AV, Presentation & Display

New Device Can Turn a TV Into a Whiteboard

• By Michael Hart
• 06/28/16

Incorporating touch technology, a new device can turn any flat-screen television or monitor into an interactive display. The Touchjet Wave was first introduced to the consumer market at International CES in January. It was introduced to the education market during ISTE's annual conference taking place this week in Denver.

The Wave is a device that hooks on to the top of a television and turns it into a giant Android tablet. It connects to any TV with HDMI and uses a mix of infrared technology, sensors and what Touchjet calls its Light Processing Unit (LPU) to track finger movements on the screen. A camera and dual-stereo microphones for video chats can also be added.

The Touchjet Wave uses its own launcher on top of Android KitKat and offers full access to the Google Play Store.

"Wave empowers educators in collaborative learning classrooms as they seek to help their students gain a deeper understanding of content, improve teamwork skills and take ownership of their learning," said Touchjet CEO Helen Thomas.

Wave will be available for $299 beginning in July.

Touchjet is one of the startup companies selected by the State Educational Technology Directors Association to take part in its fourth annual Emerging Technologies Forum, going on at the same time as the ISTE conference.

At last year's ISTE conference, Touchjet introduced Pond, an ultra-portable projector that can display images as wide as 80 inches on any surface, allowing teachers and students to interact directly with photos, videos, games and presentations. Pond weighs just 9 ounces and can fit in the palm of your hand.