HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015 11-28 3M Local companies offer ever-enhanced screen protection systems PIONEER PRESS 12/9/2015 3M,local companies offer ever-enhanced screen protection systems-TwinCities.com
3M, local companies offer ever-enhanced screen protection systems
Updated:11/28/2015 01:04:38 PM CST Twin Citie s.co m
The screen-cover market has become increasingly competitive.
More and more companies are creating transparent protective overlays for computers and mobile gadgetry—and making all manner of claims
about the benefits.
Screen protection is only the start.
Some of the more exotic covers out there are imbued with such qualities as reduced viewing angles for information privacy, light filtering to
reduce eye strain, and combating germs and other harmful organisms.
Such screen-cover purveyors include three Twin Cities companies—Maplewood-based 3M, Minneapolis-based Healthe and Minnetonka-based
BioArrnor—that are jostling to find a home on tablets, phones, laptops and desktops.
But will consumers buy their claims—and their products?
One of the companies, 3M, arguably makes the most persuasive case.The industrial giant has been selling screen-privacy protectors for
decades, and it continues to augment and improve them.
Such 3M products are easy sells. Seeing, after all, is believing.
Not so the filters from Healthe and BioArmor,with qualities that are not immediately apparent and based on scientific claims that prospective
purchasers must largely take on face value.
BioArmor brags about its protectors'antimicrobial qualities, but makes no medical guarantees.This is potentially a tough sell for skeptical
consumers.
It is no wonder the company also emphasizes how its protectors are physically stronger than those of rival companies,and backs up this claim
with a breakage warranty.
Healthe has a similariy amorphous claim about how its signature screen overiays filter certain kinds of blue light emanating from device displays,
and potentially leading to eye fatigue, disrupted sleep pattems and even long-term retinal damage.
This is all backed up by decades of research about a well-known problem, Healthe emphasizes.The company, though, is only in the beginning
stages of making its case to the general public,with uncertain prospects.
3M PRIVACY PROTECTORS
The products:A wide assortment of screen overiays for laptops, desktops,smartphones and tablets.
Pricing:$18 to$150 and more.
How they work:The screen display is cleariy readable if viewed head on through one of the overlays, but not so 'rf viewed at an angle.
3M compares this to the slats of a window blind,which appear to vanish from sight at particular angles, but impede the view when rotated
upward or downward. 3M refers to this as"louvre"optical technology.
WhaYs the latest?Recent updates include computer filters that tum opaque gold, not the usual dark gray, when viewed from an angle. Such
golden filters are designed primarily for non-touch computer displays and not for smartphone and tablet touch screens.
For mobile�adget users, 3M is just rolling out filters that adhere to screens just as older versions have,and provide the same privacy features,
but are thinner to allow for better touch interaction.
Most 3M privacy filters are add-on accessories, but the company recently announced a deal with HP to incorporate the louvre tech into some
laptop models. Details on this development are scarce at the moment.
Background reading:To demonstrate the ease with which sensitive corporate information can be stolen through "visual hacking,"3M
commissioned a covert experiment with an undercover"white hat hacker"bitly.com/visualhacking.
More information:bitly.com/3Mprivacy.
Find Julio Ojeda-Zapata at ojezap.com.