screens

LAS VEGAS--I love power tools. I also love smartphones. Finally, my two passions came together on the show floor of CES 2013. Amzer makes the ShatterProof line of screen protectors for electronic devices. They invited me over to go nuts on an iPhone protected with this thin urethane film.

The available objects of destruction were a power drill and sander. There would have been a hammer, but it had been stolen from the booth. I felt like I was building a set of cabinets rather than testing out a tech item.

Shatterproof is .2 millimeter thick and sticks on with the help of an included wedge. It has already been through a battery of ASTM tests to prove its tear strength and hardness. Now, it was my turn.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--Actiontec today showed off at CES 2013 its first wireless display kit called ScreenBeam. This is a Miracast-certified kit that allows you to display a mobile device's screen onto a big-screen TV.

Actiontec say ScreenBeam is one of the first devices approved by the Wi-Fi Alliance for its Wi-Fi certified Miracast program. This ensures that it's compatible with other Miracast-enabled devices.

Actiontec offers ScreenBeam as both a standalone wireless display adapter and as a kit. A standalone adapter works with existing Miracast-certified devices, including laptops, smartphones, tablets, and devices running Android or WiDi 3.5 and higher. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--AT&T today unveiled a new video-on-demand service for its U-Verse TV offering amid the rising threat of companies such as Netflix.

As more consumers consider dropping their cable TV in lieu of Web-based alternatives, including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, AT&T said today that it is offering the U-Verse Screen Pack for $5 a month, available only to its U-Verse customers. It will allow users to access a library of 1,500 movies from their TV, computer, or wireless devices.

Existing U-Verse TV customers will get a free preview of Screen Pack between January 7 … Read more

LAS VEGAS--It sounds like a bad "Star Wars" pun, but the YotaPhone, a spinoff from a company responsible for making LTE routers and modems, is bringing a whole lot of Android innovation to a crowded field. In fact, it's the most interesting smartphone I've seen here at CES, and this is only the first device prototype out of a planned total of three before launch.

Here's the take-away, plain and simple: YotaPhone is a high-end Android 4.1 Jelly Bean smartphone with an e-ink display on the back. Why? It's all about battery savings. … Read more

Corning's goal: to shatter its own status quo when it comes to the strength of its Gorilla Glass screens for consumer electronics.

At CES, the glass maker will debut Gorilla Glass 3, the company's latest effort in the daily battle against scratched, splintered, and shattered device screens.

By studying glass' atomic structure and bonding properties, Corning's team was able to "invent another kind of glass" that makes the substance less brittle, and less prone to scratches, says David Velasquez, Gorilla Glass' director of marketing and commercial operations.

Corning terms this additional fortitude "native damage … Read more

Apple's use of the so-called "in-cell" touch technology in the iPhone 5 could be short-lived, according to a new report that claims the company is already eyeing alternatives for its next iPhone model.

Citing supply chain rumors, The China Times (translation) says Apple is currently evaluating technology called Touch On Display from Innolux, the company formerly named Chimei Innolux which Apple last year listed as one of its component suppliers.

The reason for the change, the report claims, is due to interference with the current in-cell technology where both the display and touch are embedded in the … Read more

Apple includes a number of screensavers in OS X that provide you with options to exercise your display and prevent LCD ghosting, CRT burn-in (if you still use a CRT monitor), or other persistent images from being a nuisance. As with most screen savers, you can deactivate them by moving your mouse or pressing a button on your keyboard; however, this may not always be the case, and depending on the screensaver being used you may instead find the screensaver will persist even when some inputs are pressed.

Advance photos in slideshows Apple includes a number of slideshow screensavers that … Read more

Fujitsu's president cited "weak" Windows 8 demand for slumping sales, according to a Tokyo-based Bloomberg report, echoing recent comments from Acer's president.

Japan's biggest IT services company said it will miss its annual shipment target for personal computers amid sluggish demand for Windows 8, according to Bloomberg. Fujitsu President Masami Yamamoto was speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Thursday.

PC shipments for the fiscal year ending in March are expected to fall short of an October estimate of 7 million units, he said.

Acer president Jim Wong, while not citing sales estimates, expressed similar sentiment … Read more

Acer president Jim Wong said touch-screen laptops will eventually dominate the PC market, although he also warned that Windows 8 may take a while to win over computer users.

Touch-screen laptops -- now just trickling into the market -- will eventually become the dominant laptop design, Wong said in an interview with Taipei-based Digitimes. For instance, he noted internal Acer research showing that after using a product with a touch-screen for more than 20 minutes, users naturally gravitate to touch.

"This indicates that touchscreen control is an irreversible trend," he said.

Wong also had some wry comments for … Read more