When in public, hiding information currently on your display may be a big concern for many, but solutions to counter these nosey bypassers have yet to be commonly used. HP has announced that they are exploring technologies to restrict this type of behavior, by introducing ‘privacy displays’ in collaboration with 3M.
In the modern age, a large majority of our sensitive data is being stored digitally, therefore when accessing personal information, privacy can become a major concern. Currently, details are sparse on the matter, however, we have been assured that these displays will be introduced by mid-2016, natively with select HP laptops.
The company plans to rollout these screens as a standard feature of their devices, with the option to toggle the setting via a keyboard shortcut. This will bring instant switching between a standard display and an alterative with a smaller viewing cone. Current solutions, such as 3M"s own privacy screen protectors can be tedious, and for those who collaborate with colleagues on a regular basis, the physical protector isn’t a viable option. It is likely we will see this technology in action over the coming months, and expansions to a wider range of platforms following.
HP, alongside a majority of other manufacturers, are being required to introduce new hardware features, to distinguish themselves in the modern PC market. Since the announcement of the Windows 10"s free upgrade, new PC sales have massively declined, therefore groundbreaking new attributes, alongside hardware to support new Windows 10 features are key selling points for a majority of consumers.
Source: HP via Engadget | Image of man using laptop via Shutterstock