If you’d like to add an extra display to your laptop while you’re on the road, there haven’t been any options available other than carrying an actual monitor around with you. Not too practical, of course.
But if you’re an Apple laptop user and have an iPad, you’re now in luck. A company called Avatron has released Air Display, a $10 iPad app that, combined with a utility and driver for the Mac’s OS X, lets you use your iPad as an external display.
My iPad/MacBook Pro setup in Carmel
The screen is refreshing over WiFi, so it cannot handle video or other fast-moving windows (too slow a refresh rate), but it works great for an occasional second screen to hold your calendar, task manager, IM window, etc.
Note that the Avatron web page says that a Windows version of the accompanying utility software is on the way.
Hat tip to Wired’s Gadget Lab blog for alerting me to this app.