Windows Soon To Become TV's

Lead investigator Kenneth Chau develops new glass technology by coating small pieces of glass with extremely thin layers of metal. 

Researchers discover new glass technology: Imagine if the picture window in your living room could double as a giant thermostat or big screen TV. A discovery by researchers at the University of British Columbia has brought us one step closer to this becoming a reality.

Researchers at UBC's Okanagan campus in Kelowna found that coating small pieces of glass with extremely thin layers of metal like silver makes it possible to enhance the amount of light coming through the glass. This, coupled with the fact that metals naturally conduct electricity, may make it possible to add advanced technologies to windowpanes and other glass objects.

"Engineers are constantly trying to expand the scope of materials that they can use for display technologies, and having thin, inexpensive, see-through components that conduct electricity will be huge," said UBC Associate Professor and lead investigator Kenneth Chau. "I think one of the most important implications of this research is the potential to integrate electronic capabilities into windows and make them smart."

The next phase of this research, added Chau, will be to incorporate their invention onto windows with an aim to selectively filter light and heat waves depending on the season or time of day.

Kenneth Chau (left) and and Loïc Markley (right) coated small pieces of glass with extremely thin layers of metal. 

The theory underlying the research was developed by Chau and collaborator Loïc Markley, an assistant professor of engineering at UBC. Chau and Markley questioned what would happen if they reversed the practice of applying glass over metal—a typical method used in the creation of energy efficient window coatings.

"It's been known for quite a while that you could put glass on metal to make metal more transparent, but people have never put metal on top of glass to make glass more transparent," said Markley. "It's counter-intuitive to think that metal could be used to enhance light transmission, but we saw that this was actually possible, and our experiments are the first to prove it."

Changing Color With Smart Windows

Nanoparticle based windows could switch colors on demand.

Nanoparticle-based windows could switch colors on demand: One day, you might not need special bulbs to give your room's lighting a different hue -- you'd just tell the windows themselves to change. Rice University researchers have discovered that you can change the colors transmitted through glass by sending a voltage through pairs of gold and silver nanoparticles, which you frequently find in stained glass windows. Jolt a window one way and you'd get a bright red; reverse the voltage and you'd get blue. All you're really doing is forming or removing chemical bridges between the particles.

The technology is still far from production, so don't expect to renovate your home just yet. However, you only need tiny amounts of the precious metals to achieve dramatic effects. As such, you might well find yourself upgrading to color shifting smart windows around the whole home, not just in one or two prime locations.

Medieval artisans unwittingly used nanotechnology when they mixed gold chloride into molten glass to create richly hued stained glass windows. Soon we could have full-color displays or stained-glass windows that change color at the flick of an electrical switch, thanks to the same kinds of light-scattering nanoparticles.

We’re one step closer to such wondrous things with a new method for connecting metal nanoparticles via teensy “drawbridges” of thin layers of silver, developed by researchers at Rice University. This lets them link pairs of nanoparticles that scatter different colors of light together to form simple color displays. The scientists described their work in a new paper in Science Advances.

Nanoparticles are special because they straddle the boundary between the macroscopic and quantum realms, where classical physics and quantum mechanics hold sway, respectively. It’s their size that matters: a nanometer is equivalent to one 25-millionth of an inch, and nanoparticles range in size from a few nanometers to several hundred nanometers. That gives them unusual properties not found in the same elements at the macro scale.

This includes optical properties, notably how metal nanoparticles in particular scatter light. Scientists have analyzed medieval stained glass windows, and found gold and silver nanoparticles are the key to the deep reds and yellows found therein.

The gold nanoparticles absorb blue and yellow light; red light, with its longer wavelength, reflects off them and passes through the glass. Something similar happens with silver nanoparticles; only bright yellow light scatters off and passes through the glass. Make gold spheres a bit larger, and you can get green or orange. Make the silver nanoparticles smaller, and you get blue.

