Hope you like...January LCD monitor production for top PC and monitor brands about 85% of the market was 12.5 M, the highest level in more than a year, as noted in the newly announced DisplaySearch Monthly Desktop Monitor Brand and OEM Production Report. Additionally, near-term production build-plans show that March could be the highest monthly production of LCD monitors on record, reaching over 12.9M.
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The Iphone pointed out the direction and the rest of the industry is eager to follow. The touchscreens are coming! It’s not that new of course. Touchscreens have been around for some time in ATMs and similar applications. But now with the launch of Windows 7 the road is paved. Many of the major brands have already launched notebooks with touchscreens. I just can’t help but wonder what the glossy screen will look like after a few hours…
One real highlight this year was the Society for Information Display conference in San Antonio, USA. For all of us display fanatics this conference is the place to be when it comes to new innovations and product development. Some very interesting new products were all those with electronic ink which are readable in daylight. Several new OLED displays where also on show, some thin as paper, still with excellent colour, brightness and response time. Just take a look at this driver’s license, with an OLED display from Samsung, showing a film of the head of the person rotating instead of a static photo.
TCO’s motion blur study
Also at SID, a TCO funded user study on motion blur was presented. The purpose of the study was to identify a level of motion blur (blur created by moving images on a screen) that is comfortable for the average user. The results will be the base for a new standard for motion blur in the next revision of TCO Certified displays. More information at ww.tcodevelopment.com
The buzz word within the ICT industry has during the last 18th month been Green IT and now it seems the trend it moving to include another buzz word; Sustainable IT. This trend is of course very positive.
In the discussions of Green IT so far there has been a lot talk about lower energy consumption. Low energy consumption is an important factor to reduce the CO2 emissions, but focusing only on lower energy consumption for a computer display can mean lower image quality.
It’s simple – a product with high performance and good usability has a longer life span and is less likely to enter the waste stream prematurely. This is another important environmental aspect that we unfortunately not see too much of in the discussion of Green IT or Sustainable IT.
No trade off between usability and environment
My point is that truly sustainable ICT products also must include the aspect of usability. A product that performs well and has low energy consumptions as well as low levels of hazardous substances is the best choice for the environment. Therefore there should not be any trade off between usability and environment aspects for ICT products!
What about products that don’t work if yoy try to be climate smart?
Last week I had a personal experience of usability vs. environmental aspects when I tried to be climate smart by switching off the printer at home. The printer is in standby mode 24 hours a day. Standby means less energy consumption but still it consumes energy, therefore I switched it off. The pleasure of a silent office and a good environmental conscience was on top when the printer was off. However there were no feelings of pleasure the next day when I was going to print a document. I had switched the printer on again, the control panel showed that the document was in the line for getting printed and that the printer was connected – but I did not get the document printed! This doubly frustrating – firstly for not being able to get my documents printed and sceondly, that I unnecessarily cause CO2 emissions because the printer doesn’t work if I switch it off properly.
Do you have similar experience of technology that makes it impossible to combine usability and environmental aspects? Let me know.
Make your comment here, or e-mail: birgitta.halvarsson@tco.se
