Slashdot Mirror
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''."
Great idea, until someone puts a baseball through your living room Window.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
now I can pretend those videos of my naked nextdoor neighbor are live...
At least before they had to sneak over to look in the windows, now they just have to look at the windows.
Microsoft lawyers hit them with a cease and desist, it definately dilutes the trademark if people use windows as an entertainment device.
This technology makes it into eyeglasses or contact lenses ?!?
I'd love to be sitting in my cube at work watching Office Space on my contact lenses!
-- Adam
'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'
Wow, so they invented a back to the 80's time machine!
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
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the line they're either a tangle of useless, unsupported wires and circuit boards from extint companies or laughably outdated (or both).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.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
...does this look like from the outside? Can anyone who's outside your house see what you're watching? I don't see what the real benefit of this is, other than the "gee whiz!" factor. Not to mention what happens when your kids playing catch in the house break your window *and* TV at the same time!
- Faz
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?
You don't even have sunlight. That's right, the windows are opaque when there ISN'T a current flowing through them! Better have an UPS on your window or it's going to get really dark when the power goes out.
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'
This is a projection screen between the panes of glass, so one minute you neighbor's watching you sitting in your living room, and the next minute he's watching a mirror image of Top Gun
Won't the glass of the window create a glare problem? The wall beside the window probably makes a much better projection screen.
Jason
ProfQuotes
Chris
The whole window / tv screen thing has been a staple of futuristic anime for a while now, as well as a lot of standard sci-fi, if I'm not mistaken.
It is definitely more of a "Japanese" techology in the sense that it combines the functions of two things, saving both space and money. A boon for all of us who are cramped into tiny one-bedroom apartments.
for great justice, this sig has been moved
Put up the static image, call your victim into the room for some unrelated reason and then watch the look on their face.
You would, of course, also need appropriate sound effects -- and a well planned escape route.
OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
When the current is on, the window is clear. But flip a switch to turn the current off and the glass goes opaque
Hmmm, shame it isn't the otherway around - sounds like it's going to waste lots of juice given that the window is probably going to be in 'clear' mode 99% of the time.
-- Mike
Remember Arnold's house at the start of Total Recall? They lived in what was essentially a window-less house. Yet the house had many window-like projection panes that displayed realistic outdoor scenery with picture-in-picture tv news, etc.
That's probably what these people are aiming for.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
The technology is similar to LCD displays, and has been around for years. I could have bought windows like this ten years ago and put a projection TV in front of them. The side windows as speakers, that's new. I mean, electrostatic speakers are old, but I'm pretty sure using glass in them is new.
For those that haven't read the article, the windows turn opaque white when no current is running throught them. They make a perfect big white screen to shine a projector on. They aren't making a huge LCD monitor into a window and displaying a picture by shining light through it, they are projecting a picture onto it.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
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.
That comment isn't as intelligent as it sounds. Modern tempered glass doesn't breaky very easially, and can stand up to baseballs. And that is assuming it is even glass, some windows are actually plastic, which can be bullet proof! Patio doors wouldn't be possible without that. (Or at least not as most houses have them with a patio door installed, but no deck outside since a kid could break through regular glass and fall several floors) Modern windows are a lot more complex than glass in a frame. Fortunatly they work just like the old type, just better.
I'm not trying to imply that you can't break this glass, because you can. However you can beat a patio door with a sledge hammer and not be sure of it breaking.
Give a hand, not a hand-out.