Constant use of touch-screen devices poses serious risks to youth

Rambam Medical Center experts worry that mobile devices poses threats to welfare of young people, threatening to affect them physically, emotionally, cognitively and developmentally.

Rambam Medical Center experts worrythat the mobile devices pose serious threats Photo: Edward Kaprov

While people of all ages seem unable to live without a touchscreen device – smartphone, tablet or i-Pad and all the rest – Rambam Medical Center experts worry that the mobile devices pose serious threats, especially to young people.

Recent surveys have shown that as the use of the interactive devices spreads even to kindergarten children – with a third of those aged six to nine having their own cellphone – touchscreen devices threaten to affect them physically, emotionally, cognitively and developmentally.

Prof. Naim Shehadeh, director of the pediatrics A department at Rambam and the juvenile diabetes and obesity clinic, said this week that tablets can lead to serious overweight in children.

“A fat child is very likely to turn into a fat adult, with all the risks of diabetes, hypertension, high cardiac risk and more. The causes include the lack of physical activity.

I don’t exaggerate when I say that the most common physical activity in young people today is moving their fingers on the touch screen of a computerized device, which is why the current crop of young people is called ‘the Touch Generation.’ Even when they go out, they are usually busy with their touch screens. There is no doubt that the Touch Generation is a significant high-risk group for the development of overweight at a young age,” said Shehadeh.

Besides the fact that the brains of very young children, with thin skulls, could be affected by electromagnetic radiation from cellphones held close to their heads, there are many other risks not connected directly to physiological health, said Amisar.

Dr. Dana Amisar, an expert in child and adolescent psychiatry and head of children’s psychiatry at the Haifa hospital, said that there are also psychological implications.

Children are increasingly exposed to the world not by experiences but to a virtual world via the screen.

“Their attention used to be dependent on what happened directly in their environment at a certain time. But now, she said, their attention is captured by the screen. They have less direct connection with friends and more virtually, giving the impression that they are ‘connected’ and are in contact. But in fact, many children see their friends less and less, and whole relationships begin, carry on and end virtually.”

The averagetouch-screen user receives some 150 messages and SMSs per day while they are doing other things. At any given moment, the user must divide his attention among all these “events,” said Amisar, and each activity cuts off the previous one. This reduces the quality of their attention and reduces their freedom of choice.

They become dependent on the devices and can’t manage without, the psychiatrist continued.

The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association, lists “Internet addiction” as a new diagnosis and notes the need for more research.

Such addiction, said Amisar, can cause users to forgo social ties or daily tasks, reduce their ability to reach satisfaction, and lead to the inability to stop using computers and smartphones and using the Internet to try to improve their mood or escape from reality.

Researchers around the world who collect data say the phenomenon is quickly becoming a syndrome like other addictions.

From:NJYTOUCH

Google announces second generation Nexus 7 tablet

Google has started rolling out a software update for the new Nexus 7 tablet with build number JSS15Q. The new update fixes the touchscreen problems being faced by several users.

Google’s Paul confirmed in the Google Product forums that the ongoing update is indeed for the touchscreen issues. Here is his statement.

“As a couple of you have mentioned, there’s a new system update that’s started rolling out for your Nexus 7s. This update does address the touchscreen issues discussed in this thread.”

As you would know, Android updates are typically rolled out in phases and this specifically being a bug-fixing update will be released to even smaller number of consumers at first, so that Google can check the impact before a wider release. Don’t get impatient if you don’t get the update right now, it is better to wait for the wider release.

If you have already updated your Nexus 7 tablet with JSS15Q update and you previously had touchscreen issues, do let us and other readers know in comments if the update fixed the problem.

From:NJYTOUCH

Touchscreen laptops are here to stay and that’s a good thing

here are lots of business conferences… TNW Conference US isn’t one of them.

“We’ve done tons of user testing on this, and it turns out it doesn’t work. Touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical. It gives great demo, but after a short period of time you start to fatigue, and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off.” -

-Steve Jobs

What Jobs was referring too in this speech from 2010 was, of course, gorilla arm; a by-product of holding your arm in a vertical position while performing micro-movements on a touchscreen with one’s finger.

There have been many rumors over the years that Apple would introduce a touchscreen laptop, and it seems there’s no smoke without fire – patents have been filed and, by Jobs’ own admission, the company has carried out extensive user-testing in the field. Based on its research, however, it seems any plans to introduce a touchscreen MacBook were shelved long ago.

However, having used a touchscreen Windows 8 machine on and off for more than a year, I can safely say my arm has remained human at every juncture. And the key lies in how I’ve been using the touchscreen.

