Computer monitors have become of great interest among users in the last few years as almost everyone has considered as important the idea of being able to work with a good quality monitor as in this way the results being displayed on it will also be of a better quality.



The high interest in computer monitors is also due to the decision that many users have taken of changing their old cathode ray tube type of monitors with liquid crystal display type of monitors as their design attracts us more and because some of the modern models of such computer monitors are said to include great features which enable of to have great computing experiences.

Certainly, we do not all agree that one specific model might be perfect to be used as we do not use them for the same purposes sometimes and we do not all consider quality to be determined by the same features either. This is why it is very important the fact that there are many offers of LCD monitors being made available for us nowadays because in this way we all have the chance of finding the best monitors that we might properly work with and obtain the results that we want by working with them.

Among the many models of LCD monitors available for us to use many users have also been interested in finding out more abut used and refurbished touch screen LCD monitors and whether they might be considered as appropriate to be used. There are many aspects which should be included within such a discussion. First of all, it is important to be mentioned the fact that when we see the word used together with computer monitor this should not lead us to believe that it is necessarily a bad quality monitor and this is why it might be required for a smaller price to be paid for. It can be so but not in all cases.

There have also been encountered many  situations in which computer users have bought such used and refurbished touch screen LCD monitors and were able to work with them very well and they did not either have to spend big sums of money in order t to buy them. What is important to be made aware to users interested in this possibility is the fact that it is highly recommended for such products to be bought from authorized persons which might offer a certain guarantee certificate for these products even if they are used and refurbished as in this way we might have one more prove of their quality and we might avoid taking the risk of being sold a useless product for us. We need to pay attention to this aspect as it is very important.

On the other hand, there are many persons which have considered that it is not appropriate for us to buy used and refurbished touch screen LCD monitors because we are never certain of their quality and it would be better for us to spend more money for a product that we can certainly rely on than to spend less and not be able to benefit properly form its use. In the end, we all have the opportunity to analyze all sorts of advantages and disadvantages related to the idea of buying used and refurbished touch screen LCD monitors and to decide whether we might consider it appropriate or not.

N-trig is a company from Israel focused on developing new technologies meant to allow users to interact with computers and two of their innovative products are the first dual-mode pen and touch input device.
At SID Display Week 2008 in Las Vegas, N-trig showcased a new standard for multi-touch input on large format displays, based on its DuoSense technology with full multi-touch capabilities optimized for large displays.

"N-trig is again raising the bar on the meaning and application of full multi-touch capabilities for large format displays, which will enable OEMs and ODMs to create a user experience that is so immersive that the line between the digital and the physical blurs," said Amihai Ben-David, CEO of N-trig. "By enabling an unlimited number of other people to use their hands to naturally manipulate digital on screen objects, images and more, DuoSense's full multi-touch technology brings the user-computer interaction into a new realm, further breaking down the barriers between man and machine."



A full multi-touch display measuring 22 inches in diagonal can now recognize all the simultaneous touch points from the users. On it you can manage documents like on a desktop computer monitor, moving and pushing these aside with your own hands, and even make sketches or write notes with a pen.

Another capability is of shuffling pictures with both hands. You can also play games in multiplayer mode on the same display, simultaneously.
Such a display, when it will be available on the market, would be useful in the following sectors: gaming, multimedia portable consoles, information kiosks, collaborative design, entertainment, broadcasting, and education.

"We're provoking the imaginations of our customers, setting the stage for OEMs, ODMs, and ISVs to develop a huge range of new applications," added Ben-David. "True multi-touch offers an unprecedented experience which takes people to new levels of what they're able to do with computing devices."
N-trig published this cool video on YouTube showing what this display can do:

The new product from Pandigital that will be showcased at International Home & Housewares Show 2008 starting Sunday, is a great tool for those of you that talented in cooking and need something to improve your time spent in the kitchen.
It is a Kitchen High Definition TV combined with a Digital Cookbook and with the functionality of a Digital Photo Frame, all in one single device, the world’s first of its kind.

