Posts made in July 2nd, 2009

InFocus Liteboard – an IWB replacement?

Posted on Jul 2, 2009 in Conferences, Hardware | 3 comments

I’ve seen a few IWB-replacement gadgets over the years, but these normally rely on setting up some kind of alternative gadget to pick up pen movement – such as the ebeam, or a camera placed somewhere in the room. All of these needed calibration and extra devices, and are just plain cumbersome. Good for a mobile system, but not really an IWB replacement for a classroom.

But this video shows something very interesting indeed using a new InFocus projector, and nothing else….

Texas Instruments’ Marshall Capps, Software Systems Engineer, shows off DLP’s new interactive projector technology at the NECC exhibition. InFocus announced a product based on this technology called LiteBoard™. Currently undergoing beta testing, LiteBoard™ will be available by the end of the year

Consisting of the LiteBoard projector and special pen/wand, the system will work on any surface—wall, screen, whiteboard, etc.—so there’s no need to mount an inteactive whiteboard hardware.

The wand works by detecting patterns in the projected image that the human eye cannot see, communicating with the projector over a radio frequency to triangulate exactly where the user is pointing.

All information is passed to the computer in the same way as any other mouse/pointer device – so you could use this on any software.

The InFocus LiteBoard is expected to be available in two versions–the IN3902LB and IN3904LB interactive systems–in the fourth quarter of this year. Pricing has not yet been announced, although InFocus said it will released additional details in the near future.

I like the idea of this – there’s no need for additional devices to be stuck to the wall, or relying on a camera device that can get easily knocked and need realigning. Apparently the inFocus system needs no alignment at all.

I’d be interested to see how it copes with the shadow of the user, I would assume that stops it working? So like most boards you’d still need to adjust your writing style so you can get round that.

Would be useful with open-source IWB software, or couple this with the forthcoming Smart Notebook Express or ActivInspire – interesting thought.

Smart Notebook for all IWB Users?

Posted on Jul 2, 2009 in Interactive Whiteboards, SMARTboards, Software | 0 comments

I wrote back in the Spring about how Promethean were changing the nature of the IWB market with a change in the way their ActivInspire software was licenced so that you could use a cut-down version on other brands of Interactive Whiteboard.

Well it looks as though Smart are now following along similar lines with the release of Smart Notebook Express.

Smart Notebook Express will be released in the Autumn and will allow anyone to access Smart Notebook resources “regardless of operating system, file type or brand of interactive whiteboard”.

It’s not yet clear just how cut-down this version of the software will be and just how much you will be able to interact with the Notebook files – will you be able to move things/rub things out etc? Or is it just a viewer?

In some ways it sounds similar to the old Smart Notebook Student Edition (or the Smart Notebook Viewer) which will let you open and use Smart Notebook files on any IWB. Previously this was technically possible, but if you did it without owning a Smartboard then you were in breach of the license.

It does sound like a great idea – and will mean that users of *cough* “lesser” whiteboards such as Hitachi/Starboards can finally access a wealth of useful Smartboard (and Promethean) content on their boards.

As well as the new Smart Notebook Express, Smart will be relaunching their Smart Exchange with a better search and possibly new resources. The press release states; “SMART expects to have 10,000 high-quality resources by the fall”

All of which is good news for Smartboard users, and also for users of all IWB’s. Promethean users can legally use Smart Notebook resources, Smart users can already now use Promethean resources. And other brands of board will finally get a bank of useful stuff from both Smart and Promethean that they can use.

So it’s a win-win situation as far as I can tell. Keep an eye out for the release in the Autumn, and as soon as I hear about it, I’ll alert you all here on the Whiteboard Blog.