They have interesting chemically reactive properties, too. In 2008, for instance, scientists at Queensland University of Technology found that some stained glass windows actually helped purify the air when the sun shone through them. The secret ingredient was gold nanoparticles. Sunlight activated the nanoparticles so they could destroy volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) — the source of that new car smell, for instance, but toxic if inhaled in larger quantities.

The properties of medieval stained glass are so unique, Welsh scientists recently used their own versions of the material to build a special 3D panoramic camera for the European Space Agency’s 2019 Mars rover mission. In that case, the useful property was the way the glass resists fading — even after hundreds of years of exposure to the sun’s UV radiation. By blocking UV radiation, the nanoparticles in the stained glass chips will capture the true colors of the red planet.

Soon We Could Have Displays and Windows That Change Color with the Flick of a Switch. But it’s proven challenging to induce metal nano particles to switch colors, a critical ability if you want to build a color display with them. Past work has managed some slight shifts in hue by linking nanoparticles with nanowire bridges. The Rice scientists improved on those techniques to make the color shifts stronger via a kind of chemical bridge.

First, the Rice team fixed pairs of gold nanoparticles to a glass surface coated with conductive indium tin oxide, or ITO (it’s in your smartphone screen, for instance). They used the ITO to coat the surface of the gold particles with a silver electroplate. Then they immersed them in saltwater electrolyte with a silver electrode to form a circuit. Zap the nanoparticles with a negative voltage, and a conductive silver “drawbridge” forms. Reverse the voltage, and the bridge withdraws.

“The great thing about these chemical bridges is that we can create and eliminate them simply by applying or reversing a voltage,” group leader Christy Landes said in a press release. “This is the first method yet demonstrated to produce dramatic, reversible color changes for devices built from light-activated nano particles.”

Glass News

Another inch of snow possible; wind-chill -14: Today, about another inch of snow is expected along with a wind-chill factor as low as 14 degrees below zero, according to the National Weather Service's Grand Rapid station. The wind-chill represents how cold it feels outside. By day's end, the area could have a total of just under 5 inches of snow on the ground, primarily from Thursday's storm, the weather service reported. Despite the snow and single-digit temperatures James Whitaker, with Great Lakes Window Cleaning, cleans the windows at Farnum Building in downtown Lansing Friday, January 9, 2015. Whitaker said they use ethanol alcohol to keep the cleaning solution from freezing. He joked that he'll take cleaning windows in the heat of summer anyday and that he thinks about quitting every winter.

Pella (yep, the window company) enters the connected-home market (LAS VEGAS): You know the connected-home market is going mainstream when a company like Pella jumps in with both feet. The noted window- and door-manufacturer announced a whole lineup of wireless products at CES, including doors, windows, garage doors, and motorized shades with Z-Wave sensors built right into the products. This neatly solves one of the biggest aesthetic problems with the smart home: The ugly plastic boxes that bulge off the surface of your door and window frames like angry boils.

Now few of us have the budget to replace all our doors and windows just to get hidden sensors, so Pella will also offer add-on sensors that can be used with any brand of door or window. This enables a homeowner to upgrade their doors and windows one or a few at a time, but still get all the benefits of Pella’s system.

A Pella spokesperson told me an installer can also retrofit any Pella door or window manufactured since 2005 with the embedded sensors.The products will be marketed under the brand name Insynctive. In addition to the usual sensors that report if a door, window, or garage door is open or closed (a tilt sensor, in the case of a garage door), Pella also developed a deadbolt sensor that can inform you if the door is locked or unlocked. This information is relayed to a status indicator that can be stored in a wall holster or held in your hand.

Beyond sensors, Pella also introduced a new line of motorized interior window shades, and windows and French doors with motorized blinds between two panes of glass. The motors run on rechargeable batteries that are connected to miniature external solar panels. Here again, existing Pella doors and windows with built-in blinds can be retrofitted if they were manufactured in 2005 or later. Pella’s Insynctive products are controlled by a handheld remote, or they can be tied into other lighting and connected-home systems using a Z-Wave to ethernet hub. To that end, Pella announced partnerships with Wink and Nexia at the DIY level, and Crestron and Savant at the custom-installer level.