Pandigital headquartered in Dublin, California, is an expert in digital entertainment products industry and a worldwide distributor of MP3s, digital picture frames, qualified in high quality products development.
The spectacular three-in-one product called Kitchen HDTV/Digital Cookbook/Digital Photo Frame displays in the kitchen your favorite cooking shows or recipes, on its 15-inch LCD screen, and comes with support for ATSC/NTSC, composite, S-Video, YPbPr and HDMI.

The Digital Cookbook shows pre-loaded recipes or the ones you stored in its internal memory, while the Digital Photo Frame can display anytime the pictures you stored via a memory card or Google Picasa photo sharing website.

About the design I can tell you that it uses a sleek form to adapt a kitchen conditions on a countertop stand or under-cabinet mount it comes with, this if you prefer not to keep it mounted on the wall, and is built with protection against water spills, oil drops, flour and the other ingredients you use for cooking, while its surface is very easy to clean.

Also you can choose its faceplate to match its color with your kitchen environment, and the faceplates are all in brushed stainless with black and white as the available color options.

Other important features include touch-sensitive interface, remote control, 512MB internal memory ofr about 3,000 pages with food recipes, calendar, clock with alarm to know when to come back and check to see if the dinner is ready, a 6-in-1 card reader with support for SD, XD, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro/Memory Stick Duo, Compact Flash and MultiMediaCard, and the following file types support: JPEG, Motion JPEG, MPEG 1, MPEG 4 and AVI.

This cool three-in-one kitchen display will be available starting June at a suggested retail price of $399.99.

EHX Spring 2008 will host the demonstration of a new complex display from Creston, featuring light sensor for adjustment of the backlight brightness depending on the room’s light intensity, full-motion video, WAV audio playback, built-in microphone and an amplified speaker.

All these features contribute in delivering advanced touchpanel technology with different extra options support.
Isys TPS-6L also provides Ethernet connectivity and reduces the graphic load time in ample installations.

It is designed to be easy mounted, with a compact shape, and has a high-contrast 5.7-inch touch display with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels, allowing the installation of cable TV or security cameras.
One of the options is to have 12 programmable buttons meant to align with fluctuating text and graphics and support context-sensitive menu functions like digital media files.



The exterior is customizable and the user can choose to engrave the bezel with solid or backlit text.

"The TPS-6L provides users with a multitude of style and video processing options," declared Alex Villiard, Product Line Manager, Crestron. "The ease of the Ethernet connectivity allows users to seamlessly integrate this product into any Crestron environment. Dealers can provide control over external video sources, as well as home features such as lighting and HVAC systems all on one easy to use Crestron touchpanel."

Multi-touch displays became really popular with Apple's iPhone, after JazzMutant, a French company, released the Lemur Input Device in 2005. Anyway, despite Apple's move to register the word multi-touch as a trademark associated with their iPhone, a German company called Lumin Visual Technologies just released a multi-touch system called (you'd never guess that!)...Lumin Multitouch!

According to the official data sheet of this product, "the Lumin 42” – Multitouch Terminal comprises a 4500 ANSILumin projector, an Intel-Mac-Mini and a Lumin Multitouch Screen. Our new polymer foil creates a tactile screen surface
which is pleasing to touch and does not degrade with age, [..]. The screen has excellent optical qualities, such as optimal gain, brilliant contrast and high resolution, operating over a wide range of ambient light conditions. The Multitouch Terminal is housed in a white plastic shell."

The software package included incorporates "the Lumin input recognition software and a series of standard applications, which are pre-installed for plug-and-play operation", but custom applications can also be created, with the help of a software interface provided to help you accomplish this.

At this time, pricing for this device is not public, but available on request. Its power consumption is pretty high, in my opinion, with up to 750W, while the lamp's lifetime is only 3000h in Eco-Mode, and 2500h in Normal-Mode. The resolution of the MultiTouch is the goold-old 1024X768(XGA), and the included Mac computer is a mini featuring a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 1GB DDR2 memory, and 80GB hard drive and Mac OS X 10.5/Windows XP, together with a Wireless Apple Keyboard and Mouse kit.

To see the device in action, and also find out more about it, you can visit the official page, here.