APEN Touch 8 Pen Gives Students Touch Capabilities to Make Schoolwork Easier

A consumer electronics designer and marketer of fun, easy-to-use lifestyle products, has the perfect device to turn students’ Windows 8 computers into touchscreen devices — the APEN Touch 8 pen. Using ultrasonic and infrared technologies, the Touch 8 gives students touch capabilities on their standard Windows 8 PC monitor or laptop, making both schoolwork and creative activities easier.

“The Windows 8 software is built for touch, but not every family can purchase a new touch screencomputer,” said Jason Liszewski, managing director and VP of sales for E FUN. “The APEN Touch 8 is an affordable solution that gives touch capabilities to students’ computers for use in the classroom and at home. With the Touch 8 they can easily complete homework, then create a drawing or handwritten note to send to friends on email or social networks.”

The APEN Touch 8 gives students the ability to open programs, folders, and files; search the Internet; access e-mails; play games; draw; sign digital documents; shift to background programs; close applications; and so much more with the flick of a pen.

The APEN Touch 8 comes with a cordless digital pen, detachable receiver, and a USB cable connection to the Windows 8 device. It offers plug-and-play simplicity; there are no drivers to download. A user simply needs to attach the receiver to the edge of the screen using the provided magnetic clip, and then connect the USB cable. Once the computer or laptop is turned on, they can start enjoying Windows 8 touchscreen capabilities with the Touch 8 pen.

Other features of the APEN Touch 8 are up to 17″ coverage area, 500 hours of continuous writing/hovering battery life, and absolute positioning.

About E FUN
As its name implies, E FUN is a designer and marketer of fun, lifestyle e-products that are easily accessible. While appreciated by techies, E FUN products are primarily designed for consumers who desire the latest technological products, but are more concerned with what they do, not how they do it. E FUN’s ongoing product innovation focuses on making electronics and computing more fun! Initial product offerings from E FUN include the APEN digital pen and Nextbook Android tablets

from:NJYTOUCH

Ford restores low-tech knobs to cars’ touch screens

The move is a response to criticism that its infotainment systems are overly complilcated

After loads of criticism, Ford is taking some of the touch out of MyFord Touch, its touch screen-based infotainment system.

It is restoring knobs to the controls, much as it has done all along in its F-150 trucks. The announcement comes two days before J.D. Power and Associates is due to announce its annual Initial Quality Survey, a closely watched industry measure. For the past two years, the survey has dramatically lowered Ford’s ranking in overall quality, apparently largely because of the complicated and distracting infotainment system controls. Each time, Ford executives said they are fixing the problem.

Ford buried the announcement that is going to put back knobs — a fixture of controlling entertainment systems since the invention of the car radio — instead just touch controls in an announcement touting all of MyFord Touch’s sales success. It says it use the same system that it has seen in its pickup trucks across the Ford lineup.

“While the features made available by MyFord Touch are certainly compelling, the replacement of simple knobs and buttons may have been a bit overkill,” says Jack Nerad, exective editorial director for Kelley Blue Book. “When it comes to performing simple tasks, such as adjusting the volume of the radio, its best to stick to what works and what people are familiar with, and in this case, nothing beats a knob.”

Ford says MyFord Touch, along with a feature that syncs it to a cellphone, are sold on 79% of its 2013 vehicles. It says more than half of customers cite the touch screen as a reason to buy.

from:NJYTOUCH

A common complaint about the new MacBook Air is the lack of a touch screen

    The MacBook Air recently released is a laptop that sets the bar for the genre. Even with all that Apple has accomplished with the new laptop, a common complaint is the lack of a touch screen. The support for touch screens in Windows 8 is creating an expectation that laptops need to have them. The fact is that OS X handles multi-touch on a trackpad better than Windows 8 does on a touch screen.

I can already hear the cries of discontent over my statement that OS X handles touch operation better than Windows 8. There are no doubt Windows 8 users that find touch operation to be quite nice on touch screenlaptops. While I agree that it is adequate on Windows 8, I firmly believe that touch operation on MacBooks is better.

Apple has perfected the use of touch gestures on the big trackpads found on all current MacBooks. After only a short period of learning the gestures, OS X is wonderful to control with them. This operation, coupled with the intelligent use running apps in the full-screen mode, makes the MacBook (Air or Pro) simple, intuitive, and delightful to use.

Moving from one full-screen app to another is as simple as swiping left or right with three fingsers. That’s how I have my Macs configured, anyway, as the number of fingers can be set to however many feels right for each user.

