May 2015

With rugged tablets being used in more and more applications, there's often a need for specialized, customized on-screen keyboards. IMG has been offering just that with their My-T-Soft keyboards, panels and boards for the past two decades. The company also offers a variety of powerful pen and touch utilities that can greatly improve the productivity of tablet-based applications. [See IMG's Build-A-Board board browser page]

ARBOR launches rugged 21.5-inch All-in-One medical station
ARBOR Technology introduced the ARBOR M2150 medical-grade workstation. Based on Intel Haswell processors, the fanless All-in-One system offers 10-point capacitive multi-touch that works with gloves, has 7 configurable function keys, an IP65-rated front panel with easy anti-bacterial cleaning, VESA mount hole patterns, camera, USB 3.0 and serial, RFID/NFC reader, and dual smart card readers for access control. [See media release and ARBOR M2150 product page] -- Posted Tuesday, May 12, 2015 by chb

Review: Logic Supply Cincoze Convertible Display System
The idea behind Logic Supply's modular Cincoze Crystal Industrial Convertible Display is to offer a far larger number of possible Panel PC configurations than would be possible if the company had to build and stock all possible permutations of display type/size, touch technology, and performance/feature levels. RuggedPCReview examined the concept and execution of the system in detail. [See review of the Logic Supply Cincoze Crystal 15] -- Posted Monday, May 11, 2015 by chb

Full review: GammaTech Durabook R11
GammaTech views their Durabook R11 as part of a new class of fully rugged high-performance tablets for use in the field and in harsh environments, one that is lightweight, versatile, has a large display, and represents state-of-the-art technology. Can this elegant 11.6-inch, Haswell Core i5-powered Windows tablet that looks just as sleek and slick as a consumer tablet deliver? [See full review of the GammaTech Durabook R11] -- Posted Tuesday, May 5, 2015 by chb

Microsoft buys N-trig "technology and talent"
For a very long time, anyone wanting an active pen on a tablet essentially had their choice of either Wacom or N-trig, which is based in Israel, with the Wacom pen having the advantage of not needing a battery. Microsoft, however, had switched from Wacom to N-trig for their Surface 3 tablets. In February 2015, Reuters reported that Microsoft was buying privately held N-trig, which was gearing up for a public offering, for at least $200 million. Apparently that didn't happen, but now the Wall Street Journal says Microsoft is buying N-trig's assets for just $30 million. Microsoft has a history of buying pen related technology, such as aha! Inkwriter that became Microsoft Journal, and the Paragraph recognition engine, parts of which live on within Windows. [See Microsoft Surface Blog] -- Posted Saturday, May 2, 2015 by chb