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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday October 27 2016, @01:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the coming-to-a-conference-room-near-you dept.

Google has announced Jamboard, a 55-inch 4K touchscreen not unlike Microsoft's Surface Hub. In fact, Microsoft's version of the interactive whiteboard concept comes in two sizes - 84 inches (2160p) and 55 inches (1080p):

Tools like handwriting and shape help streamline the process and worked quite well in my own hands-on time with the product. The board also has 16 levels of pressure sensitive touch and nice little animations that bring small things like erasing to life, as you watch the text flake and fall off the display. The system runs on a highly specialized version of Android that features a built in browser and Google Maps among other features, along with opening it up to potential third-party apps. It also has Google Cast built in, so you can also use it as a big video display, complete with speakers that face down into the magnetic tray that holds the styli and eraser. The speakers, from what I heard aren't great, but they're plenty loud and will do the trick with teleconferencing audio. You can also just use the built-in Bluetooth to run it all through a speaker.

[...] All of the collaboration occurs in real-time, making it possible to monitor the board on a mobile device with minimal latency. And once a project is finished, it can be shared with the team as a PNG or PDF. [...] The board can be mounted to a wall or users can choose to buy the optional stand. All said, it should run less than $6,000 when it launches next year.


Original Submission

Related Stories

Microsoft Announces Surface Hub 2: One (50.5-Inch) Size Fits All 10 comments

Microsoft's Surface Hub 2 is designed for an office of the future

Microsoft is unveiling the next-generation of its giant conference room displays today: Surface Hub 2. While the original Surface Hub shipped in 2016 with 1080p 55-inch and 4K 84-inch options, the Surface Hub 2 will use a 50.5-inch display with a greater than 4K resolution and 3:2 aspect ratio with extremely thin bezels. That's the same ratio as all other Surface products, and Microsoft has clearly picked this to compliment the fact its giant display now rotates to a portrait position.

[...] While it's still based on Windows 10, Microsoft is working on a new dynamic collaboration scenario that will allow multiple people to walk up to the Surface Hub 2, log into the device using the built-in fingerprint reader and then each pull their own work into a single collaborative document. Most of the software will be optimized for Microsoft Teams, and far-field microphones and 4K cameras will allow you to make video calls in portrait mode that make it feel like you're standing next to a colleague.

[...] Microsoft says pricing will be in line with similar competitive devices, which could mean we'll see a more aggressive price point to counter Google's own digital whiteboard. Microsoft has already sold Surface Hubs to more than 5,000 businesses in 25 countries. More than half of Fortune 100 companies already own a Surface Hub, and it's the most popular Surface device for enterprise customers. By simplifying to a single display size (50.5-inch) with the Surface Hub 2, the hardware should be easier to manufacture. Microsoft has struggled to manufacture Surface Hub devices to meet demand, and the company closed its US manufacturing plant last year, presumably to cut costs and speed up production elsewhere.

Related: Google's "Jamboard" Takes on the Giant Touchscreen Workplace Niche


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 2) by FunkyLich on Thursday October 27 2016, @02:20PM

    by FunkyLich (4689) on Thursday October 27 2016, @02:20PM (#419413)

    Because one so much needs a blackboard/whiteboard/papersheetboard which instead is a giant touchscreen monitor. One didn't know how much was missing until this product came along, making possible collaboration through the cloud - which is the new buzzword in fashion and the solution* to all needs.

    *) solution - an abstract notion of how some problem can be overcome or avoided, which could potentially require training of staff and new hardware and software to make possible that the abstract notions are transformed into real world well defined actions.

    • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday October 27 2016, @03:27PM

      by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday October 27 2016, @03:27PM (#419434) Homepage
      Yeah, but "nice little animations that bring small things like erasing to life, as you watch the text flake and fall off the display" brings back memories of a DOS virus from the early 90s, which makes an old fogie like me feel all fuzzy inside.
      --
      Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Friday October 28 2016, @12:23PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Friday October 28 2016, @12:23PM (#419809)

        Speaking of memories of the 90s its basically the trek TNG UI. Knock two zeros off the price and I'd line my hallways with it.

        Note that HDTV screens are cheaper than windows (probably because of ever increasing standards for window insulation.

        One of my long term "spare time" projects is implementing some rather elaborate wall displays, digital pix frames as they're supposed to be. I've done little so far other than figure out device lifetime and MTBF is too low, but someday...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @05:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @05:08PM (#419485)

      I'm sure there are some niche markets for this, but the majority of the usage will probably be for video conferencing and a large screen for meeting agendas. Basically nothing that can't be done with a big screen and a wireless point/click device such as a wii remote.

