Schadler reported that new tablets seem to appear every day. He cites the Cisco Cius, Google Chrome OS tablets, the Dell Streak, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the RIM PlayBook, and the HP ‘PalmPad,’ as examples. While it’s true that Apple lorded tablet sales initially, that’s selling a lot of the devices -- 4.19 million sold during their most recent quarter -- Forrester had predicted 13 million tablets will have been sold by the end of 2010 which is what happened and even surpassed that and 59 mil- lion will have been sold by the end of 2015. And these numbers are rap- idly being realized as we speak! The tablet trend is on the rise he touch-sensing technology used in gadgets like the iP- hone and iPad could soon be seen in screens several me- ters across but only a few inches deep. Perceptive Pixel, based in New York, released a touch screen today with a diagonal dimension of 82 inches _ just under seven feet _ but only six inches thick. “All of the (tablet) and phone manufacturers have settled on projected capacitance as the best way to do multitouch, but it has been really difficult to scale up,” says Jeff Han, founder of Percep- tive Pixel. Projected capacitance involves sensing fingers when they distort the electric field around a transparent layer of electrodes across the surface of a screen. Scal- ing that up to much larger screens is challenging, because noise from the electronics in a display muddy the signal from a user’s touches. Perceptive Pixel already makes large touch panels; some are used by broadcasters, including CNN, to display data such as weather fore- casts or election results. But today, these screens are relatively bulky Technews EVERY MONDAY • August 29, 2011 D3 By Allan D. Francisco Android fnds that popularity is indeed a two-edged sword t is increasingly get- ting difficult to do. But we have to keep trusting our fellow- men; otherwise what is the point in having neighbors. Yes, TV news nightly bombard us with reports about some humans' inhumanity against other people, but this should not frighten us into closing our eyes and our hearts to everybody else's potential to do good. We have to keep believing that people are by nature good beings who care about what happen to those who live near and far. We need to hold on to that ideal that people are bound by logic, and put the in- terest of others before their own. People can and do rise above the evil that seems to permeate every- thing else. We need to keep trusting each other, try to do good to each other at all times. Otherwise, what is the point? Android, Well-Loved Well, Google is again rediscov- ering some of the headaches that come with being the 800-pound go- rilla in a room full of china. Although it must have been quite used to being the largest on- line search engine and its collateral costs, the never-be-evil company must be finding it hard to turn the other cheek or at least play it cool with the way mobile malware devel- opers are concentrating their ener- gies on Android devices. IT security firm McAfee's latest quarterly report says that Google's Android has overtaken Java Micro Edition as the top recipient of se- curity attacks among all the mobile platforms. About 60 percent of the 1,200 mobile malware examined by McAfee were specifically designed for Android devices. Mobile malware still accounts for minuscule share of the overall mal- ware "market." Nevertheless, signs indicate that Google's mobile plat- form is by far the digital criminals' favorite target, with Android mal- ware increasing 76 percent during the period covered by the report. I guess, owning Android smart- phones and tablets in the new mil- lennium must be reminiscent of owning a Windows PC since the 1990s until now. Rumors True So, the rumors seem to have been right after all. Apple, plenty of media reports say, is preparing a cheaper ver- sion of the iPhone 4. Reuters says the coolest tech company on Earth must really be eyeing the lower end of the smartphone market. I see hordes of people, those who have always wanted to own an iPhone but are socio-economically challenged, raising the roof and overjoyed, their dream finally get- ting closer to turning into reality. I also see a bunch of handset makers, those who have made low- er-cost smartphones their bread and butter, weeping and gnashing their teeth. That's all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT. I T Touch on a giant screen Question is, will TouchPads be alive had it been cheaper? New technology makes multitouch possible on a ve-foot-wide screen only a few inches thick. _ up to a meter deep. They sense touches using a technique known as frustrated internal reflection. It involves shining infrared light side- ways through the glass surface of a display and using a camera behind the screen to track how fingers change the light’s path. The camera behind the screen needs to be a certain distance away in order to capture every touch. Perceptive Pixel has sold most of its displays to federal and defense customers that are willing to design or build rooms around the space required for such large displays. Now the company has found a way to make projected capacitance work in much larger screens. “We developed algorithms for signal processing that can