If too many apps are open and swiping doesn’t get to the desired app quickly, simply swipe up on the trackpad with three fingers to get to Mission Control. This presents all running apps and the dashboard, allowing instant teleportation to the desired app by tapping it. It’s possible to rearrange the order of the apps by dragging one to the desired position on the Mission Control screen. I do this to put my two apps accessed most often side-by-side so the left/right swipe gesture mentioned above swoops back and forth.

When I need to run an app, the dock at the bottom of the main screen is convenient. Even easier, pinching on the trackpad with the thumb and three fingers fires up the Launchpad. This shows all installed apps on pages that can be cycled by swiping left and right. It’s similar to the home screens on the iPad except all apps are presented alphabetically. Reversing the pinch gesture collapses the Launchpad, as does tapping on an app to run it.

What makes the Mission Control and Launchpad more efficient than similar operations on Windows 8 is that the Mac utilities can be accessed from any screen. There’s no need to go back to the main screen (or Start screen on Windows 8), you can get anywhere with an intuitive gesture on the trackpad from any screen or app.

Touch operation in the Safari browser on the Mac is great. The pinch/zoom gesture works in Safari just like it works on the iPad, and there’s a good reason that has become the standard. It is particularly handy on the 11-inch MacBook Air, zooming in as needed and back out again.

The two-finger left/right swiping in Safari is a great way to move back-and-forth among web pages. This is complete with a graphical animation of the next/last web page moving into view. That’s not just fluff, it makes it possible to see at a glance if the upcoming page is the one you want.

The touch gestures discussed in this article are only the ones I use most, there are others that contribute to the utility of touch operation on the Mac. The operation is not only intuitive, simple, and practical, it quickly becomes natural. What may be important to some Mac users, virtually all of the touch gestures are configurable by the user to make them feel the most natural. Equally important is how most of them are optional for those who don’t want touch control.

I like using my HP Envy x2 with both a touch screen and good trackpad. Microsoft has done a decent job making its latest OS work with both types of controls. But there are some tasks that are more natural to execute using the touch screen, and others the trackpad. It’s a mixed bag using touch on Windows 8.

I use both Windows 8 and OS X on the Mac, and the latter is clearly superior to me. Touch operation on Windows 8, both the touch screen and trackpad, feels like Microsoft tried too hard to make it work on all device types. While it works, it never feels natural nor works as well as touch control on the Mac.

from:NJYTOUCH

CONVERTIBLE OR TOUCHSCREEN LAPTOP IS BETTER?

It’s that time again. Every two years I go out and get a new laptop, as by then my old laptop starts to show the wear and tear of me banging on it for 24 or so months. This year, I really felt like changing it up. After maybe a decade of using industrial-strength laptops (usually Thinkpads), I went with a Toshiba Satellite last time. Now, I am ready to move to a whole different class of machine. I was never a Mac guy, so I have been looking at options in Windows 8 machines.

I originally thought I would buy a convertible laptop that could double as a Windows tablet as well. Something like the Lenovo Yoga or a Dell Ultrabook XPS, for instance. After looking at what was available at a decent price, though, I have decided they are not ready quite yet. I will explain more below.  Instead, I have started looking at touchscreen Ultrabooks to take advantage of the Windows 8 touch interface (is advantage even the right word?). The problem is I am having as much trouble finding one I like in this class as well.

I have to do something, as the tab and caps lock keys are falling out of my Toshiba, while the display goes from bright to dim on its own and the damn thing reboots randomly. Truth be told, I never did like the Toshiba. I find it hard to type on. The multi-touch touchpad constantly has me messing up the screen and losing my work. The machine was not officially listed as Windows 8 upgradeable. I am not a fan of it. The question is where do I go next?

In terms of the convertibles, my issue is that most of them selling for a thousand dollars or so are inadequate. They feature Intel Core i3 or i5 (I have decided I need a 5) or if you want to pay high-end an i7. Most of them come with 4GB of RAM. I just don’t think that is enough memory. The problem is that it’s impossible to add more memory to most of these models. You are talking soldering the motherboard. They are just not expandable. In terms of hard drives, most of the convertibles feature SSD drives. That is great. They are blazing fast! The problem in the sub-$1,000 class, they are usually just 128GB. Going to even 256 GB is a budget buster. That is fine for my tablet, but I will blow by that pretty quickly on my laptop I think. On top of this, they just don’t look very durable. I can see myself twisting the screen right off and breaking them.

Overall, for the convenience or cool factor of having a convertible, you are trading off by getting neither a great laptop nor a great tablet. To really get something good, you are looking closer to $2,000. For that money, I figure I can buy both a great laptop and a great tablet.

