AuxiliaryDisplay
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Moneual DSPC puts a monitor on your computer case, welcomes your widgets
CES is a big place, way bigger than your first apartment, so hopefully you'll forgive us for missing the Moneual Lab DSPC on the show floor. That stands for Dual Screen PC, a case sporting a decidedly tall display that could make for a useful desktop extension despite subscribing to no aspect ratios heretofore known by man. Unfortunately no specs were provided for resolution or size, but we could see throwing your image editor's toolbox over there, maybe a chat window, or just loading it up with widgets as in this picture. However, with an anticipated cost of $1,500, we're thinking you could instead buy a properly large second monitor -- and a new desk to put it on.
Samsung's SyncMaster U70 is 7-inches of extra real estate
We can't get enough of these cute, fuzzy little add-on displays, and Samsung's chipping in with the new U70 SyncMaster unit which just hit Korea, and is already available in Europe. The 7-inch display runs at a fairly standard 800 x 480 resolution, and plugs into a single USB port for power and image. It's got 200 nits of brightness, a 400:1 contrast ratio and a 140 degree viewing angle, but like most of these displays is unfortunately Windows-only at the moment. You can pick one up for 99 Euro (about $127 US), but no word on whether or when this will make it Stateside.
USB-enabled PicoLCD SideShow display may soon be a collector's item
Remember way back when everyone and their third cousin twice removed was hopping on the SideShow bandwagon? Yeah, those were the days. We'll admit, we still think SideShow has had a lot of promise, but you know what they say about a technology without support. At any rate, Mini-Box has decided to offer up a (comparatively) inexpensive way for folks to indulge in a minuscule auxiliary display, and while the $49.95 PicoLCD 4X20-Sideshow won't provide any looks at high-res widgets, the basic blue display is a real champ at showing off stock prices and birthday reminders. Worst case scenario? You can probably use it in a random DIY project that you've been meaning to get to.[Via SideShowDevices]
Hands-on with Vulcan's Flipstart handheld PC
The Vulcan Flipstart is one of those products that just gets you juiced up about gadgets, because really, what's more gadgety than a full-fledged computer that you can slide into a coat pocket? There was a short while there (2003 to 2007) when we thought that the Flipstart would never make it out of vaporware hell; all that trepidation disappeared, however, when not one but two of the little XP-powered clamshells got delivered to our doorstep. Having already played around with both OQOs, several UMPCs, and countless smartphones, we had a pretty good idea of what we were expecting from this device, and from our preliminary evaluation, it does not disappoint. From the polished, slightly-heavy body to the port replicator to the geeky hip pouch, everything feels solidly built -- as we would hope for a product that's been in development for several years. Boot-up occurs fairly quickly, and you're up and running within the minute, with most applications performing adequately on a Pentium M CPU backed by 512MB of RAM. Input is also fairly painless; although touch-typing is a non-starter on the tiny thumb board, those used to their Treos will catch on quickly, and the dual methods for pointer control (touchpad and nubbin) felt responsive and precise. Another nice feature is the auxiliary external display, which although not powered by Slideshow, nonetheless offers PIM entries and media control in a very convenient manner. We'll have more impressions for you once we take our two new toys for a longer spin, but for now you can pass the time by checking out the loaded gallery below, complete with the all important Flipstart vs. Flipstart comparative shots.%Gallery-1960%
LogiNoki: the LCD mouse mod
In much the same way that moving to a dual-monitor setup only makes you want to add a third and maybe even a fourth display, mod king Jani 'Japala' Pönkkö decided that if his Logitech G15 gaming keyboard sported an LCD screen, why, his mouse needed one too. Far from practical (after all, your hand is covering the tiny display whenever you're using the mouse), this is one of those projects you undertake purely for the love of the game -- and maybe to impress your handful of friends who actually think pimped-out computer peripherals are the epitome of cool. The build itself doesn't sound as difficult as some of the other mods we've featured here: Pönkkö simply hooked up a salvaged Nokia 6610 LCD to a standard controller, attached the wiring and and a parallel port connector to his Logitech G5's existing USB cable, and stuffed the components right inside the modified mouse. Obviously the screen is too small to to fit web pages or even an IM window, and it's too slow to properly display video, but you could still employ it for photo slideshows or visual alerts of some kind. Before you blow this concept off completely, keep in mind that a certain software giant is also trying to cram auxiliary displays into places they've never been; who knows, maybe Microsoft's got a commercial version of this mouse waiting in the wings.[Via Hack-A-Day]