Solar chip monitors windows: A new kind of radio chip is intended to warn when windows are left open. This way, you can avoid having the heat go out the window on cold days. The sensor also detects break-in attempts early on. The key: This maintenance-free chip powers up with energy supplied by solar power.  

It happens all too often in the cold times of the year: You open the window in the morning for fresh air and forget to shut it again. A thermostat reports cold temperatures, and the heating is turned up full blast – right out the window. But open windows are a problem with more than just the heating or storms. A window tilted open, for example, is a direct invitation to intruders. It would be desirable to have an automated system that notices open windows and sends an alarm signal to the tenant. There are certainly home and building systems today that register the window status. As a rule, however, the sensors have to be attached by cable to the alarm center inside the home or building itself. In other cases, battery-operated radio sensors are used. But changing batteries in structures that have several windows can lead to a considerable maintenance expense. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg therefore developed a pragmatic alternative: a radio sensor chip about the size of a fingernail that is mounted directly in the window. The tiny sensor is coated with a solar cell and it supplies itself with power.

Sensors differentiate between ball and crowbar - At ten millimeters, the chip is as narrow as a pane of insulating glass is thick. It is installed on the aluminum profile between the glass that maintains the distance between the panes. Thanks to this window space, the solar cell obtains adequate light, even in the darkness of winter. Integrated in the chip are magnet and acceleration sensors that register if the window is open just a crack or all the way. The chip can send a signal via radio to the base station in the building if a window has remained open for too long. The applications of the radio chip are diverse. It can remind homeowners to ventilate regularly or warn if a window is still open when they leave the home. In addition, it offers reliable protection from intruders even for closed windows. Because the sensors can differentiate very precisely between various fluctuations - for example, a ball that slams against the pane, or an intruder’s crowbar that ratchets open the window frame. Within a tenth of a second, the system detects the disturbance and sounds the alarm if there is any doubt.

Chemical-Sensing Displays and Other Surprising Uses of Glass - An inside look at Corning’s labs suggests what’s next for the inventor of Gorilla Glass: Someday your smartphone might be able to help you in a new way when you’re traveling: by telling you whether the water is safe to drink. Although a water app isn’t close yet, researchers at Corning and elsewhere recently discovered that they could use Gorilla Glass, the toughened glass made by Corning that’s commonly used on smartphone screens, to make extremely sensitive chemical and biological sensors. It could detect, say, traces of sarin gas in the air or specific pathogens in water.

The sensors are just one project I learned about during a visit to Corning’s R&D labs in upstate New York. In the last few decades, Corning’s advances in glass-making have led to technologies such as fiber optics and flat-panel displays. Now, thanks to Gorilla Glass, it’s associated with the latest smartphones. But despite the remarkable success of that product, it is keen to catch the next high-tech boom. Corning spends about 8 percent of its sales on R&D—which will amount to about $800 million this year. It’s a hedge against the very real possibility that one of its businesses could go dark—as has happened in the past. Between 2000 and 2002, Corning lost more than half of its revenue when its fiber-optics business collapsed with much of the rest of the telecom market. Its stock plummeted from $113 to just over $1. This year, it got another scare when one of its largest customers, Apple, came close to replacing Gorilla Glass in iPhones with sapphire.

Displays, in one way or another, account for about half of Corning’s revenue, with roughly a third of that coming from Gorilla Glass. To expand this market and withstand challenges from other materials, Corning is trying to add capabilities to Gorilla Glass, such as the sensor application. And it’s looking for new markets for Gorilla Glass beyond displays.