There’s not a chance in hell I’d forego a mouse and keyboard on a laptop. They’re essential facets of usability, functionality and any other kind of -ality. But that doesn’t mean a touchscreen doesn’t fit right in alongside it. This blending of traditional peripherals and the more contemporary touch-based interface really works.

I still use a mouse for a lot of stuff, like highlighting words to copy/paste for example, and clicking on links. But as soon as I hit a page that requires scrolling, or even in the main Start screen where the Windows Store and all the apps are housed, the mouse is dropped and that trusty old forefinger really comes into its own. It’s never more than a few seconds at a time, plus my elbow actually sits rested on the desk – it’s not a big deal.

Confusing the debate

While I am wary of the wave of hybrid Windows devices that have hit the market – tabtops, convertibles or whatever other nomenclature takes your fancy – I just don’t like them. They’re trying to be too many things at once – call me old-fashioned, but I like my laptop to be a laptop and tablet to be a tablet. Some devices don’t even know if they’re Windows or Android.

And I’m still awaiting the first line of real quality Ultrabooks. Almost a year on from the Windows 8 launch, the selection of decent, portable, powerful laptops is pathetic.

Plus, Windows 8 isn’t that great an operating system – it’s not designed with its core user-base in mind. As with the hybrid machines, Windows 8 is trying to be too many things at once. Microsoft’s Windows Store is absolutely fine in itself, but the duality of the desktop and Windows UI (Metro) desktop apps is confusing.

But here is the point. All this natter around the pros and cons of poor software and hardware merely muddies the water when it comes to the touchscreen debate. Touchscreen laptops, as a concept, have become synonymous with Microsoft’s latest operating system (though Google has started dabbling in this realm), and thus haven’t had the chance to really take off.

With the right hardware and software, I can’t see touchscreen laptops being anything other than successful. It’s almost as though Jobs & Co. were anticipating that people would use a touchscreen machine exclusively with their extended arm and forefinger – of course that would never work, it’s not a natural way to interact with a computer.

But alongside a mouse and keyboard, touchscreens fit in pretty well and I’d be surprised if nearly all machines – be it Windows, Mac, Chromebook or a new contender – weren’t touchscreen-enabled a few years from now. I just hope that the keyboard and mouse aren’t ushered out the back door in the process.

Meanwhile, if you want to see what a touchscreen MacBook might look like, check out this concept video below.

From:NJYTOUCH

Can touchscreens save you from carpal tunnel? They might actually be worse

From your smartphone to your car to your computer, and even to your coffee pot, the age of the touchscreen is upon us. But as we transition from a button- and keyboard-centric world to a world of flat panel, capacitive displays, are we hurting ourselves in the process? Do our bodies need to evolve to keep up with technology?

Here’s an idea – maybe everything doesn’t need to have a touchscreen. Though PC and tablet manufacturers want to fill your life with interactive touch displays, it’s not always in your body’s best interest.

Are touchscreens an ergonomic solution?

For years we’ve heard tales around the office coffee pot of carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and other repetitive stress injuries caused by working at a traditional computer for too long. Ignoring the advice of ergonomics experts who recommend specific monitor distances, keyboard angles, and mouse grips results in a pain that is much worse than just a case of the Mondays. 

With the prevalence of touchscreen computers, tablets, and the ever-present smartphone, you’d think touching a screen to scroll would be better than constantly stressing your scrolling finger, right?

Not really. There’s a whole other slew of problems that touchscreens present in everyday work life that are just starting to surface. Speaking of Surface, Microsoft may eventually rue the day it made touch nearly indispensable in Windows 8 – if not for the sales of RT, than for the pain in the shoulder and neck its latest OS could cause.

In 2012, prior to the release of Windows 8, InfoWorld wrote about the additional force with which touchscreen users tap their screens due to the lack of tactile feedback. While a clicky sound when pressing letters on a virtual keyboard helps, it’s less than ideal. A typical user will strike a virtual key with eight times the force of a physical key. No wonder manufacturers started using Gorilla Glass! 

Hitting virtual targets with excessive force isn’t the only problem, either. Neck strain is a major concern with tablets and, by extension, hybrid laptops. Hanging the head down or forcing it forward with a hunched back, or “turtling” puts pressure on the cervical part of the spine and results in muscle fatigue. The same issue is particularly problematic with laptops. 

Cynthia Burt, Injury Prevention Division Manager at the UCLA Office of Environment, Health and Safety, believes that the inherent nature of laptops make them less than ergonomically sound due to the relatively fixed screen and keyboard positions. This is amplified with a touchscreen laptop because, as she explains, there is a difference between optimal visual difference and optimal reach distance. “We recommend that people have an 18- to 20-inch envelope in front of them for optimal reaching,” Burt told us. “But for dealing with a monitor, people are recommending arm’s length or more, which would be 28 to 32 inches … The closer the monitor is, the more your eyes have to work to see the screen.”