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:07PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:07PM (#419507)

        We just got a big 4k 65" screen for the conf room. At under $1k installed, that leaves a lot of budget for dry-erase boards, pens and uploading pictures compared to this.

        We might justify one of these when the price drops to under a thousand bucks, because of the amount of drawing and searching we do every time we talk.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 28 2016, @10:29AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 28 2016, @10:29AM (#419787)

      Things like this are good for scrum boards and the like. You get the physical action while maintaining the advantages of having everything tracked, recorded, and data mined (something you do want to do when managing projects). It also lets you keep everything in sync with another office if your dev team is split up or if one worker is working from home or whatever.

      An internet connection is needed for a lot of that, but that connection doesn't (and shouldn't) be shoved through a cloud service. If they do that, then you're justified in whining about it.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @04:40PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @04:40PM (#419470)

    And this whiteboard will need to be connected to the internet for what exactly? (because, trust me, it will need to be)

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Thursday October 27 2016, @05:12PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday October 27 2016, @05:12PM (#419488) Journal

      Teleconferencing, collaboration, web browsing, Google Docs/storage.

      Sure, you don't like it, but that was a dumb question.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by fubari on Thursday October 27 2016, @05:51PM

      by fubari (4551) on Thursday October 27 2016, @05:51PM (#419501)

      r.e. connected to the internet for what?
      How about for denial of service attacks? Weak Device Security Turns IoT Into Powerful Weapon in DDoS Attacks [eweek.com]

      Ok, seriously now :-)
      I would love to have a virtual whiteboard to work with people (face to face, and remote).
      $6,000 seems just bit expensive, but I'm guessing most of the cost is in the display and that cost will come down over time.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:20PM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday October 27 2016, @06:20PM (#419515) Journal

        It is cheaper than Microsoft's initial pricing, which was $9,000 for a 55-inch 1080p screen, and $22,000 for an 84-inch 2160p screen.

        By contrast, Google's is "under $6,000" for a 55-inch 2160p screen.

        It's a price that a lot of businesses and conference rooms could justify (or waste money on).

        The computing elements would likely be priced up to $1,500-$2,000 (a non-sale expensive desktop price, or gaming computer) while the screen itself seems like a $500 item, although the touch capability adds to that. I'd expect to pay no less than $3,000 for this thing unless it "fell" off the back of a truck.

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        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 2) by fubari on Saturday October 29 2016, @06:05AM

          by fubari (4551) on Saturday October 29 2016, @06:05AM (#420057)

          Agreed. Works well for traditional office space. A little spendy still for my "home office" space, but something I'll keep an eye on.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @07:08PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27 2016, @07:08PM (#419530)

    Keep fondling it

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by iamjacksusername on Thursday October 27 2016, @08:50PM

    by iamjacksusername (1479) on Thursday October 27 2016, @08:50PM (#419558)

    Google needs to follow through with at least one of the many products they have released that are not search. I deployed Google Apps for customers a few years ago and am now migrating them off the platform because it is a joke product for any company that is not tech focused. It is one of those mea culpa momnents I have had with clients. The tech works "maybe" and, if you reach out for support, they just eventually fall back on "use the Chrome extension" or "we will submit it as a enhancement request." No, the 60 year old receptionist who sometimes gets confused about how to turn on her computer is not going to "just use the Chrome extension" to setup a conference call.

    I know this seems unrelated but my point is I cannot get excited about anything Google released because it it is always unfinished, half-assed and eventually abandoned. It is not worth the effort to learn how to do something, document all the issues for roll-out, package it for deployment and then have Google decide they are not going to use it anymore. There is a reason why their XMPP gateways still work for IM after umpteen different chat clients.

    With a disciplined project leader Google could have had a real hosted-app stack for the small and medium businesses. Instead, they have a mish-mash of unfinished products that work together only reluctantly and whose use case cannot be articulated in dollars and cents. They have a bunch of statements about how they are "Ready to work with G Suite customers." Where are the tech articles explaining the nuts and bolts of how everything from authentication to certificate provisioning work? I know it is a pre-release program, but the tech groups who will most likely be the ones evaluating these units need this information to determine if it is even possible to deploy.

    This kind of fire-and-forget seems endemic to Google and has not changed since it became Alphabet. Sorry for the rant. I may have had a difficult day Google Apps...