The ability to turn your phone into a biological and chemical sensor is one of the earliest-stage projects in the lab. Researchers at Corning and Polytechnique Montreal discovered that they could make very high quality waveguides, which confine and direct light, in Gorilla Glass. The researchers were able to make these waveguides very near to the surface, which is essential for sensors. Doing so in ordinary glass would break it. Making the waveguide involves focusing a beam of intense laser light near the surface of the glass, then tracing it along the glass, which locally changes its optical properties.

To make a sensor, the researchers make a waveguide that splits into two identical pathways for light. Then the paths converge, and the light from both paths meet up. One path serves as the sensing path, and the other as a reference. Even a tiny change to the light in the sensing path—such as its intensity—can be detected by observing how the light from the two paths interacts when they meet, producing distinct patterns.

The researchers demonstrated a simple sensor that detects changes in temperature. Heating up the sensing path changes its shape, which changes the properties of the light passing through it. Because the waveguide is so close to the surface, part of the light actually extends out of the glass, and anything placed on the surface of the glass will interact with part of the light. This means that to make a chemical or biological sensor, you could prepare the surface of the glass so that a specific target will bind to it. For example, you might treat it with antibodies that latch onto E. coli. or other contaminants; detecting their presence would be as simple as putting a drop of water on the phone.

The waveguides are microscopically thin, and therefore invisible, so they wouldn’t obscure a display. And because they’re quite small, sensors for several different biological or chemical targets could be incorporated into a smartphone.

Corning researchers have also discovered that Gorilla Glass has useful acoustic properties. The way it vibrates is different than conventional glass—it damps sound waves. The simplest application is noise insulation—it blocks sound better than ordinary glass.

But the same acoustic properties could also turn displays into speakers. I saw such a prototype in one of Corning’s labs. A wire in the display attaches to a small actuator that vibrates the glass to produce sound waves. Because of the way the waves propagate through the glass, they can be more precisely controlled than with ordinary glass, allowing for higher quality sound reproduction.

In another lab, researchers showed off a seemingly ordinary window. Then, with a flip of a switch on a circuit board, it turned into a display—one showing an old Coke commercial—and I could only barely make out what was behind the image. When the ad was over, I could see through the display again. Corning was particularly secretive about how it managed to make this technology work.

Here are (clockwise from bottom) NTU professor Sun Xiaowei, research fellow Liu He, and Ph.D. student Zheng Ke with their self-tinting window.

Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) scientists have developed a smart window which can darken or brighten without the need for an external power source. This unique self-tinting window requires zero electricity to operate and is also a rechargeable battery. The window's stored energy can be used for other purposes, such as to light up low-powered electronics like a light emitting diode (LED).

Currently, the window solutions in the market are either using permanent tinting which cannot brighten at night or are windows that can change its light transmission properties only with an external power source. The NTU smart window however can be turned into a cool blue tint in bright daylight, cutting light penetration by about half, and then reverts back to clear glass at night or as required. This breakthrough research led by NTU Professor Sun Xiaowei, was published recently in Nature Communications, a prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal.

How it works - The trick to making the self-powered smart window is a new technology developed by Prof Sun's team from NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. "Our new smart electrochromic window is bi-functional; it is also a transparent battery," Prof Sun explained. "It charges up and turns blue when there is oxygen present in the electrolyte - in other words, it breathes."

The NTU smart window contains liquid electrolyte placed in between two glass sheets coated with indium tin oxide (ITO), commonly used as transparent conductive coatings for television displays. One sheet is coated with an additional layer of a pigment known as Prussian Blue and the other one is attached to a thin strip of aluminium foil. The Prussian Blue gives the glass a blue tint when it is fully charged.

The two glass sheets are connected by typical electrical cables. When the electrical circuit between them is broken, a chemical reaction starts between Prussian Blue and the dissolved oxygen in the electrolyte, turning the glass blue. To turn off the blue tint, the electrical circuit is closed to discharge the battery, turning the Prussian Blue into a colourless Prussian White.