Eye strain isn’t the only concern with a touchscreen laptop that’s positioned like a typical laptop. The act of touching the screen itself presents a host of potential physical issues. “The biggest thing that I see with a touchscreen is that to touch it you have to elevate your arm and reach out so you’re using a lot more shoulder and trunk muscles as well as arm muscles … It will require a lot more workload on your extremities, and it will also impact your sitting balance,” Burt said, explaining that how you sit is extremely important, and it’s even more important than when you’re using a keyboard.”

Hybrid laptops that contort into tablets are slightly better because you have more control over how you’re positioned. Still, it’s recommended that you use a separate Bluetooth keyboard if you plan on writing the Great American Novel on a tablet. In fact, many of the physical stress issues related to laptop use – whether it’s a traditional display, touchscreen, or hybrid convertible – may be greatly reduced with the use of an external keyboard. 

What about gesture control? Is it ready?

Products like the Leap Motion controller and Thalmic Labs’s MYO take the touch and the typing out of the equation entirely by employing gestures. While these products offer a different take on computer interaction, are they any better than an old fashioned keyboard and mouse?

Leap Motion uses a USB controller that can be placed almost anywhere in front of a screen as long as one of the cords are able to connect to your computer. Leap Motion states, “The interaction space of 2x2x2 feet is approximately arm-span distance, which we felt was more of a natural, efficient motion than broad gestures, for use of the Controller.”

This works nicely with Burt’s assertion that a monitor should be kept at arm’s length, but there’s still the issue of suspending your arm in a less than ideal position. The support section on Leap Motion’s site includes a page with ways to use the controller comfortably, which includes keeping your shoulders relaxed and your arms at a comfortable angle. 

While Leap Motion doesn’t make any claims about its product helping people who are suffering from a repetitive stress injury or other workplace ailments, the company says, “the ability to interact with and control a computer, using natural hand and finger movements, may be a positive option for people who find that the mouse and keyboard are a limiting and ineffective experience.”

However, as our review of the Leap Motion controller attests, the controller isn’t quite precise enough to replace a touchscreen or a mouse – yet. As a category, gesture control is still nascent and is going to improve over the next few years.

Burt agrees. “It’s a very promising technology, but in terms of it being ready right now to substitute for a mouse, I don’t think we’re there yet… But we’re just at the beginning of that technology, so I’m sure it’s going to improve and get better. When I’ve tried to use it and I’ve watched other people try to use it, there are very awkward hand and wrist finger motions trying to get it to work, because it’s not intuitive right now.

The ideal solution

What’s a touch screen enthusiast to do if they want to avoid physical strain and possible repetitive stress injuries? There are practical solutions for home offices and the workplace. Whether you’re using a desktop or a laptop, Burt recommends using a monitor with an articulating arm type of mount, which will allow you to move the screen closer or further away as needed. 

Likewise, an external keyboard is useful for both laptop and hybrid set-ups when you have a lot of key pounding to do. 

But what about your shiny new touchscreen? Avoid reaching for it. Keep it close enough to touch it while maintaining good posture and relaxed shoulders. “Perching forward and leaning causes a lot of overuse problems because it forces you to be in an awkward posture,” Burt said. 

One of the possible advantages of using a combination of a touchscreen, keyboard, and touchpad or mouse is that you’re moving between three different inputs and, as a result, are changing positions more frequently. As long as you’re not awkward about it in terms of your posture, this is a good thing.

So what’s the ultimate solution? A good ol’ fashioned keyboard and mouse, a touchscreen, or gesture control device? As far as Burt is concerned: None of the above. “At the point in time, given what the technology is, I would encourage people to look at voice recognition systems before they go forward with touchscreen systems.”

from:NJYTOUCH

Microsoft-Backed Software Turns Any Surface Into Touch Screen

In recent months, critics of Microsoft's Surface tablets have used their lackluster sales as an opportunity to question the company's competitive edge. But no matter your opinion, one thing has become clear: the company's focus on touch screen interfaces is proving to be right on the mark. Now, one company backed by Microsoft is looking to revolutionize the touch-screen market by making any surface interactive.

Microsoft announced this week that Ubi Interactive is now taking orders for software that works with the Kinect to instantly turn nearly any surface into a touch screen. Ubi Interactive showed off an early prototype version of the software as part of the Microsoft Kinect Accelerator program last year, and it's now ready for primetime.

