Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad variety of USB hardware exists, including 14 different connector types, of which USB-C is the most recent.
A webcam is a video camera that feeds or streams an image or video in real time to or through a computer network, such as the Internet. Webcams are typically small cameras that sit on a desk, attach to a user's monitor, or are built into the hardware. Webcams can be used during a video chat session involving two or more people, with conversations that include live audio and video.
Intel Architecture Labs (IAL) was the personal-computer system research-and-development arm of Intel during the 1990s.
A KVM switch is a hardware device that allows a user to control multiple computers from one or more sets of keyboards, video monitors, and mice.
Skype for Business Server is real-time communications server software that provides the infrastructure for enterprise instant messaging, presence, VoIP, ad hoc and structured conferences and PSTN connectivity through a third-party gateway or SIP trunk. These features are available within an organization, between organizations and with external users on the public internet or standard phones.
Microsoft Office Live Meeting is a discontinued commercial subscription-based web conferencing service operated by Microsoft. Live Meeting included software installed on client PCs and used a central server for all clients to connect to. Microsoft now produces Skype for Business which is an enterprise Unified Communications product, that can be rolled out either on-premises or in the cloud.
Polycom, now a part of Plantronics, was an American multinational corporation that develops video, voice and content collaboration and communication technology. Polycom was co-founded in 1990 by Brian L Hinman and Jeffrey Rodman. In 2018 Polycom was acquired by Plantronics and in 2019 the name of the combined entity was changed to Poly.
In computer hardware, a port serves as an interface between the computer and other computers or peripheral devices. In computer terms, a port generally refers to the part of a computing device available for connection to peripherals such as input and output devices. Computer ports have many uses, to connect a monitor, webcam, speakers, or other peripheral devices. On the physical layer, a computer port is a specialized outlet on a piece of equipment to which a plug or cable connects. Electronically, the several conductors where the port and cable contacts connect, provide a method to transfer signals between devices.
A USB phone looks like a traditional telephone, but it has a USB connector instead of an RJ-11. It may be used with most softphones and services like Skype, Sipnet, Sippoint Mini, Net2Phone, MSN Messenger, NetMeeting, Xlite, Skype for Business.
Microsoft PixelSense is an interactive surface computing platform that allows one or more people to use and touch real-world objects, and share digital content at the same time. The PixelSense platform consists of software and hardware products that combine vision based multitouch PC hardware, 360-degree multiuser application design, and Windows software to create a natural user interface (NUI).
Monsoon Multimedia was a company that manufactured, developed and sold video streaming and place-shifting devices that allowed consumers to view and control live television on PCs connected to a local (home) network or remotely from a broadband-connected PC or mobile phone. It was one of 5 major transformations initiated by Prabhat Jain, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with 5 undergraduate and post graduate engineering degrees from Cal Berkeley and Univ of Vienna, Austria. The Place Shifting ecosystem was developed by him and Bhupen Shah while Jain was CEO at Emuzed and Shah worked for him. Later Bhupen teamed up with Blake Krikorian to found Sling Media while Vadim Dagman and Jain founded Monsoon Multimedia-both companies went after the place shifting market. Aware that Monsoon had filed multiple patents, Krikorian bought patents dated earlier than the Monsoon patents, from a Japanese company for $5mi in early 2000. On the even of Cisco acquiring Monsoon in 2017, EchoStar, the new parent of Sling sued Monsoon for patent infringement, having obtained confidential information about the date of the acquisition by Cisco from a Monsoon employee under murky circumstances. Monsoon settled the lawsuit by agreeing not to sell its products in the USA simply because it did not have the legal funds to fight mighty Echostar's legal maneuvers. EchoStar thus successfully removed its only competitor from the market place. This meant Monsoon's death knell.
Document cameras, also known as visual presenters, visualizers, digital overheads, or docucams, are real-time image capture devices for displaying an object to a large audience. Like an opaque projector, a document camera is able to magnify and project the images of actual, three-dimensional objects, as well as transparencies. They are, in essence, high resolution web cams, mounted on arms so as to facilitate their placement over a page. This allows a teacher, lecturer or presenter to write on a sheet of paper or to display a two or three-dimensional object while the audience watches. Theoretically, all objects can be displayed by a document camera. Most objects are simply placed under the camera. The camera takes the picture which in turn produces a live picture using a projector or monitor. Different types of document camera/visualizer allow great flexibility in terms of placement of objects. Larger objects, for example, can simply be placed in front of the camera and the camera rotated as necessary,or a ceiling mounted document camera can also be used to allow a larger working area to be used.
DisplayLink is a semiconductor and software technology company. They develop the DisplayLink USB graphics technology, which is designed to connect computers and displays using USB, Ethernet, and WiFi. It also allows multiple displays to be connected to a single computer. DisplayLink's primary customers are notebook OEMs, LCD monitor manufacturers and PC accessory vendors, supporting the Microsoft Windows, macOS, Android, ChromeOS and Linux operating systems.
Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flight calculations, which can in turn be used to perform real-time gesture recognition and body skeletal detection, among other capabilities. They also contain microphones that can be used for speech recognition and voice control.
PrimeSense was an Israeli 3D sensing company based in Tel Aviv. PrimeSense had offices in Israel, North America, Japan, Singapore, Korea, China and Taiwan. PrimeSense was bought by Apple Inc. for $360 million on November 24, 2013.
The Nokia C6-01 is a Symbian^3 smartphone from the Nokia Cseries. The C6-01 display features comes with a 3.2in AMOLED display with capacitive touchscreen capabilities and Nokia's ClearBlack technology for improved outdoor visibility. The smartphone was released on November 4, 2010 for €260, excluding taxes and subsidies.
The Surface Studio is an all-in-one PC, designed and produced by Microsoft as part of its Surface series of Windows-based personal computing devices. It was announced at the Windows 10 Devices Event on October 26, 2016, with pre-orders beginning that day.
The Surface Studio 2 is an all-in-one PC, designed and produced by Microsoft as part of its Surface series of Windows-based personal computing devices. It was announced at the Windows 10 Devices Event on October 2, 2018, two years after the release of the previous version Surface Studio, with pre-orders beginning that day.