So I then turned my attention to getting a good touchscreen model. There are lots of choices. You can get monsters that have 15-inch screens and larger. They have the horsepower in terms of CPU and RAM. Many of them have traditional SATA drives of 500GB or better and some even have a hybrid with a 24GB to 30GB SSD drive that serves as a super cache. It lets you boot up quickly and speed up performance. I love that idea. The touchscreens are nice. Windows 8 really lends itself to the touchscreen. Most of these models have optical drives for discs, SD or other microdisk slots and USB 3.0 and HDMI slots. LAN and wireless included. All for anywhere from $650 to $900. That is a great price.

The problem is I don’t feel like schlepping this brick around with me. To me, this is no different then what I have been carrying through security in airports for the last 10 years. I just don’t want that.

Instead, I started looking at Ultrabooks. These are smaller devices with screens 13 inches or smaller. They don’t have optical drives, so no CDs or discs. The higher-end models have only SSD drives, 128GB or 256GB. Again, this is a problem for me. Some of them, though, have SATA drives and hybrid SSD. That is what I am zeroing in on. The problem is many of them only come with 4GB of RAM and are not upgradeable. Another issue for me is some of them have smaller keys that are not backlit. I have fat fingers. I need full-size keys. I also type a lot in rooms without the light on and need my keyboard to light up. I want the touchscreen to be snappy and the glass has to feel strong (Gorilla Glass if possible).

Finding a box that has all of this has proven very difficult. I have spent a lot of time looking and still have not bought one.  I came very close today. I was at Tiger Direct  (formerly CompUSA) and saw a really sweet, brushed aluminum Sony VAIO Ultrabook. It has everything I was looking for except a backlit keyboard. It was on sale for $699. I was ready to pull the trigger and get my hands on my newest toy. I asked the salesmen to bring two to the sales register and I will take them both – one for me and one for my partner in the CISO Group. Don’t you know it, they only had one left ;-(  I had them check other stores, online, everywhere. No good – this was the last machine they had. I couldn’t get one for me and not my partner. So I left empty-handed.

If you have a suggestion for a good Ultrabook touchscreen that fits the above requirements let me know. In the meantime I will just keep looking.

from:NJYTOUCH

First quarter shipments of touch-screen notebook post 4.57M units

With Microsoft introducing Windows 8 operating system that provides the touch interface in the fourth quarter of 2012,notebook PCs with touch-screen panels were released. And this led to the opening of a new market, for projected capacitive touch panels of 10 inches or larger.

There have been issues with touch-screen notebooks in its initial market, and some may rush to call it a failure. But it’s been only less than a year since such laptops were released, and thus it is yet too early to make any decision. True. Looking at the business plans of major laptop makers for 2013, touch-screen notebooks should hold at least 10 percent of the total laptop shipments. In particular, brands from the great China region, including Lenovo, Acer and Asus, have set higher targets of achieving more than 20 percent. 

According to a research by Displaybank, acquired by IHS, total shipments of notebooks with touch screens were 4.57 million units in the first quarter of 2013, up 51.8 percent from a quarter earlier. The touch laptops made up almost 10 percent of the overall notebook market, whose shipments posted 46 million units. Considering that the market is at its initial stage, the penetration rate of touch-screen notebooks is quite high.

(Source: Displaybank, “Touch Panel Shipment Database – Notebook PC,” Q1-13)

With touch-screen notebooks released, manufacturing larger projected capacitive touch panels is accelerating and touch-screen panel related companies are trying hard to be the first to lead the market. Unfortunately, however, as there are no data on touch laptop market good enough to refer, it is not easy for the companies in the industry to set a business plan.

Displaybank published a quarterly “Touch Panel Shipment Database – Notebook PC” report to help them understanding the notebook-use projected capacitive touch panel industry quickly and accurately. The report provides quarterly shipments of touch-screen notebooks by unit/area/value; by inch; by brand; by form factor; by touch panel layer; by touch panel module and controller IC maker; and by cover window materials and bonding type, as well as top five models in terms of shipments.

Displaybank says the report should offer insight into the related market and industry to notebook set makers that are interested in notebook-use projected capacitive touch panels and companies related to touch panel modules, parts and raw materials.

removable Infared touch panel

removable Infared touch panel

How it works

removable Infrared technology uses infrared emitter-collector pairs to project an invisible grid of light a small distance over the surface of the screen. When a user touch the surface of screen, the infrared emitted from LED beam is broken ,the absence of the signal at the collector is detected and receiver transmits X-Y axis information to the PC port via touch controller. removable Infrared technology is the survivor of harsh applications. It's the only technology that does not rely on an overlay or substrate to register a touch, so it's impossible to physically "wear out" the touch screen. It's an excellent choice for harsh industrial and outdoor kiosk applications.