"By making it possible to turn any surface into a touch screen, we eliminate the need for screen hardware and thereby reduce the cost and extend the possibilities of enabling interactive displays in places where they were not previously feasible—such as on walls in public spaces," Ubi Interactive CEO Anup Chathoth said in a statement. "Our technology has implications of revolutionizing the way people live their lives on a global level."

According to the company's support documentation, the software cannot be used on reflective surfaces, which makes the interface controller an interesting alternative to the glossy touch screen many of us have become accustomed to on the latest tablets. The basic Ubi Interactive software package, which supports screens up to 45 inches is selling for $149, while the professional version supports screens up to 100 inches and sells for $379. The company is also selling an enterprise version for $1,499.

In addition to the software and a flat surface, users will also need to purchase a Kinect for Windows sensor, which sells for $249.99. But when you consider that for just a little more than $500 you can begin using your own Minority Report-style display, suddenly the entire package seems like a bargain.

from:NJYTOUCH

Are touchscreen laptops worth it?

Touchscreens are ubiquitous on smartphones and tablets, but many manufacturers are now including them on laptops, too. But are they worth buying?

Asus Vivobook Touchscreen Laptop

Windows 8 is designed to provide a touch-friendly user interface, one that moves away from emulating a mouse and takes advantage of features such as gestures like pinch-to-zoom. Think of using a touchscreen as the modern equivalent of learning keyboard shortcuts; it may take some getting used to, but on a laptop a touchscreen can add an extra layer of interactivity and make navigating Windows 8 very fast. (Not to mention that it’ll let you play Angry Birds all day and draw rude shapes in Paint.)

Many laptops are now coming out with innovative designs, such as rotating or removable screens that allow for a more touch-friendly and tablet-like experience.

For now, touch control works best on the new Modern UI, although it can be a bit hit and miss in desktop mode. While there are many shortcuts and gestures that still work across both, accurately selecting small elements — like files or menu items — can be tricky on the desktop.

Of course, touch has some major downsides — your screen will get coated in fingerprints (most touchscreen laptops also ship with extra-large cleaning cloths) and it can be awkward to switch between the touchpad and screen. A well-positioned mouse can actually make it easier to swap to and from the touchscreen, as your arm is already extended and next to your laptop. Some screens are also flimsy enough that they move when touched, making it very hard to be accurate.

One of the supposed downsides of a touchscreen laptop is ‘gorilla arm’, where holding your hand up in front of you gets very tiring (and presumably starts growing hair). In our experience this is a non-issue though.Touchscreen control on Windows 8 is great for occasional use, such as flicking though photos or scrolling around the Modern UI, but it’s rarely very long in duration.

Unless you have specific touch-enabled applications in mind, we can’t recommend paying too much extra for a touchscreen. However, considering they’re now being included on even budget laptops, touchscreens do offer a fresh way to interact with your computer.

We’ll be reviewing 6 touchscreen Windows 8 laptop models listed below. Check back here to read our reviews.

from:NJYTOUCH

Berkeley researchers develop flexible touch screen

Imagine living in a world where paper-thin computer screens cover walls instead of paint. They would respond to your very presence in a room, attuned to and controllable by your every movement — even your facial expressions.

Engineers at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have taken the latest step toward that by developing a thin, pliable plastic material called “e-skin” that is interactive like a touch screen but more flexible than the rigid glass or silicon currently used in smartphones and computers.

The team of researchers, led by UC Berkeley professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences Ali Javey, created a working stamp-sized prototype that responds to touch by emitting light. The work was published in the academic journal Nature Materials on Sunday.

E-skin is not a synthetic replacement for human skin, despite what the name may suggest, Javey said. E-skin will primarily be used in electronics and aims only to mimic human skin in computer displays by responding similarly to touch, temperature and light.

“From the engineering point of view, human skin is an interface that provides us with information,” Javey said.

When pressure is applied to e-skin, its surface lights up with organic light-emitting diodes, an advanced form of LEDs. The intensity of the light varies with the intensity of pressure exerted on the skin, said Chuan Wang, a professor at Michigan State University who co-authored the publication and worked on the research as a UC Berkeley postgraduate.

According to Wang, prior to using OLEDs, the only way to measure the pressure being applied to a surface was to measure electrical currents, which required extensive equipment. Integrating light sensors into e-skin has simplified the process of detecting pressure by eliminating the need for electrical boards or a computer.

The researchers are now working to have e-skin respond to light and temperature as well.

But there are still significant challenges to overcome before the use of plastic as a platform for electrical systems can advance.

“Existing equipment is designed to only process rigid substrates, like silicon,” Javey said. “For plastic substrates, we have to develop new equipment in order to build complex electrical structures.”

Researchers believe e-skin could be used in large-scale applications in the future. It may ultimately be possible to cheaply print e-skin on regular printers using metallic ink and thin plastic.

