Finding the Right Privacy Filter Just Got Easier

Work happens everywhere nowadays. We're not just getting things done on a desktop computer in the privacy of our own offices. We're in open office environments with nosy co-workers walking by. We're on laptops in coffeehouses, parks, or trains. We're on smartphones and tablets pretty much everywhere. What we do on these devices is still as personal and sensitive as it has always been, maybe moreso with the rise in corporate and identity theft. At the same time, it's increasingly likely that the wrong people will be able to see what we have on our screens.

Privacy filters have been around for a while and the technology hasn't changed much. They've been simplified and streamlined down to fit LCD monitors, laptops, tablets, and smartphones, but it's still the same concept. The filter keeps the screen clear to someone directly in front of it, but anyone at an angle only sees black.

Or Gold. Apparently Gold's a Thing Now.

They're available for screens of all sizes, no matter how old. That leads to the biggest reservation people have when shopping for privacy filters- finding the one that fits their screen. Not everybody knows the right way to measure a screen, or factor in ratios, frames, and tabs to the equation.

First off- diagonally. Every screen from the old clunky CRT to the tiniest smartphone is measured corner-to-corner starting and ending at the part that actually emits an image. The frame doesn't count, and the horizontal/vertical measurements don't help unless you feel like applying Pythagorean theorem.

There is now a simpler way to do it. Presenting our Privacy Filter Finder!

Privacy Filter Finder

We've worked with 3M to provide the easiest way to find the right privacy filter for your device. This will provide a listing of all compatible 3M privacy filters and screen protectors with minimal input. If you'd like, you can still enter the screen size and ratio for your LCD monitor, laptop or Chromebook. Or you can enter the model of your device (including tablets and smartphones) to instantly return all the right filters. When it's this easy, there's no reason not to ensure the safety of the information of your screen and keep it away from prying eyes.

How To Not Touch Touchscreens

Since the advent of the LCD screen, one of the traditional commandments has always been never to touch the surface. Contact with the screen can distort images, ruin pixels and wear out a pristine monitor quickly. This still applies to standard desktop and laptop monitors, so if you like to take the hands-on approach in your computing affairs, stop reading and get a screen protector pronto.

As we proceed into the age of smartphones and touchpads, those of us used to the “no touching” rule find ourselves in a foreign, backwards world where touching the screen is not only acceptable, it appears to be necessary to use the device. All the new toys use capacitive screens, which require something conductive in order to work... such as a human finger. It's madness, I tell you.

Capacitive screens are protected from the aforementioned dangers, of course, but that doesn't mean it's always pleasant to use fingers to touch them. Screen smudging is an issue, fingers may not always be clean and jobs may demand a stylus for better accuracy. Most PDA styli don't work since they aren't conductive. It's a problem that had gotten so bad that folks in South Korea started using sausages once they discovered, through what had to be some fantastic trial & error experimentation, that they somehow worked. Thankfully, Targus has a conductive stylus on the market now.

Targus Conductive Stylus

Making a conductive stylus is more complex, so they aren't cheap and only recommended for those who either need the accuracy of a stylus or dislike sausage.

3M Screen Protector Film

If you're only worried about screen smudging or just can't stand the thought of making direct contact with an LCD screen, try 3M's Screen Protector Film. It can be cut to the size of your phone and reduces smudging while keeping the device fully functional. You can feel better touching this with your fingers or, if you still prefer, your favorite encased meat.

Next-Generation iPod Nano Screen Protectors

With all the speculation run rampant about the latest and greatest iPods possibly getting announced shortly, I'd like to add my two cents.  No matter what shape or size these new 6th Generation iPod Nanos turn out to be, you can rest assured that they will be sleeker and sexier than the PDAs from days gone by.  Because screen-protector-technology hasn't realy advanced much, the biggest difference between a screen protector for an 8 year old PDA and a fancy touch screen Apple product is the dimensions of the plastic, and that isn't anything a scissors couldn't solve.

Clearance PDA Screen Protectors

I don't know the whos, the whats, or the why-fors but the screen protectors for the Palm m505 are the dirt cheapest I could find online.  Maybe all the m505s are all broken, or maybe Fellowes just manufactured way to many.  But for a couple bucks you can get a package of 12 screen protectors.  That is dirt cheap.  Now it doesn't matter what size or shape the new iPod turns out to be, you can be rest assured that your screen protector will be big enough to cover the iPod Nano Screen, all you have to do is cut it to the proper size.  Don't have a scissors? Those are easy to find.

Scissors

You want to skip all the cheap kiddie scissors and the blunt safety scissors and just get yourself a nice new sharp scissors.  Premium Scissors are still crazy affordable and for about a buck you can be assured that the double bevel ground edge on one of these new scissors will cut through a vintage screen protector better than the scissors you've been using to cut apart tin cans in your basement.