Microsoft demos Auxiliary Display
It won't start showing up in laptops until Longhorn debuts sometime around the end of next year (yup, yup), but Microsoft has been showing off that new Auxiliary Display technology they were hinting at earlier this year. We got check out a prototype for an ASUS laptop with Auxiliary Display, and we were definitely digging it. Even though the laptop was off you can use the Auxiliary Display to check your calendar, view emails, control Windows Media Player, stuff like that. Obviously programs have to be written to interface with the display, but the Microsofties we spoke with said that the API will be open to software developers, it just wasn't clear yet whether it would work with user-installable software apps or whether it'd have to be integrated by the manufacturer (we're gunning for them to make this totally hackable, natch). Apparently the display doesn't have to always be a 2-inch by 2-inch LCD, it's also possible to use different-sized LCDs or single line displays.