Dae-Hyeong Kim, a professor of bioengineering at Seoul National University who does research on similar materials to e-skin, said Javey’s material is significant because it reacts by emitting light — a more natural way of interacting with humans than traditional electronic sensors.

“The recent work from Professor Javey’s group has a great meaning in that it realized the interactive mode of artificial electronic skin,” he said.

from:NJYTOUCH

Synaptics puts touch on the back of tablets

Synaptics had a really nifty tablet tech called Sensa, aimed at fixing multi-touch errors, on display at CES. The idea behind it is simple enough, detect and remove erroneous touches from the hand holding the device, and turn them in to useful input.

Like all simple concepts, Sensa is a hard problem to solve technically speaking, but Synaptics did. If you are holding a tablet, you probably have four fingers on the back, and your thumb on the front. If that thumb touches the edge of the screen, then a swipe elsewhere becomes a zoom or a shrink, and things get weird. How do you tell a finger touch on the front from a, err, finger touch on the front? Not easily.

The way Synaptics solved this problem is pretty cool though, they put a full touch panelsensor on the back of the tablet and detected where fingers were on it. If the back sensor sees four fingers, as seen by the blue dots in the picture below, one touch near the margins on the front sensor can be safely mapped out as a the hand holding the device, not a voluntary input. Once you are told how it is done, the solution is obvious enough, but no one had done it before Sensa.

The blue dots are the fingers you can’t see

Once you know the position of the hand, you can do all sorts of tricks with what Synaptics calls ‘grip events’. You can make UI changes like one or two handed input modes, infer some use cases, and most usefully map out potential errors. The best one however is called dynamic margin control. This basically sees where your thumb is on the screen, maps the input out, and moves the margins over so the text is not blocked by it. There are two modes, one moves the whole margin over, the other pictured below just wraps text around your finger automagically. It is really nifty and useful, but not exactly a difficult thing to understand.

Magic is in the details, and the back sensor

One use case for Sensa that we hope Synaptics does explore is nothing more than a normal tea cup. This technology could easily detect the proverbial ‘pinky up’ position that is the bane of correct society and deliver lethal electric re-education ‘hints’ upon detection. Gesture error prevention and margin control are nice, but Sensa has the potential to do no less than help cleanse the gene pool with technological efficiency. Lets hope Synaptics decides to uses their advances for good, not just tablet frivolity.S|A

NJYTOUCH

Uni-Pixel: A True Analysis Of Risk Vs.

I’ve written about Unipixel (UNXL) before here, but wanted to give an update due to new developments, new information, and the several Seeking Alpha articles that followed mine in the past three weeks. But first, a brief summary on the company.

Unipixel is a micro-cap technology company focused on performance engineered films. It has two main products right now: UniBoss and Diamond Guard. Diamond Guard is a cover film that is extremely thin/light, highly scratch resistant, and virtually unbreakable. UniBoss is a highly customizable patterned grid used in touch sensors as an alternative to current ITO models. For more information on these products, see my previous article (linked above) or Green River Asset’s article here. Both will provide excellent background and I highly suggest reading them both before continuing, as I skip over much of the detail included.

I will focus on UniBoss, since it is the more exciting of the two products, although Diamond Guard could also potentially produce significant revenue. As in my previous article, I want to focus on two aspects: The opportunity and the risk.

Opportunity

The touch screen market is huge and growing fast. DisplaySearch estimates that it will grow from $16 billion in 2012 to $32 billion in 2018. Note that this is for the whole touch screen, not just the touch sensor. Based on the following article from DisplayBank, the touch screen panel market size is approximately 65% of this total amount, or about $10B in 2012 and $20B in 2018. However, UniBoss is half the cost of current ITO technology, so really the total market is $5B now and growing to $10B in 2018. This is the expected market that UniBoss is going after.

Keep in mind that touch screens are not a fad. They are here to stay and growing fast. Microsoft is fully devoted with its release of Windows 8. Also, many other companies announced their full support for touch screens at CES: Intel, Lenovo, and of course Dell.

Let’s focus on these “large-screen” devices and look at the market on a per unit basis. Morgan Stanley estimates that in 2013, there will be near 600 million large-screen devices (desktops, notebooks and tablets) shipped. If we assume that just half of the notebooks/desktops are touch enabled (less than the 60%-100% claimed by Lenovo, Dell and others), then we can expect approximately 216 + 371*.5 = 400 million large-screen touch-enabled devices shipped in 2013 and 352 + 370*.5 = 550 million in 2015. At $20 per square foot, this translates to a little under an $8B market in 2012 and $11B in 2015 – a little above the estimates presented earlier.

