DailyDirt: Looking Through Better Windows

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Glass is a material that has been known to people since before 2000 BC (and as far back as 3500 BC). It's everywhere now. We even carry around smartphones with glass touchscreens. But until we come up with "transparent aluminum" to replace glass (that's not just transparent to extreme UV light), we're still working with silica and certain polymers to make cool transparent materials. Here are just a few examples demonstrating the future of windows. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: energy, glass, organic photovoltaic cell, plastic, solar cell, soundproof, transparent aluminum, window


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Zonker, 22 Jan 2014 @ 5:43pm

    Smarter windows can be touchscreens or contain embedded wireless antennas. Yay! Can't wait until windows can display a translucent blue screen of death.
    So then you could say your windows crashed and actually mean your windows.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jan 2014 @ 7:11pm

    "Unfortunately, only opaque solar cells can maximize the amount of light energy converted into electricity"

    actually, the visible spectrum of light is very small, you can have very efficient PV's that are transparent to visible light and be highly efficient.
    the problem with OPV's is their lifespan, far too short for effective manufacturing energy payback.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 23 Jan 2014 @ 1:14am

    Smarter windows can be touchscreens or contain embedded wireless antennas. Yay! Can't wait until windows can display a translucent blue screen of death.

    You know, unless physics changed last time I looked at my window it was blue (blue skies *hint hint*). Which means I have had these for a looong time now. You are 30 years late for the party! HAH!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2014 @ 2:59am

    The insulation tech is interesting, it have applications beyond windows, if the only thing you need is 2 plates seperated 40 mm apart with some holes in it, you can put those almost everywhere like helmets, walls, cars and more.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    me@me.net, 23 Jan 2014 @ 5:01am

    I need touchscreen windows

    Like I need spam coming from my Fridge

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 23 Jan 2014 @ 4:06pm

      Re: Like I need spam coming from my Fridge

      Where else would you keep your Spam after you’ve opened it?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    art guerrilla (profile), 23 Jan 2014 @ 6:06am

    space age windows ? ? ?

    so what ?
    where's my flying car, damn it ! !!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2014 @ 7:37am

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Jan 2014 @ 7:45am

    I saw visions of futures made of glass like the A Day Made of Glass 1 and 2 that have millions of views on youtube and the living tomorrow: house of the future.

    Cool really.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous, 23 Jan 2014 @ 7:56am

    "A material's bulk modulus is essentially its resistance to compression...". Is there something wrong with saying "compression resistance"? Do people need to make up words and phrases like "bulk modulus" to pull out of their butts to make themselves sound smarter?

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.