March 23, 1998 Design News
Hot products
Senior Editor Julie Anne
Schofield picks noteworthy computer peripherals
Flat-panel monitor offers plasma display
Fujitsu's next-generation version of its ImageSiteTM
flat-panel plasma display offers a new high-contrast
screen. The screen improves contrast by a factor of
six to let the new display deliver clearer, brighter
pictures with quality comparable to that of conventional
CRT technology, say company officials. Other improvements
include: twice the brightness of the previous model,
quieter operation, improved SVGA compatibility, white
balance adjustment, and better image quality from such
new source materials as DVD and other broadcast video
formats. The 42-inch-diagonal monitor costs $10,999--20%
less than its predecessor.
Fujitsu Micro-electronics
Printer makes color affordable
Sporting a built-in Ethernet interface, 24 Mbytes of
RAM, and a 100-MHz RISC processor, the Phaser 360 color
printer from Tektronix costs $3,695. The 800-dpi unit
uses solid inks, which users drop into slots and can
reload on the fly. Printing rates are 6 full-color pages
per minute and up to 5.5 color transparencies per minute--rates
the company says exceed those of liquid-ink jets and
color laser printers. As an incentive to make the move
to color, Tek is offering free black ink indefinitely,
which it says will let users create typical color office
documents for five cents per page. Another plus: e-mail
notification of paper jams, ink low, and paper out.
Tektronix Inc.
Tiny video cameras mount almost anywhere
Four new video cameras from Toshiba redefine the term
microminiature. The IK-M43H camera's head is 7 mm in
diameter--about that of a standard No. 2 pencil. It
is the length of a paper clip (42 mm) and has a lens
the size of a corn kernel. Other members of this microminiature
camera line are the IK-M41A, which boasts a 0.5-inch,
410,000-pixel CCD image sensor; the IK-41A, a high-resolution
monochrome camera optimized for pattern recognition;
and the IK-TU40A, an ice-cube-size point-of-view camera
that can work with a wireless transmitter. Possible
applications include: space-sensitive machine vision,
medical research, and broadcast equipment.
Toshiba America Information Systems
Keyboard offers adjustable backlighting
MICROKEY Elastomer Series keyboards let users in dimly
lit environments see what they're typing on. Users can
adjust the backlighting by pressing the FN and F7 keys
simultaneously to choose one of several lighting levels.
The backlight switch is sealed to resist dust, debris,
and water. Three versions are available. The desktop
version is a full-featured keyboard with a small footprint
enclosure that has flip-up legs. Designers can modify
an unenclosed version to meet customers' requirements.
And the NEMA 4 version is enclosed in stainless steel
and rated for harsh environments. Applications include:
process-control equipment, medical equipment, and test
and measurement instruments.
Advanced Input Devices
LCD projector offers small size, light weight
Weighing 11 lbs and measuring less than six inches
high, the PJL802 ViewBook projector is truly portable.
Video players, PC, or Mac systems can supply the input,
or a user can simply pop a memory-card-stored presentation
into the projector's built-in PC Card slot. Specs include
true SVGA resolution with compressed XGA resolution;
150W metal halide lamp that delivers 400 ANSI lumens;
200:1 contrast ratio; and plug-and-play capability with
Windows 95.
ViewSonic Corp.
PC Card slot adds floppy drive
With CD-ROM drives, hard drives, and batteries, many
portable PCs don't have room left over for a floppy
drive. But if your laptop, notebook, PDA, or any other
computer has a PC Card slot, you can plug in the new
Add-A-Floppy portable, external floppy-disk drive. Features
include: reads and writes both 120- and 1.44-Mbyte disks,
draws power from host device, needs no internal controller,
and offers plug-and-play capability. The 4.5 x 7.5 x
1.66-inch unit weighs 0.4 lb and costs $269. Analog
& Digital Peripherals Inc.
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