filter out that noise so you can detect the really small changes in capacitance need- ed to do multitouch,” Han says. “We can finally bring projected capacitance to the full-size range.” Earlier this year, Han announced a 27-inch screen that made use of this technology; improvements to the technique enabled the new 82- inch panel. Han says this will allow much larger touch displays to appear in many more places. “This makes it possible for normal companies to use large multitouch displays for everyday work,” he says. “They are thin enough to install in any boardroom.” Han expects to see his displays used by architects collaborating interactively on design ideas or for videoconferencing where people on opposites sides of the country can use touch panels like a white board for long-distance brainstorming. “This is really a communication device,” Han says. Perceptive Pixel has also de- veloped software than can be used to manipulate data on its screen in certain common formats. It is also working with large software companies to develop plug-ins so that their products can be used on large multitouch displays. Jennifer Colegrove, an analyst specializing in emerging display technology at DisplaySearch, says that scaling projected capacitance to such a large display is impres- sive. The technology is more ex- pensive than other methods of detecting touch, such as infrared, or using cameras, but it should be more accurate, Colegrove says. “Most people claim that you can detect the touches of 10 separate fingers at once,” she says, “and it is easier to reject accidental palm touches.” (NYT) Tech junkies got the shock of their life when Hewlett-Packard dropped the bombshell by an- nouncing the demise of the HP TouchPad and also the WebOS platform. stocks ran out fast even if there will no longer be full support on the said tablet and its OS. The question now lingers – Had HP put the price lower, will the TouchPad still be around? prices significantly lower than what they used to sell it, I’m defi- nite that they can sell millions of tablets. As such, a very robust developer network would pros- per around WebOS. T By Jaye C. Bautista Tablets can a business make As replacements for traditional tools like laptops As replacements for paper And in new business scenarios where bulky computers aren’t con- venient. IPads are used in unex- pected ways: Lloyd’s of London, for example is testing iPads with brokers so that they can write busi- ness from the field. There’s also a Connecticut hospital that’s trying to work iPads into the routines of clini- cians to make patient records, drug conflict data, and health information more accessible. And Japanese business solu- tions vendor Gotanda Denshi has been testing iPads with Japanese retailers, with preliminary results pointing to higher sales and order sizes. As I had mentioned before more and more use for the tablet are seen in the workplace – real estate, mu- sic industry, in schools. However promising it may seem, tablet usage has its challenges too. Forrester’s report advises focusing on iOS, An- droid, and HTML5, rather than try- ing to support all the other operat- ing systems that are trying to gain traction. It calls for educating em- ployees, who may be at a loss when not provided with Microsoft Office, and for taking the time to review the ECCP encourages members to adapt WebTalk technol - ogy. The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) hails the integration of WebTalk, the rst complete and fully functional commu- nication services via the web in the chamber’s website as having “streamlined the com- munications and increased the visibility of its members worldwide.” At the chamber’s annual general membership meeting, newly elected Vice President and General Manager Michel Miloda discussed the impact WebTalk has done for ECCP. “WebTalk has eased commu - nications and transactions for our members since its integra- tions earlier this year. With its toll-free calls, ECCP members can contact their clients from anywhere in the globe while their proles can be customized using their preferred tags that has increased their visibility via the web.“ The integration of WebTalk technology to the chamber’s web- site (www.eccp.com), allow its members to enjoy several benets that can improve online customer service and promotion as well as increase visibility and reach to cli - ents via free VOIP calls. Cyril Rocke, President of Voi - ceOne Asia, says, “Using VoIP technology will help enterprises achieve an edge over competitors when it comes to business com- munications.” Shown in photo (L-R): Domin- ique Lebastard, Head of the Eco - nomic Department of the French Embassy; Peter Labrie, Country Head of BNP Paribas; Rocke; Milo- da, and Gerry Constantino, Assis- tant Vice President for Operations of the European Chamber of Com- merce of the Philippines. Perceptive Pixel already makes large touch panels; some used by broadcasters to display data such as weather forecasts. These screens are relatively bulky -- up to a meter deep. They sense touches using a technique known as frustrated internal reection. It involves shining infrared light sideways through the glass surface of a display and using a camera behind the screen to track how ngers change the light’s path.