Model List

Model No. Spec. External Dimension Active Dimension Detail Spec NJY-3200-IR-N 32" 766.0mm x 460.0mm 704.2mm x 398.2mm more NJY-3700-IR-N 37" 888.4mm x 532.5mm 826.6mm x 951.2mm more NJY-4200-IR-N 42" 1000.0mmx593.0mm 938.2mm x 531.2mm more NJY-4600-IR-N 46" 1088.8mm x 642.8mm 1027.0mm x 581.0mm more NJY-5200-IR-N 52" 1228.0mmx724.0mm 1166.2mm x 662.2mm more NJY-5500-IR-N 55" 1279.0mmx750.0mm 1273.2mm x 744.6mm more NJY-6000-IR-N 60" 1391.8mmx806.8mm 1330.0mm x 745.0mm more NJY-6500-IR-N 65" 1501.8mm x875.8mm 1496.4mm x 870.4mm more NJY-7000-IR-N 70" 1611.8mmx988.4mm 1549.5mm x 871.6mm more NJY-8000-IR-N 80" 1830.8mmx1073.8mm 1769.0mm x1012.0mm more

Highlight & Benefits

.Built-in touch systems, aluminum alloy frame,tender apperance,hardly effect the apperance of displays. .No weakening the illumination of display screen,not indistinct .High touch precision at 4096 X 4096 .Use any entity of diameter over 8mm .No delay,fast response .perate on the screen surface .operate with finger or stylus/gloved hand .touch to operate all application software .manually write, draw, filling up and so on .operate under -41℃~71℃ .humidity <80% .reliable and stable .easy mounting, only use RS-232 or USB connection .highly stable, no drift .durable .fully sealing,free maintenance

Typical Application

.Gaming machine .Indoor and outdoor kiosks .ATMs .Industrial control .Pos .In-vehicle and transportation .Medical equipment .Voting machine Infrared touch screen calibration software Connected the touch screen ，Open software ， Select the connected touch screen ，Click on the calibration .Then into calibration full screen page. Click on touch screen according to hints on the page ，Finally, save and exit

Apple Cuts iPhone 5 Display Orders By 50%

Journal reported on Monday that Apple is confronting low demand for its new iPhone 5, reason why the Cupertino-based company has cut the display orders for its flagship smartphone by 50%. The reputed publication is quoting sources close to the matter that say that Apple has also cut the orders for other iPhone parts, as well.

According to the sources, we are talking about a cut of 50% for the iPhone 5 displays that are supposed to ship in the January – March time frame. There’s also another source that claims that Apple did the same for other iPhone components.

Even tough this might suggest that Apple’s iPhone 5 is not selling well, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions, yet, as the Cupertino-base company might as well have enough parts on stock, so it would make no sense for the suppliers to ship new ones.

On the other hand, Apple might also get ready for the production of a new iPhone model, the yet-unannounced iPhone 6 (or iPhone 5S, or The iPhone, or whatever they decide to call it). Therefore, it’s part suppliers might get ready to kick off the production of the parts for the next gen iOS-powered smartphone.

An article written by the guys at Nikkei confirms the information, showing that Japan Display and Sharp touch screen manufacturers have registered drops in LED displays orders for the first quarter of 2013.

It was reported that Apple initially planned to order 65 million touch panel units from the two aforementioned companies, but, for some reason, the number have been reduced.

It’s not clear yet whether LG Display, another important screen supplier for Apple, was affected, as well.

njytouch

iPhone 6 Rumors: Apple May Adopt New Touch Display Features For 2013 iPhone Release

Apple may be pursuing a new kind of touch panel technology for its next-generation iPhone, presumably called “iPhone 6.” A new report released by The China Times on Thursday said “Apple intends to switch to other touch technology in the next generation of mobile phones,” mentioning a “Touch On Display” panel that’s currently being developed by Innolux Corp., one of Apple’s many suppliers.

“Due to interference problems from the built-in touch panel [and] the frequent sensitivity issues in the Apple iPhone 5, Apple intends to switch to other touch technology [sic] in the next generation of mobile phones,” The China Times said.

The China Times explains that Innolux’s “Touch On Display” panels are both thin and tough; compared to traditional touch designs, the touch panel itself is only 0.5 mm “and can do a 10-point full-featured multi-touch,” meaning the display is significantly more sensitive too.

Innolux has reportedly been licensed by Sharp to use IGZO technology on its 3G and 5G lines, which may indicate Innolux’s intentions to play a bigger role in supplying parts to Apple. It’s also possible that Innolux’s “Touch On Display” panels use Sharp’s IGZO display technology, which would mean that Apple is indeed exploring options beyond the same in-cell screen used on the iPhone 5.

