Multimedia Windowpanes

prostoalex writes "Washington Post talks about recent innovations in the world of windows (yes, lowercase). A Minnesota company is offering windows that double as entertainment centers, being used as projection screens for home entertainment systems and DVD players. A Yale professor is quoted to be excited about new product: 'One minute you're looking out your bay window at your neighbor's back yard, and the next you're watching Tom Cruise and 'Top Gun''."

Comments

Top Gun?

[Skyshadow]

Tom Cruise in Top Gun? Where did they did up this professor? 1986?

Anyhow, I have a really hard time seeing this going anywhere. The problem with any sort of serious home automation or nifty built-in gadgets is that ten years down the line they're either a tangle of useless, unsupported wires and circuit boards from extint companies or laughably outdated (or both). I remember seeing a new item about a guy who sued Bob Vila and "This Old House" for pushing him to install a computer-heavy home control system for everything from the heat to the garage door a few years back -- the company tanked and now he has to rip the malfunctioning POS out and put in new stuff (which is obviously expensive).

So, I'll pass. Besides, the last thing I need is an incentive to get even less daylight.

Optimal Performance

[reddfoxx]

I'm just kinda wondering what the optimal performance conditions are for this product?

My guess is that the light has to be greater on the inside than on the outside, much like seeing a reflection using a mirror. Also there is the problem of temperature. Most electronics don't particularly enjoy being used at extreme temps. I'm also guessing that this thing has some type of current running through it causing an extreme temp change in the glass.

So how long until the first "projection window" explodes during the winter?

Re:And when you lose power...

[Forgotten]

Half-right. From the FA:

A low-voltage electric current runs through the window. When the current is on, the window is clear. But flip a switch to turn the current off and the glass goes opaque, allowing it to be used as a projection screen for watching television or DVDs.

The article doesn't mention the underlying technology by name, but it's probably simply an LCD panel similar to that in a notebook display. Whether the relaxed liquid crystal strands uncurl with (white, transparent) or against (black, opaque) the plane of the polarisation filter is always just a manufacturing choice. In notebooks it can be a matter of saving power by minimising the amount of screen you need to change from the default, on average. A white-on-black character display should probably relax to black, while a black-on-white Mac-style windowed display might better relax to white. Of course I'm not claiming they always use that much logic in the decision (Apple maybe since they seem to put a lot of thought into powersaving, but more likely they just buy what's cheapest like everyone else).

The tendency of the windows in the article to relax to opacity could be thought of as a privacy feature, I suppose. It does seem odd when the device is being sold as a window that can be used as a screen, though (as opposed to the converse).

Inside windows, too.

[kbeer]

This technology has been around for a while now, but it's very expensive. The use is not for windows that face outside, but for inner windows.

I've heard of corporate conference rooms that use windows like this. When the meeting becomes "closed door" all of the windows can be frosted.

I live in a small apartment, but it seems bigger than it is because of many internal windows between rooms. The problem is privacy. Shades and blinds are ugly. Instant frosting is what I've been looking for. If the prices come down, I'll buy.