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
| Nov 2, 2010
Energy Analysis No Longer a Luxury
Back in the halcyon days of 2006, energy analysis of building design and performance was a luxury. Sure, many forward-thinking AEC firms ran their designs through services such as Autodesk’s Green Building Studio and IES’s Virtual Environment, and some facility managers used Honeywell’s Energy Manager and other monitoring software. Today, however, knowing exactly how much energy your building will produce and use is survival of the fittest as energy costs and green design requirements demand precision.
| Nov 2, 2010
Yudelson: ‘If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green’
Jerry Yudelson, prolific author and veteran green building expert, challenges Building Teams to think big when it comes to controlling energy use and reducing carbon emissions in buildings.
| Nov 2, 2010
Historic changes to commercial building energy codes drive energy efficiency, emissions reductions
Revisions to the commercial section of the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) represent the largest single-step efficiency increase in the history of the national, model energy. The changes mean that new and renovated buildings constructed in jurisdictions that follow the 2012 IECC will use 30% less energy than those built to current standards.
| Nov 1, 2010
Sustainable, mixed-income housing to revitalize community
The $41 million Arlington Grove mixed-use development in St. Louis is viewed as a major step in revitalizing the community. Developed by McCormack Baron Salazar with KAI Design & Build (architect, MEP, GC), the project will add 112 new and renovated mixed-income rental units (market rate, low-income, and public housing) totaling 162,000 sf, plus 5,000 sf of commercial/retail space.
| Nov 1, 2010
John Pearce: First thing I tell designers: Do your homework!
John Pearce, FAIA, University Architect at Duke University, Durham, N.C., tells BD+C’s Robert Cassidy about the school’s construction plans and sustainability efforts, how to land work at Duke, and why he’s proceeding with caution when it comes to BIM.
| Nov 1, 2010
Vancouver’s former Olympic Village shoots for Gold
The first tenants of the Millennium Water development in Vancouver, B.C., were Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games. Now the former Olympic Village, located on a 17-acre brownfield site, is being transformed into a residential neighborhood targeting LEED ND Gold. The buildings are expected to consume 30-70% less energy than comparable structures.
| Oct 27, 2010
Grid-neutral education complex to serve students, community
MVE Institutional designed the Downtown Educational Complex in Oakland, Calif., to serve as an educational facility, community center, and grid-neutral green building. The 123,000-sf complex, now under construction on a 5.5-acre site in the city’s Lake Merritt neighborhood, will be built in two phases, the first expected to be completed in spring 2012 and the second in fall 2014.
| Oct 21, 2010
GSA confirms new LEED Gold requirement
The General Services Administration has increased its sustainability requirements and now mandates LEED Gold for its projects.
| Oct 18, 2010
World’s first zero-carbon city on track in Abu Dhabi
Masdar City, the world’s only zero-carbon city, is on track to be built in Abu Dhabi, with completion expected as early as 2020. Foster + Partners developed the $22 billion city’s master plan, with Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Aedas, and Lava Architects designing buildings for the project’s first phase, which is on track to be ready for occupancy by 2015.
