I met Apple’s driving force Steve Jobs a few years before his passing. If there was one thing he did well, it was innovating with a focus on balancing design with function. The aesthetic meeting point nailed it like no one had ever achieved.
You remember in Apple’s days of disruptive innovation, Jobs replaced the Sony Walkman with a revolutionary iPod, he took the inside of cellular phones away from wireless providers and reimagined a phone becoming more like a computer on the go with the iPhone. He took a boring grey desktop computer and made an all-in-one fun iMac and more.
A new innovator in the TV industry: Balaji Krishnan
I just met an engineer/entrepreneur who reminds me of that Steve Jobs juice and he’s about to shake up the TV business like no one since color TV came about.
This inventor, Balaji Krishnan, just solved a TV problem none of the multi-billion dollar makers you see on sale at Best Buy and the like ever imagined.
The problem-solving mission of Displace TV
Displace TV started out with a mission to answer the troubles customers like you and me have with buying a new big TV for the kitchen.
We don’t want to see wires. We don’t want to drill holes in the wall. And we don’t want to have to use a remote control for the basics. What they imagined has just come to life.
The revolutionary Displace TV
Displace TV is a 55-inch thin and lightweight wireless LED TV that runs on battery and requires no mounting hardware. I have been watching this space for a couple of decades and this is what recently caused my jaw to drop when I saw that it actually works the way it was designed. In addition, Displace TV sets can be combined to act as one. Put 4 together with its superthin bezel to make a giant screen.
Weighing at less than 20 pounds, Balaji and his team remember the day they had a hit during design to have the TV magically stick to the wall without the need for any mounting hardware at all. Instead, they reinvented mounting by coming up with an algorithm and operating software that simultaneously operates the TV as well as keeps an active eye on a unique suction mechanism Displace invented to adhere to most surfaces.
Essentially, the TV’s donut-shaped mounting rings on the back can tell what’s needed to hold the TV to a wall or surface. The weaker the grip, the more the TV compensates to vacuum the connection to a stronger bond constantly. Try to pull the TV away from the surface while the mount is active, and it will likely win the fight by activating hundreds of suction cups to pull tighter.
With the mounting issue solved, Balaji wasn’t done. He also wanted to make it completely wireless – even the power. For that, he turned to efficient power management in the operating system and an array of four rechargeable batteries that can keep the TV on for an average of six hours a day for a month before needing to be recharged.
The practical and innovative solution for low batteries
I asked Balaji what happens if the batteries are running low and no longer able to activate the proprietary vacuum mounting algorithm to keep the TV hanging. His response was practical and innovative which put a big smile on my face. 1) The Displace TV will give you ample warning that the batteries need to be recharged. And he’s currently working on a solution to what happens next if that warning is ignored. An airbag system he plans would save the TV in a fall.
I miss seeing innovative companies like this showing up in a world where Big Tech dominates the landscape. Coming in the 4th quarter of 2023 is a 55-inch Displace TV that will rock the TV space – period.