Such an innovative technology can adjust the amount of sunlight coming into buildings in the day, which promises significant savings on cooling and lighting costs. "Our technology is very attractive as a zero-sum consumption smart window. Buildings owners and even common households can reap energy savings right from the outset and over the long term. Developers who are looking at constructing environmentally-friendly green buildings will find our technology attractive for their building plans," said Prof Sun.

Prof Sun is an electrical engineering expert whose other innovations include various solar technologies, glass-free 3D technologies, next-generation lightings and displays. The NTU team is now enhancing their invention and is looking forward to collaborating with industry partners to commercialise their technology.

Smart window startup View is raising another $75M: A year after raising a $100 million financing round, smart window startup View (formerly called Soladigm) is raising another $75 million round, and has closed on about $29 million of the round, according to a filing with the SEC. View makes dynamic windows, also called “electrochromic windows,” which use low-voltage electrical current to reflect or absorb light, tinting or untinting the window on demand.

If it closes the round, View will have raised more than $375 million over its eight year lifetime from investors including private equity firm Madrone Capital Partners (associated with the Walton family, the heirs to the Walmart fortune), Khosla Ventures, GE, Corning, DBL Investors, and the Westly Group. Making glass, and the IT needed to tint the glass, is an expensive proposition, but View can lower its production costs as it scales up manufacturing.

View spent 2014 working on growing production at its factory in Mississippi, as well as sales, distribution and marketing. At the beginning of 2014, View was shipping glass that was 50 square feet in size, and the company had installed about 50 projects across North America including a 27,000 square foot project at a hospital in Toronto, and a 37,000 square foot project at a tech center in Louisiana.

View’s windows of course are more expensive to buy than regular windows or cheap shading options like blinds. But View’s customers (premium hotels, corporate offices, etc.) are buying them both to be early adopters of cool tech, but also to reduce energy use and energy costs associated with air conditioning and heating. The coloring effect of View’s window can cool or warm a room, and can cut 20 percent off the costs of heating and cooling, 20 percent off of lighting, and can reduce peak load (electricity at peak times of use) by 25 percent.

View’s window manufacturing process is similar to one that’s used in the semiconductor industry, but using large glass pieces. The windows are made by depositing a 1 micrometer thick layer of tungsten oxide onto a pane of glass, and then that layer is sandwiched by another pane of glass. The original core technology came out of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. View also makes the controller system, and the software and apps that can control the window tint from an iPhone.

Solar panels on our cliffs! The Navitus wind farm decision is still blowing hot and cold but personally I feel that it should be a “non starter” in favour of less-obtrusive solar panels. With the local coastline predominantly south-facing, surely Navitus would be able to mount solar panels on the side of our cliffs from Hengistbury Head all along our World Heritage Jurassic Coast as far as Lulworth Cove. This would appease the turbine objectors and still generate loads of lovely loot, erm, electricity, without creating the monstrous offshore eyesore currently proposed. Whilst providing much needed jobs for local window cleaners, enterprising beach hut owners could rig up their TV and kettles and make hot showers available for surfers.

Smart windows will keep buildings cool by turning white: There’s a lot of focus at the moment on making the houses we live in and the buildings we work in more energy efficient, to the point where air conditioning isn’t necessary. There’s still a long way to go before that happens, but a newly-developed smart window should help cut energy bills if it makes it into production. You can insulate walls and the roof of a building easily, but windows are a problem area. We need them to allow light into a building, but you can’t insulate them with typical non-transparent insulation materials. There is an alternative, though, in the form of hydrogels.

Hydrogels are a mix of water and polymer that can be made to react smartly to a changing environment. Existing hydrogels don’t work that well for use in a window because they swell so much when subjected to heat. So, a new hydrogel has been created that is suspended as small beads in a liquid and then sandwiched between two sheets of glass. This new hydrogel reacts to changes in temperature. The window will be transparent below a certain temperature, but beyond that it turns white, and therefore bouncing the light and heat away from the building. In so doing, this passive system can help control the interior temperature of a building on very hot days without the need to turn on expensive AC units.

