SMART Technologies says their SMART Sympodium L-150 interactive lectern, which we previewed on June 19, will ship in September.
Built for lecture halls, auditoriums and conference centers, this interactive lectern — which has a suggested list price of US$7,999 — creates a dynamic environment that allows presenters to face their audience, present material using various multimedia tools, annotate over top of applications in electronic ink and save these notes in a single file. It features all the interactive functions and annotation capabilities of the SMART Board interactive whiteboard, SMART’s flagship product.
The lectern uses SMART Board software, of which a Mac OS X version is in the works. The new software will allow Mac OS X to integrate with the company’s family of interactive whiteboards that include SMART Board, Rear Projection SMART Board and SMART Board for Plasma Displays models. Users can control computer applications simply by pressing on the interactive whiteboard’s touch-sensitive surface, or they can write over top of any application using either their finger or a pen from the SMART Pen Tray.
SMART Board software for Mac OS X should be available in beta form within a month and completed before the start of the 2002-2003 school year, SMART engineer Doug Hill told MacCentral. The OS X version will offer such features as the ability to resize the onscreen keyboard and the ability to make SMART notebook objects transparent.
The SMART Sympodium interactive lectern includes an interactive console, the SMART X-Port 30 multimedia switch, and SMART Board software. It’s 29 inches wide with lockable casters. Available in a variety of colors, the lectern includes a sliding keyboard shelf, a privacy panel and an accessible equipment drawer for a document camera or scanner.
The L-150 also features a flat surface for a laptop or binder, two large storage spaces for a computer and other equipment, space to connect a microphone, and a standard 19-inch rack with six available rack-mounts. Cable raceways allow for hassle-free cable installation, maintenance, storage, and access, according to Nancy Knowlton, president and COO of SMART Technologies. A concealable connection panel includes data, audio and video connections for external peripherals, and locking doors on the front and back.
The L-150 connects to a computer and displays the computer image for the presenter. The console features a 15-inch (diagonal) interactive screen, eight pen-tool buttons, and a tethered battery-free stylus. Using the stylus, the presenter touches the screen to control computer applications and write electronic notes. The pen-tool buttons make it easy to change the stylus’s output (left- or right-mouse click, ink color, eraser) or to bring up the on-screen keyboard, Knowles said. When the computer image is projected onto a larger screen, the audience sees the presenter’s notes as he works.
The SMART X-Port 30 multimedia switch controls data, audio and video for up to three peripherals, such as an internal computer, laptop and document camera. To alternate between devices, the presenter presses a button on the switch’s control panel.