Review Hound: As seen at DSE 2016 – Emerging Technology & Applications
By John Bilar Jr. and Review Hound Bambi
For those among us who crave big bright images, DSE 2016 in Las Vegas did not disappoint… Bambi the Review Hound and I share a few comments from our show floor stroll.
LG: Digital Wallpaper & Stuff with Curves!
Designers and consultants might have turned up their noses at LG in years past… not anymore. LG has come full circle, and it amazed us with super-thin OLED wallpaper (“two business cards thick” we were told).
LG’s exhibit demonstrated a certain sense of style – with visionary use of curved surfaces capturing our imagination, and causing us to ponder the “Art of the Possible.”
PLANAR / Leyard
Resistance is Futile? (not really).
Some of us might have expected mediocrity would result when the BORG (Leyard) swallowed up the creative development team at PLANAR. After all, how could a group of all-around nice folks with innovative & truly royal heritage from Tektronix survive when grafted into the world’s GIANT of LED production?
Well – so far, looks like things are going better than expected.
We learned that (unlike what we heard at DistribuTech in Orlando), PLANAR is going to continue producing it’s small-form “Direct Light” LED cabinet with innovative front-service and Z-Axis adjustment capabilities. Another interesting feature of the “Direct Light” series I’ll note here — (as Bambi has found a squirrel to watch and is no longer paying attention to me) – the smaller format PLANAR cabinets have remote power supplies. Leads me to envision racks in remote equipment rooms holding all the supplies (and available spares) which would vastly simplify servicing in the event of a failure.
The booth featured a wall of Leyard’s TW series of Direct View LED cabinets.
Transparent Television on Display
PLANAR was showing off its transparent TV technology. Similar offerings were scattered about the show — I saw one at Samsung , but I really liked the PLANAR demo that appeared to be borrowed from a retailer’s fashion exhibit. It featured a well-dressed mannequin in a transparent box; the front glass consisted of two transparent TVs stacked vertically in portrait mode. Various moving graphics and (yes — blatant commerce!) attention-grabbing sales suggestions flashed about on the surface. See my hand-held video below.
…And we saw tons of other cool stuff at DSE 2016:
SiliconCore
SCT displayed their offerings at several locations on the show floor — SCT is a solid contender with a bright future and interesting core patents, which provide specific performance advantages for Critical Facility & Control Room applications — something I’m especially interested in — (and for which Bambi could care less about unless they have squirrels… although she briefly found the frog interesting).
Inception Visual — Glassless 3D
Several exhibitors were showing off its glasses-less 3D offerings.
I arranged seed funding for a small glasses-less 3D military product startup several years ago, and enjoyed researching how the magic is made possible. In just a few years, the retail & commercial offerings have come a long way. Inception Visual had a small booth with some pretty compelling 3D imagery on display.
By the way — no surprise that the images I shot at their booth do not look “3D” here… you have to view it in person to realize the effect. It works.
GDS Global – “E-Ink”
Ever used a Kindle? Ever wondered why the screen image stays there forever — even when the reader is turned off ? That is the magic behind GDS Global’s display offering tagged “E-Ink.”
The E-Ink displays receive an image (directions, critical information, retail pricing, etc.)… then they continue displaying that image (without power) forever, or until the user pushes another image to them. The signs are reflective in nature and work better as ambient light (ie. sunlight or general space lighting) is increased.
Many applications come to mind, especially where power savings are desired and a vast number of signs are in use for presenting clear and basic information.
I’m currently consulting on two large public sector transportation programs and can envision applications for this type of technology.
They do not display flaming rotating logos or brightly colored mythical movie creatures… but who needs that for a bus route identifier or an airline schedule?
Feline Fabrication Inc. — Warm & Furry Flat Panel Mounts
OK, This is a complete fabrication, but I had to have something to end with. I must say… Bambi found this quite distasteful.
That is about it for now. Bambi and I enjoyed the experience and hope you did as well.
Let me know if you’d like to see more from Bambi the Review Hound at future technology shows.
Images by Spectrum ITC Group
This column was reprinted with permission from John Bilar Jr. and Review Hound Bambi and originally appeared here.