The differences come from the fact that DisplayBank and DisplaySearch are probably not accounting for the large transition in notebooks/PCs to touch screens as this is “new” information from CES this year. It was previously assumed that touch screens would not become too substantial in these devices as the cost was too high: Adding a touch screen to a laptop currently costs about $200-$400 to the end-user ($40-$90 for the ITO touch screen multiplied a few times for various margins). As an example, Sony just revamped its VIZIO T13 line to include touch screens. The base model increased from $770 to approximately $1,100. UniBoss will only increase the total cost by about $50-$150 to the end-user (an estimate given similar ratios).

I have already discussed why UniBoss is superior to ITO and other ITO replacements in the previous articles at the top, and believe that it is therefore not unreasonable to assume a conservative 5% market share. Using the $8B market in 2012 (based on units), this amounts to $400 million in revenue, and does not include any potential revenue from smartphones or other touch devices.

What does $400M in revenue mean in EPS? Well, Unipixel states that its gross margins will be “well north of 50%.” We could use this number, however what if margins are much higher? Unipixel has also stated that the most expensive part of the conductive film is the film itself, costing $0.10 per square foot. Throw in labor costs and yield and machine depreciation, and it is clear that, at a sale price of $20 per square foot, the revenue will in fact be “well north” of 50% and could easily be in the 80% to 90% range.

Now, all of this is assuming a 5% market share, or $400M in revenue. But how likely is this? Well, at $20/square foot, Unipixel would have to sell 20M units, or about 1.66M units per month for an entire year. According to Unipixel, it expects to be ramped up to over 3M units by the end of 2013, with its first major customer — rumored to be Dell (DELL) — accounting for near 1.3M units per month by the end of 2013, and potentially more in 2014. Unipixel doesn’t even have to sign any more deals this year and it will still produce upward of $260 Million in revenue, or about $6.5 in EPS using 50% margins. Give that a 20x P/E and we’re looking at a $130 share price, just from the current customer, which is already signed. But how committed is this customer? Well, it will be writing four checks to Unipixel throughout 2013 for a total of $15M just to help it build out capacity. That’s right, the customer is putting up millions of its own dollars just to help Unipixel build the capacity to provide it with touch screens.

To further support this data, one can look at the Craig-Hallum research note that was published yesterday (Jan. 22) when it increased its Price Target from $22 to $24. These numbers seem low compared with what I am postulating, however, it readily admits this:

As for 2014, which we are using in our price target calculation, we are only assuming that they produce at 200K units/month for the entire year. We obviously think these numbers are quite low, especially considering that they are ramping capacity to over 6x our estimates by the end of 2013. When looking at a scenario analysis, which we published in our December 10th note, it is clear that the company has the ability to generate more than $9.00/share in earnings next year with just the existing partnership.

Below is a chart to calculate potential EPS given various margin assumptions on the left and unit sales per month at the top. I have assumed the following: OpEx of $12M per year for each 1M units produced per month. Taxes of 35%. Fully diluted share count of 14M (it is actually around 13.5M).

		Units per month in Millions
		0.5	1	2	3	4	5
Gross Margin	50%	2.5	5.0	10.0	15.0	20.1	25.1
	60%	3.1	6.1	12.3	18.4	24.5	30.6
	70%	3.6	7.2	14.5	21.7	29.0	36.2
	80%	4.2	8.4	16.7	25.1	33.4	41.8

I personally believe that a P/E of 25 or 30 is fair given the growth, but even at a conservative P/E of 15 the price targets get very large, very quickly. Keep in mind that Unipixel recently raised its capacity ramp to over 3M units per month by the end of 2013. At just 50% margins, this will allow for over $15 EPS.

And yet, the price is currently at $15 per share. So clearly there must be significant risks, right?

The Risks

Dilution: As with any small company, one of the risks is dilution. However, that seems extremely unlikely with Unipixel. The company has $15M in cash, zero debt, it will be receiving an additional $15M throughout 2013 from the PC Manufacturer, and it will soon be cash-flow positive. Management has repeatedly stated that it will not be needing to do any more secondaries, thanks in part to the Preferred Pricing Agreements (detailed in Green River Asset’s article above).

Manufacturing: Unipixel does not have mass-production up and running yet, and until it does, this will be a risk. It currently owns one printing line (able to produce 1M units per month) and has already ordered two more. It also owns one plating line, which it is currently building / testing. Each plating line can output 100k units per month — it has already ordered two more for April and parts for eight more for the second half of the year. Based on the orders, it seems it is very confident that mass-production will work and it will be able to fill this capacity (probably because of the current customer’s needs and potential future customers). Up until now, it has been producing UniBoss at a 3rd-party facility using the exact same equipment. The only difference is that it didn’t utilize the roll-to-roll technology, but it is very confident that this will not cause any issues. Apparently, so is the PC manufacturer.