As the swelling of the hydrogel is controlled effectively, it is viable for use in new smart windows which need to work faultlessly for decades. These windows will surely carry a premium price, but the building owner will recoup the cost and then some in lower, or even non-existent AC power bills.

A rendering of the interior of the new Vikings stadium.

For Vikings stadium's bird-safe glass, 3M might have solution: The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority is in talks with the Vikings, 3M Co. and the Audubon Society about testing possible "bird-safe window film solutions" for the team's new stadium in Minneapolis, chairwoman Michele Kelm-Helgen said Wednesday. Environmental advocates say the stadium's large walls of transparent glass will be deadly for migrating birds, which can't distinguish between actual objects and reflections. The advocates have been pushing for "fritted," or patterned, glass to deter bird collisions, and some even called for the ouster of Kelm-Helgen last month over the issue.

"We are continuing to ... explore the possibility of a study that would occur during bird migratory seasons in various locations in Minnesota," Kelm-Helgen said in a statement. "The proposed plan would be to include the stadium in the study once it is built." The authority has agreed to a lights-out policy to deter bird collisions but has rejected proposals to install fritted glass -- which was estimated to cost about $1 million -- because the glass would mar the transparent look it wants for the new facility. The new stadium will have about 190,000 square feet of glass.

Kelm-Helgen said the latest "initial conversations" regarding a solution "have been positive and productive." "We are hopeful that we will have more information to share in the near future," she said. Testing could begin in spring 2015 and continue in the fall.

Kelm-Helgen said state Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, asked the authority to meet with the Audubon Society about the potential new solution. Dibble said it's still early in the talks, but the 3M product could maintain the transparent, open feel that stadium officials want but still make the glass visible to birds. "It seems to be, if it works, the thing that would solve everyone's problem," he said.

Dibble said that if additional bird safety measures aren't forthcoming, he plans in the next legislative session to push to require the stadium authority to implement them.

Matthew Anderson, executive director of Audubon Minnesota, said it's unclear whether the new solution would be as safe for birds as fritted glass. The stadium sits in the Mississippi flyway, Anderson said, a "superhighway" for migrating birds. He said research has shown more than 980 million birds die each year in North America as a result of flying into buildings. Many details still must be worked out, Anderson said, but "we've got the right players having the right conversation." It's unclear what the 3M product is, how much it would cost, and whether the authority or the team would pay the bill. A call to 3M was not returned. A Vikings spokesman deferred comment to the authority. The glass is to be installed in early 2015. The $1 billion stadium is scheduled to open in 2016.

Who Wants a Supertall Skyline? The Emerging Aesthetic of the 1,000-Foot Tower - When you’re putting up a multi­billion-dollar tower that’s a quarter-mile high, there’s not much leeway to make it a work of art. On the other hand, when you’re putting up a multibillion-­dollar tower that’s a quarter-mile high, it had damn well better be a work of art. Dozens of supertall buildings are being built or planned, radically redrawing the skyline. If we avert our gaze, we’ll get a bundle of glass stakes fencing off the air above ­Manhattan. Skyscrapers can be better. The difficulty of making an elegant symbolic presence out of an immense vertical machine has been vexing architects for more than a century. And yet it must be done.

Too many high-gloss behemoths are so superficially designed that they betray at least part of their mandate. The coming flock glories in the upward thrust, but the earliest skyscraper designers groped toward a vertical style. They enlarged European precedents, creating piled-up palazzos encrusted with giant cornices, columns, and pediments. Sullivan’s generation divided the tower into three parts — evoking a column’s base, shaft, and capital; a tree’s roots, trunk, and branches; or a drama’s exposition, denouement, and conclusion. Sullivan saw in this the natural, and therefore sublime, expression of what a building does: high-ceilinged shops on the bottom, in the middle a warren of offices repeating as many times as necessary, topped by a windowless attic. “Form ever follows function,” he declared, a formulation slightly less terse and much less prescriptive than the modernist battle cry it inspired: Form follows function! The recent image of the two window cleaners dangling on a cockeyed plank at One World Trade dramatized the disjunction between an implacably geometric juggernaut and the messy frailty of individual lives. The architectural challenge of supertall buildings is to accommodate humans in structures of inhuman scale.