Is Apple Returning To On-Cell Displays So Soon?

The iPhone 5 is the first iPhone to feature “in-cell” technologies, compared to the “on-cell” display processes used in every iPhone released prior.

Compared to on-cell technologies, in-cell displays effectively remove a layer between the multi-touch screen and LCD display, making the screens thinner, stronger and more sensitive to touch while less sensitive to environmental changes.

On paper, it sounds like in-cell tech has on-cell beat. So why would Apple switch back?

While the reasons for a possible switch aren’t clear, it could be that Apple is not pleased with the screen’s sensitivity for multi-touch motions -- after the iPhone’s release in September, customers complained about an issue where the screen had trouble recognizing rapid diagonal swiping.

While the motion in question doesn’t affect most users – most apps don’t ask for diagonal swiping – some games like Fruit Ninja do rely on diagonal swiping quite often. This singular screen issue may seem trivial or minor to some customers or fans, but Apple may think it’s a bigger deal.

Either In-Cell Or On-Cell, The Key Is IGZO

The China Times has a mixed track record with accurate reporting, but many other news sources have also similarly reported on Apple’s apparent interest in featuring new panels on the iPhone 6, even if those other reports didn’t mention Innolux’s new “Touch On Display” tech.

In late December, DigiTimes and Apple analyst Horace Dediu both mentioned Apple’s alleged investment in the ultra-thin IGZO displays produced by Sharp, predicting inclusion of the technology in Apple’s next batch of iOS devices, including iPhones and iPads. Dediu also pointed to Apple’s recent $2.3 billion investment in “product tooling, manufacturing process equipment and infrastructure,” believing the cash was used to help bail out Sharp, which had been in financial straits in 2012. Sharp is reportedly going “all in” on IGZO technology, so it’s possible Apple saved Sharp to leverage its investment in the next generation of displays.

IGZO display technology is not only thin and tough, but it can even handle higher screen densities than Apple’s Retina Display, which is visually stunning on its own. IGZO displays can reportedly handle display densities north of 330 ppi; for a quick comparison, the new iPad 4 can only achieve 264 ppi.

One of the better advantages of IGZO display technology is its lower power consumption. Most Apple products, from the iPhone 5 to the iPad 4, require cartoonishly-big batteries to achieve just 8 hours of power -- this is because current-gen Retina Displays are extremely power hungry. If Apple wanted its iPhone 6 to not only last longer during the day but also charge faster when plugged in, IGZO seems to be the way to go for the next generation of iOS devices.

Giving credence to these rumors, Taiwan-based AU Optronics (AUO) reportedly plans to develop a Retina Display for the next-generation iPad Mini, which may require IGZO technology to pull off a feasible Retina Display.

"With the disclosure of the specifications for the next-generation iPad Mini by Apple Inc., AU Optronics Corp. has been developing a retina panel with resolution as high as 497 ppi," reported the SinoCast Daily Business Beat via MENAFN. "It is said that ultra-high resolution can not be developed without the technology of indium gallium zinc oxigo (IGZO), and the technology of Gate IC on array (GOA) is also indispensable since the next-generation iPad Mini will have an ultra-narrow frame. The technology of GOA helps save the room of IC on the rim and narrow the frame of the screen to the largest extent."

Sharp and Innolux may need to get moving on these displays if they hopes to get their displays featured in the next-generation of iOS devices this year. On Nov. 19, DigiTimes said Apple's suppliers are expected to churn out a new iPhone and new iPad "around the middle of 2013."

"Apple is expected to introduce its next-generation iPad and iPhone series around the middle of 2013, which will boost demand for ICs in particular communications-related chips during the latter half of the first quarter," said DigiTimes, citing "market observers."

iPhone 6: What We Know

I'll be blunt: We don't know much about the alleged iPhone 6. Besides reports of accelerated chip production -- what else is new -- we've heard very little else about Apple's seventh-generation iPhone. However, if Apple pursues any of its recent patent filings, we may see the iPhone 5S or 6 feature advanced haptics and sensors, possibly built directly into a flexible display.

A newly released patent filed in March but published in September described tactile keyboards, flexible displays and laser microphones and speakers built into an iPhone, designed to conform to the user's needs. Flexible displays would allow for easier holding and typing, while the highly advanced tactile screens would create buttons when needed so the user can feel "keyboard" letters as they type, or touch the topography on Apple's Maps.

It's wishful thinking that Apple would include all these technologies in the next iPhone rather implement them over time, but it's certainly fun to think about.

NJYTOUCH