June 9 - 11:50am EDT   Computer manufacturer Acer has announced a new LCD monitor, the P244W. The display is being aimed at high-end buyers, and as such measures 24 inches, with support for 16:9 widescreen resolutions up to 1080p (1900x1080). Appropriately the monitor is equipped with an HDMI input, which lets users connect the likes of game consoles and Blu-ray movie players. Regular computer inputs should also be included. [full story]

April 14 - 7:15pm EDT   Hewlett Packard, with some assistance from DreamWorks, is announcing a new technology dubbed "HP DreamColor" that the company says will be a "disruptive" force in the market place. MacNN spoke with Jim Zafarana is Vice President, Worldwide Marketing for Hewlett-Packard Company's Workstation Global Business Unit and Jeff Wood, Director Product Marketing at HP about the new technology, which will purportedly pave the way for displays with accurate, predictable color reproduction at a fraction of the cost of similarly capable monitors and finally offer a transition route to flat-panel displays for graphic design firms (like DreamWorks) that have thus far been stuck with ... [full story]

February 27 - 2:40pm EST   Korean giant LG has developed a new LCD monitor, said to have an abnormally high contrast ratio. Many typical monitors have ratios in the hundreds, or in the thousands in the case of high-end displays like Dell's 3008WFP. LG's unnamed, forthcoming model has a ratio of 10,000:1 however, surpassing in some circumstances the performance of dedicated HDTV sets. The monitor is in fact partly intended for watching movies, though its size is unclear from provided photos. [full story]

February 19 - 12:55pm EST   Dell has begun selling the UltraSharp 2408WFP, its newest LCD monitor. The screen is a companion to the 3008WFP, and is only the second model from Dell to support DisplayPort technology. DisplayPort is a simpler kind of video input that should eventually replace DVI and VGA, and possibly HDMI in some cases, due to an absence of licensing fees. The 2408 in fact supports all of the above connections, as well as component, S-Video and composite inputs. [full story]

January 28 - 4:20pm EST   Display builder NEC has launched the 3-Series, a replacement for its 2-Series line of AccuSync LCD monitors. All of the five monitors in the series have a native resolution of 1280x1024, with a 5ms response time and 300cd/m2 brightness. Major splits begin with a division into 17- and 19-inch sizes, and in the case of the ASLCD73VXM and ASLCD93VXM, the inclusion of built-in speakers. [full story]

January 16 - 6:05pm EST   Samsung today unveiled its new series of 24- and 25.5-inch LCD monitors designed for entertainment and multimedia use. The pair of monitors support resolutions up to 1920 x 1200 with full 1080p HD resolution, HDMI inputs, and built-in multimedia speakers. Built-in multimedia speakers allow users to seamlessly participate in teleconferences or listen to videos and audio presentations without the need to use or purchase separate speakers. Samsung's 2493HM monitor is available for $600, while the 2693HM is priced at $700. [full story]

January 8 - 11:00am EST   Display builder ViewSonic has announced eight new LCD TV sets (not pictured), all from the company's recently-created VTV division. The best-performing models are those in the 90 Series, all of which feature an ATSC/NTSC/QAM tuner, HDMI 1.3 support, and digital noise reduction. Additionally, the 26-, 32-, 42- and 47-inch versions all have a swiveling base, which is omitted for the 52-inch TV. The 26- and 32-inch screens are limited to 720p, but 1,500:1 contrast and 6.5ms response time start at the 32-inch mark, as does the inclusion of three HDMI inputs. 1080p becomes available starting at 42 inches. [full story]

January 8 - 9:25am EST   Continuing a wave of announcements, Samsung has uncovered another version of its Q1 UMPC (pictured), the Q1 Ultra Premium. The machine now runs on a faster 1.33GHz Core Solo processor, and is fitted with 1GB of DDR2 RAM. The lithium-ion battery should now provide 7.5 hours of use instead of 4.5, and the computer's signature split keyboard has been given larger caps for easier typing. Specifications should otherwise remain unchanged, including the default 80GB hard drive, SD/MMC slot, and wireless in the form of 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0. Samsung has not announced a price and release date for the Premium, but the price of other Q1s will drop in order to clear inventory. [full story]

January 7 - 8:05pm EST   ViewSonic has introduced the VP 50 Series -- 22-inch widescreen VP2250wb, 26-inch widescreen VP2650wb and traditional 4:3 19-inch VP950b -- displays, which include up to 110 percent color gamut based on the National Television System Committee (NTSC) guidelines and OptiColor technology for better accuracy and more detailed images in any viewing environment. To compliment the increased color gamut, the displays have quick response time, dynamic contrast ratio and four USB ports. Priced at $380, the VP950b combines 1280x1024 native resolution, 2ms response time, 280 nits of brightness (typ). The VP2250wb, priced at $450 ESP, sports a 1680x1050 native resolution, 2ms ... [full story]

December 14 - 12:55pm EST   Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute has created a thin, flexible, 10.4-inch display, local news reports. Closely resembling e-paper, the ITRI's prototype is actually a new form of cholesteric LCD, with thickness reduced to half at less than 0.4 inches. The flexibility comes from dropping a glass substrate in favor of two plastic ones, which allow the display to curve in unusual directions. The LCD does have two present drawbacks: blank spaces may appear, and its 57 percent NTSC gamut is less than that of conventional desktop monitors. [via DigiTimes] [full story]

December 13 - 12:15pm EST   Apple may be on the verge of updating its Cinema Displays, speculation suggests. The company pulled the stand-alone LCD monitors from prominent mention on its online store Wednesday night, relegating them to the Displays section under Mac Accessories. While Apple may be putting the monitors aside simply to market bigger products during the holidays, the company has also traditionally taken such steps before the release of a product update. [full story]