Other: There have been two SA articles written recently, which were very negative toward Unipixel. They can be read here and here. Both articles have been brilliantly refuted by Green River Asset here and here. But I will touch on them briefly. Both articles focus on the following points: The market isn’t really that big, Unipixel’s tech is unproven, and there are strong competitors. I feel as though I have painted a very clear picture as to why the market is actually very large. I have done this through estimated touch sensor revenue projections as well as looking at actual units of devices being sold. I even took the liberty of using many of the same articles that the second negative article (by Benjamin Wiley) linked to.

As for Unipixel’s tech being unproven, this is impossible for me to discuss. I have no way of proving to myself or anybody else that the technology is viable. But on the other hand, these authors have no way of proving that it is NOT viable. In the end, we can do as much due diligence as we want and speak to as many engineers as we would like, but the only way to know for sure is to view demonstrations. Here is a great demonstration that not only shows the great ability of UniBoss, but also its transparency. Also, keep in mind that the large PC Manufacturer would not have signed up and asked for limited exclusivity and put forward $15M for production if it was not impressed. Also, numerous institutions including FMR, Bank of America, and Wellington, all own over 5% of the shares outstanding and clearly have faith in Unipixel’s technology and ability. Most importantly, however, the company believes in itself. Employee compensation is heavily weighted in stock options and just last week on January 15, the company issued stock grants to itself at a price of $16.35 vesting in August of this year. It clearly believes that it we will be much higher by then.

Finally, other competition. The main competition is Atmel’s xSense (also copper metal-mesh), however it is not nearly as inexpensive as UniBoss. From talks at CES, it is clear that Atmel (ATML) is advertising its product as an improvement to ITO, and not as a competitor to UniBoss. I have even heard chatter that Atmel is in talks with Unipixel about developing a new controller for the company. Other competitors would be Cambrios and other silver metal-mesh companies. While these are certainly competitive, they are also not nearly as inexpensive as UniBoss and they do not provide any significant advantages (again, information is from talks with people at CES).

I’m not trying to suggest that Unipixel will get 100% of the market share. Even if it miraculously had capacity, this would never happen. However, I am trying to suggest that it is not at all unreasonable to expect a 5%-10% market share, and maybe significantly higher. In all, it is clear to me that the potential for Unipixel this year is huge and the risks are, in actuality, quite small. I expect more customers to sign up in the coming months, especially once they get manufacturing up and running and prove that it is feasible.

Unipixel will be having its earnings announcement for Q4 around March 1 (still unconfirmed), and I’m sure that by then it will be able to discuss much more of this in detail. Until then, I expect potential catalysts to be any press releases of new partnerships / customers or PRs relating to the first plating line being functional.

NJYTOUCH

New Panasonic Plasma TV Range

Like Panasonic’s 2013 LCD TVs, the plasma range offers access to the firm’s Viera Connect Smart TV platform for apps, catch-up TV, VOD services and more. There’s also a handy built-in media player for access to content via USB or DLNA (local network). One thing that’s different about Panasonic’s plasma range, though, is that unlike the firm’s LCD TVs, the plasmas use active-shutter 3D technology. That means you can enjoy 3D viewing in full resolution (Full HD: 1920 x 1080 pixels). However, active 3D glasses rely on built-in electronics, making them heavier and more expensive than passive models.

ZT60 Series

Panasonic’s new flagship plasma TV for 2013 is the ZT60. It features a brand new plasma screen, called the Studio Master Panel, as well as boosted screen brightness and contrast. The anti-glare finish also promises to be more effective than in 2012 models, and this year’s TVs are made with no lead or mercury.

This TV comes with all the usual high-end features, including a “3000 Hz” motion compensation mode (although there’s no mention of the actual screen refresh rate), a dual-core processor, voice controls and a second remote with a touchpad (Viera Touch Pad Controller) for quick and easy navigation in the TV’s menus. Plus, there’s a built-in webcam for video chat with Skype.

A fun new Touch Pen function has landed in Panasonic’s high-end plasmas too, which lets you draw pictures on the TV using a compatible stylus. That should keep the kids quiet for a while!

The ZT60 will only be available in one size: 60″ (152 cm) TX-P60ZT60.

VT60 Series

The VT has all the same functions as the ZT60, except that it doesn’t get the all-new screen panel. It uses the same Infinite Black Ultra panel as the VT50.

This TV will be available in three sizes: 50″ (127 cm) TX-P50VT60, 60″ (152 cm) TX-P60ST60 and 65″ (165 cm) TX-P65VT60.

