During the opening keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, Panasonic® Corporation announced the development of a new "4K Tablet" with a 20-inch 4K IPS Alpha LCD and a high precision pen. It is expected to enhance the way Architects, Engineers and Construction (AEC) professionals view and interact with digital drawings. Targeted to become available later this year, the tablet's 20-inch IPS Alpha LCD panel contains more than four times the resolution of Full High Definition. It leverages the touch capabilities of Windows 8 and includes a high precision digital pen for making notes on the panel's screen. Lightweight and less than an half inch thick, the tablet is slim, portable and represents the future of design review, bid, estimation, RFI response, and plan room access to drawing sets.
To help introduce this new technology to the AEC industry and demonstrate its endless possibilities, Panasonic is collaborating with Bluebeam® Software, a leading developer of PDF-based collaboration solutions for the design and construction industry, for R&D, product testing, and promotion.
"The upcoming 4K Panasonic tablet emulates the way design and construction professionals interact with printed drawings while giving users an incredibly high resolution view, making it simple to migrate from paper-based to digital workflows," said Bob Dobbins, Vice President, Corporate Planning & Strategic Initiatives at Panasonic Corporation of North America. "The potential of this technology is magnified when combined with the power of Bluebeam's PDF-based markup and collaboration solutions for the design and construction industry."
"When we first saw the prototype for the 4K tablet, we were blown away by the opportunities this device will offer project teams in the office and at the jobsite," said Richard Lee, CEO and President at Bluebeam Software. "We are excited to work with Panasonic and lend our knowledge and expertise of the AEC industry to bring this must-have technology to AEC professionals everywhere."
Bluebeam Software's flagship product, Revu®, is an award-winning PDF creation, markup and collaboration solution used by the world's top architecture, engineering and construction firms to digitally share and review project information. Revu enables users to electronically redline 2D and 3D PDFs with industry-standard markups and measurements, track all comments in an integrated Markups list, compare drawing revisions, store project files in the cloud and collaborate with others in real time. +
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
University of Florida aiming for nation’s first LEED Platinum parking garage
If all goes as planned, the University of Florida’s new $20 million Southwest Parking Garage Complex in Gainesville will soon become the first parking facility in the country to earn LEED Platinum status. Designed by the Boca Raton office of PGAL to meet criteria for the highest LEED certification category, the garage complex includes a six-level, 313,000-sf parking garage (927 spaces) and an attached, 10,000-sf, two-story transportation and parking services office building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Draft NIST report on Cowboys practice facility collapse released for public comment
A fabric-covered, steel frame practice facility owned by the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys collapsed under wind loads significantly less than those required under applicable design standards, according to a report released today for public comment by the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
| Aug 11, 2010
Callison, MulvannyG2 among nation's largest retail design firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 75 Retail Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
USGBC honors Brad Pitt's Make It Right New Orleans as the ‘largest and greenest single-family community in the world’
U.S. Green Building Council President, CEO and Founding Chair Rick Fedrizzi today declared that the neighborhood being built by Make It Right New Orleans, the post-Katrina housing initiative launched by actor Brad Pitt, is the “largest and greenest community of single-family homes in the world” at the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York.
| Aug 11, 2010
AIA report estimates up to 270,000 construction industry jobs could be created if the American Clean Energy Security Act is passed
With the encouragement of Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) conducted a study to determine how many jobs in the design and construction industry could be created if the American Clean Energy Security Act (H.R. 2454; also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill) is enacted.
| Aug 11, 2010
Architect Michael Graves to be inducted into the N.J. Hall of Fame
Architect Michael Graves of Princeton, N.J., being inducted into the N.J. Hall of Fame.
| Aug 11, 2010
Modest rebound in Architecture Billings Index
Following a drop of nearly three points, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) nudged up almost two points in February. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending.
| Aug 11, 2010
Architecture firms NBBJ and Chan Krieger Sieniewicz announce merger
NBBJ, a global architecture and design firm, and Chan Krieger Sieniewicz, internationally-known for urban design and architecture excellence, announced a merger of the two firms.
