AOC introduces new LCD monitors

Taiwan-based Admiral Overseas Corp., maker of the top selling AOC widescreen LCD monitors, updated its product portfolio in the country with the introduction of the AOC 36 series.

All the 36 Series models — 936Sw 19-inch widescreen, 2236Vw 22-inch widescreen and 2436Vw 24-inch widescreen — feature a high dynamic contrast ratio of 60000:1 to show images’ finest details and depth and soft-touch control keys that are part of the exterior’s streamlined shell texture design.

The new 36 Series complements AOC’s existing line of LCD monitors that were launched in the market a year ago.

Although 16-inch LCD monitors still have the lion share of the local market, AOC executives believe consumers are also becoming more discerning in finding the best value display technology that they also look beyond aesthetics and price, said Richard Ching, chief operating officer of Glee Electronics Inc., the official Philippine distributor of AOC monitors.

The fact also that there has been a shortage of 16-inch LCD monitor in Asia during the last three months opens an opportunity for Glee to make a stronger push for the 19-inch and bigger models.

Ula Ladrillo of Glee said AOC aims to get a quarter of the local market share and end its race with Samsung for the No. 1 brand.

The new 36 Series has won the EPEAT Gold Award for setting the highest standards in “green” monitors. EPEAT is a system that evaluates electronic products through its environmental attributes so that purchasers may be able to assess their respective product choices.

AOC monitors require low energy consumption. When switched to Power Saving mode, they only use 50 percent of the power, thus saving up to 104,000W per year. Using a 936Sw model, for example, can save up to 75 percent in electricity compared to CRT monitors.

Meanwhile, AOC’s market leading i-Bright technology reduces backlight CCFL for lower power consumption and less mercury substance.

All three new models feature a USB connector and D-sub and DVI-D inputs. The 22-inch model is also wall-mountable, while the 24-inch model has a movable glass that adds a layer of protection to the screen.

The 936Sw costs P7,499; the 2236Vw, P8,999; and the 2436Vw, P10,399. All AOC monitors are available from nearly 800 Glee dealers nationwide.

Philips enters local LCD monitor market

A monitor fit to be my window to the world.”

This is how Philips wants consumers to regard its line of high-definition multimedia displays as it officially enters the Philippine LCD market.

A household name all over the world, Philips is confident it can quickly make a dent in the existing local market given the strength of its brand and the proven quality of its products.

To start off Philips is making available its E-line of LCD monitors targeted for home and multimedia savvy users. The E-line series is available in 16-inch, 19-inch, and 22-inch wide-screen formats with glossy finish and is Windows Vista-ready.

All three models are equipped with Philips SmartContrast, a video processing technology combined with unique extreme dimming and backlight boosting capability resulting in vibrant images.

Company executives also did a media preview of the Philips LightFrame LCD monitor that features a front screen bezel illuminated by a blue light designed to reduce eye fatigue.

Scientists looking to lessen the effects of jet lag found that light plays a major role in the body’s sense of well-being. Philips LightFrame monitor was conceived on this widely accepted scientific tenet that blue light passed through the eye’s receptor energizes viewers and enhances their performance.

Putting to work Philips’ leadership in ambient lighting, Philips Innovation Lab transformed the research to a practical product — a new generation of LCD monitors with screens that are surrounded by blue light-emitting modules. The light is said to help relax the user by lessening eye fatigue even after an extended period in front of the computer.

Among the Philips Brilliance range of monitors, the LightFrame monitor will also be made available in the Philippines sometime soon along with Philips’ professional line of LCD monitors, said Benjamin Wong, director and general manager of MMD Singapore, the exclusive marketer and seller of Philips branded LCD displays worldwide.

Meanwhile, MMD appointed Glee Electronics as the official local distributor of Philips LCD monitors.

Glee also distributes AOC monitors, which is a sister brand of Philips as they share the same manufacturer, TPV, which wholly owns MMD.

Jason Cheng, president and CEO of Glee Electronics, said they will be providing separate product teams for Philips and AOC but all their 28 service centers nationwide will be at the beck and call of customers of both brands should they need technical support.

Cheng likens Philips and AOC to Audi and Volkswagen cars that appeal to two different types of consumers due to their respective costs. In this regard, he sees no problem carrying two different brands of monitors as they have their own markets, he said.

Powering LCD screens and cellphones wirelessly

Eric Giler of Witricity demonstrated a wondrous magic trick: the ability to power an LCD screen and three different cellphones using no wires. "Let's face it, wires suck," Giler said at TEDGlobal. "Batteries also suck." The day is coming when Witricity's technology, known as resonant energy, or technologies closely related to it, will allow us to chuck those annoying tethers and cut way back on the 40 million disposable batteries manufactured every year.

Witricity's technology involves running high-frequency, alternating current into one magnetic coil and tuning a nearby coil to the exact same frequency. This allows the coils to couple their magnetic fields and share power. It's not dangerous. Giler has had requests for his technology from all the usual suspects, such as consumer electronics makers, the military and medical devices manufacturers, and he's also had interest from a company that makes electrically heated dog bowls. We don't want a pup to chew into a live wire. That would suck.

Hot Fusion In 25 years

The advent of fusion power has been a long-deferred dream of nuclear physicists, and its potential for limitless energy (the sun is a fusion reactor) has spawned much hype and wackiness. Its potential as a carbon-free source of energy has also brought it into the circle of the climate-anxious. But we're getting closer, and real fusion power has been generated more than a few times in the laboratories. The only problem is that a sustained reaction to produce base-load power requires temperatures in the range of 150 million degrees Fahrenheit.

TED presenter Steve Cowley, a plasma physicist and director of the Culham Science Centre of the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, says we will have fusion power and he puts its arrival date some time in the 2030s. His is the hot fusion kind; Cowley totally dismissed the fantasies of tabletop cold fusion, which others insist can be feasible.

The attractiveness of hot fusion is that its raw material is the widely abundant lithium, which is used to make the deuterium and tritium atoms that get smashed together at those temperatures. The nice part about putting fusion in our future is that it offers permanent energy security without carbon's ill effects. While we may have only a few hundred years or so left of oil and gas in the Earth, according to Cowley, and only a thousand years of uranium using today's reactor technologies, we have 50 million years of lithium in sea water.

Cowley and his Culham center is a big part of the international research consortium that is aiming at completing the $13 billion experimental thermonuclear reactor in the south of France. Nearer term, the Culham center will once again fire up the JET, or Joint European Torus, its smaller experimental reactor in 2013 and break some more records for heat and power. Its last fusion reaction produced 16 megawatts for about a second, but required more than a gigawatt to do so. Clearly, there's room for improvement, but plasma physicists measure their progress in decades.