MicroTouch Systems Inc today launches an electronic whiteboard for personal computers costing $500, which the Tewksbury, Massachusetts company reckons is more than $1,000 less than any of the competition. Ibid, as it’s called connects to a PC serial port and formats whatever is written or drawn on the white board as either a bit map or Windows Metafile. There are a set of icons on the whiteboard for users to select such things as pen color, printing, erasing and saving information. What is drawn on the board is displayed in a Window on the PC, where it can saved and included in other documents. It also has hooks into Intel Corp and other videoconferencing technology. It works by closing the gap between two sheets of carbon, which detects the location of the pressure by measuring the change in voltage. MicroTouch’s profits had been sliding for about a year until its second quarter this year when things started going back the other way. MicroTouch also goes screen touch technology such as Automatic Teller and arcade machines. It’s available now at retail outlets.
