The technophiles, especially Apple groupies, have been eagerly waiting for (and speculating about) the official announcement about Apple’s new tablet computer. Today, Steve Jobs, along with a slew of Apple executives and developers, unveiled the iPad. With a starting price of $499, this sleek tablet could make a big impact on the AV industry.

A few uses:

• In conference rooms instead of significantly-more-expensive touch panel displays (with the right software- perhaps with the newly released Crestron XPanel for Mac?)
• In classrooms replacing textbooks, scientific calculators, pocket translators, calendars and desktop computers with one device
• For presenters, iWork – Keynote allows users to present natively by connecting to a projector

What other uses can you think of?

For more information about the iPad, click here.

Users Can Make or Receive Telephone Calls from Select Modero Touch Panels

AMX®, a leader in providing simplified solutions in the audio/visual control industry, unveils its Telephone/Intercom Integration Package, enabling users to make and receive local, long distance and international calls from selected Modero® touch panels with the AMX SIP Gateway.

AMX has added new telephone features including Caller ID, Call waiting, Call groups, one-touch dialing, and voicemail, as well as access to local and shared address books from the touch panel and SIP Gateway, respectively. Customers are welcome to use their existing telephone service and simply add the SIP Gateway to take advantage of these enhanced calling features. The technology is seamless to the customer and is as simple as pressing an on-screen icon to initiate or receive a call. The enhanced touch panels also deliver PBX functionality to homes or small offices and allow telephone access via VoIP and/or analog telephone lines.

Select Modero touch panels now support full motion JPEG offering at least 24 frames per second and enhanced scalability of full motion JPEG video. The SIP Gateway supports up to 50 telephony devices including analog phones, SIP phones and these selected Modero intercom-enabled touch panels:

• 5.2″ Modero ViewPoint Touch Panel with Intercom (MVP-5200i)
• 8.4″ Modero ViewPoint Touch Panel with Intercom (MVP-8400i)
• 10″ Modero Wall/Flush Mount Touch Panel with Intercom (NXD-1000Vi)
• 7″ Modero Wall/Flush Mount Touch Panel with Intercom (NXD-700Vi)
• 5″ Modero Wall/Flush Mount Touch Panel (NXD-500i)

Click here to view our line-up of AMX products. »