ST60 Series

The ST60 uses an Infinite Black Pro panel and comes with a motion compensation mode announced at 2500 Hz. Unlike the two higher-end models, there’s no dual-core processor, second remote, voice controls or Touch Pen functionality. This is clearly a more basic TV, but picture quality should still be pretty good, as this plasma inherits most of its tech specs from the ST50.

This TV will be available in four sizes: 50″ (127 cm) TX-P50ST60, 55″ (140 cm) TX-P55ST60, 60″ (152 cm) TX-P60ST60 and 65″ (165 cm) TX-P65ST60.

NJYTOUCH

RTI Ships KX7 In-Wall Touchpanel and SURFiR Companion Remote

Remote Technologies Incorporated (RTI) is adding two new ways for homeowners to get their control on. The company just announced the KX7 in-wall color touchpanel controller (pictured right) and the SURFiR companion remote (below).

So whether you like something in-wall or something that can move around the house with you, RTI has you covered.

The KX7 is the in-wall color touchpanel controller. It’s a self-contained control system with a 7-inch WVGA (800x480) multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, as well as analog and digital video viewing capability. It has an infrared output for control of devices up to 1,000 feet away, as well as an RS-232 port. Other features include a 10/100 Base-T connection for Power over Ethernet (PoE) and inputs for composite, S-Video, component, and wired and wireless Ethernet.

For something more portable, the SURFiR is a low-cost companion remote. Designed to work with your iOS or Android devices, it’s for users that enjoy the look and feel or a smartphone or tablet, but also want hard buttons as an option. It works with RTI’s RTiPanel app and can be paired with any of RTI’s XP control processors.

NJYTOUCH

Apple Rumored To Be Testing Foxconn Subsidiary’s Touch Panels For Next iPad mini

Apple is already working with Foxconn on the touch display panels to be used on the second-generation iPad mini, reports The China Times.

Specifically, the Cupertino-based tech company is working on the next iPad mini’s display with Shenzhen Century Science & Technology (SCST), a subsidiary of the Chinese manufacturing company.

The current, first-generation iPad mini has a 7.9-inch non-Retina display. As a matter of course, Apple is expected to switch to a Retina panel for the so-called iPad mini 2.

But according to rumors in the industry, Apple is also planning on incorporating monolithic or one-glass solution (OGS) technology for the device’s display.

To this end, sample OGS photomasks from SCST are said to have already been delivered to Apple for testing for the iPad mini 2.

Should an agreement come to fruition between the two parties, SCST will enter Apple’s supply chain as a panel supplier for the device.

SCST is also expected to collaborate with Innolux, which is Taiwan’s largest LCD maker.

If things go according to plan (or according to rumors, at least), SCST will join LG Display and AU Optronics as Apple’s iPad mini display suppliers.

NJYTOUCH

Sensus Brings a Touch Panel to the iPhone’s Backside Read more: http://techland.time.com/2013/01/07/sensus-brings-a-touch-panel-to-the-iphones-behind/#ixzz2HMhFoH93

Canopy

It’s come up with an iPhone case, called Sensus, that adds touch-sensitive panels to the rear and sides of the phone. To get a feel for it, I tried a short demo of a space shooting game, where you must drag a small spaceship around while firing at incoming enemies. Controlling the ship through the rear touch panel instead of the iPhone’s touch screen prevents your fingers from obscuring the action. (This may sound familiar to owners of Sony’s PlayStation Vita, which has a rear touch panel built-in.)If you ever wished your fat fingers would stop getting in the way of your iPhone’s touch screen, a company called Canopy thinks it has an answer.

Canopy has other uses in mind for Sensus. For instance, it’s developed its own camera app with functions mapped to the touch sensitive strips on the sides of the phone. That way, you can tap the edge of the phone to turn the flash on or off, or to adjust other settings. Sensus relies on the iPhone for power, but doesn’t eat away any battery life when its touch functions aren’t in use.

(MORE: Check out TIME Tech’s complete coverage of the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show)

It’s an interesting concept, but one that will have a tough time gaining momentum. The usefulness of the device will be entirely dependent on app developers, who must add Sensus functionality to their software. At launch, Canopy expects support from roughly 20 to 50 apps–an insignificant sliver of the hundreds of thousands of apps in Apple’s store. Still, Canopy’s chief strategy officer, Matt Pacyga, said that several large game publishers have shown interest.

Canopy plans to launch Sensus this summer, priced somewhere between $59 and $99. It’ll be available for the iPhone 4, 4S and 5. Pacyga seemed unsure about the possibility of an Android version, given how many different-sized phones are on the market.

You can check out a video of the Sensus case in action below.

NJYTOUCH