The greatest advantage of adding a second monitor to your laptop is that it doubles your screen size, allowing you to work on multiple windows at the same time; the greatest disadvantage of adding a second monitor to your laptop is that it doubles your screen size, making your so-called "portable" computer not so portable anymore.
Luckily for second monitor aficionados, a new local startup has invented a tablet-size, lightweight monitor that can stick to laptops like fridge magnets, so to be easily carried around by coders who work out of the nearest Starbucks, or co-working space members who like to change desk frequently.
Launching on Kickstarter on Tuesday, the device – which is called DUO and will make your laptop look like as if it had a side mirror – is the first product of Mobile Pixels, one of the many consumer tech startups in this year's MassChallenge Boston cohort.
The Burlington, Mass.-based company raised $37,000 from Northeastern University and MIT to work on the product, which was first conceived by Xiaoliang "Jack" Yao during his time at Amazon.
"I was doing an internship at an Amazon's co-working space in Seattle, and not having a second monitor slowed me down when doing programming work," Yao, a recent MIT graduate with a master's in mechanical engineering, said.
To start Mobile Pixels, Yao teamed up with another mechanical engineer, Stephen Ng, and with product manager Shruti Banda.
In a recent demonstration for BostInno, Yao showed how DUO works. First, users need to stick the product to their laptops thanks to four small magnets. Then, the screen - which can be used either on the left or the right side of the laptop - slides out of its cover and needs to be plugged to the computer via wire. Last but not least, users need to install DUO's driver (an operation that, on a work laptop, might require some time because of security involved).
On Kickstarter, the company said that it plans on selling DUO for $159, but its future retail price will be somewhere between $219 and $299.
Yao added that the current version of DUO weights 1.5 pounds and it's compatible with any operating system. Its components are shipped from China.