Because today’s economics permit a tiny number of largely absent owners to have a disproportionate impact on the skyline, these buildings invert the rationale that propelled skyscraper construction for more than a century. Instead of packing the largest number of people onto the smallest patch of earth, they fill up the skyline with vacant acres of glassed-in parquet. These are mostly generic products masquerading as luxury goods: stratospheric views, ceilings high enough to echo, and features like on-site pet spas. This bounty of comforts is usually wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass, which facilitates the imperial gaze — or pretends to. Actually, the glass wall maligns traditional windows, which provide both openings and shelter. You can’t appreciate a vista with your shins, or see much through the glass above your head. The layouts of these crystalline crows’ nests afford nowhere to retreat from contact with the sky. They offer the thrill of simulated exposure. No wonder the owners maintain a selection of cozier homes.

It’s not enough just to gawp at these towers’ bravado or grumble at the arrogance of the hyperrich gobbling up the sky. Like it or not, the elongated condo is an ever more assertive category of New York architecture, and it too can function as a form of public art. The combination of slenderness and height means that skyscrapers can sprout from modest lots, minimizing their impact on the street and narrowing the shadows they cast. The fact that they contain the caviar of real estate means that they can afford the luxury of being good. We have to live with the follies of the outlandishly wealthy; we can at least insist that they pamper themselves in a way that also enriches the city.

Project Glass From Google

Life changing glasses - for window cleaners everywhere.

Google unveils ‘Project Glass’ - Google has revealed details of its research into augmented reality glasses. It posted a brief introduction to Project Glass, photos and a concept video at its Google+social network. The images show a minimalist design with a microphone and partly-transparent video screen that places information over the view from the users’ right eye. The product’s developers said they wanted feedback on the idea. They did not give any indication about when the device might go on sale or what it would cost. “A group of us started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment,” said a statement from Google X - the firm’s experimental lab. “We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input.”

The video suggests icons offering 14 different services will be offered to the user when the glasses are first put on, including information about the weather, their location and diary appointments. It appears that several of these services are either triggered by an action taken by the user or the situation they are in. The film shows one user being reminded he has a date that evening when he looks up at a blank wall, and then warns him that there is a 10% chance it will rain when he looks out of the window. Google glasses warn the subway service is suspended The video suggests that the device would involve a GPS chip to help deliver location specific alerts. An alert pops up when a friend sends a text asking if he wants to meet up later in the day. When the user dictates a reply a microphone symbol is superimposed over much of his view.  

Google’s smart glasses to underpin a smart windscreen? For the first time, Google have now officially confirmed they are working on “Project Glasses” and have also released a video outlining just how it’ll influence your every aspect of your life. Well – it’s science fiction. You can see directions to your destination appear literally before your eyes. Moreover, you can talk to friends over video chat, take a photo or even buy a few things online as you walk around. Basically, Project Glass continually scans your immediate area for information using what looks like a visual heuristic engine. The interface is voice-controlled, possibly augmented by some eye-tracking. If it takes off, it could bring reality another step closer to science fiction, where the line between human and machine blurs. The Android-powered glasses may be the next evolution in the ongoing mobile device race and could one day replace the current generation of smartphones and super phones that are stuck to our fingertips.

But how about this technology inside a windscreen? I’m talking about the navigation system on your entire windscreen for example – a system that can show you the correct direction more precisely – speed limits or different warnings, prices of the nearest gas station, or the nearest restaurant. Navigation directions merge with reality, hazards are indicated in the driver’s direct line of vision… Gesture recognition – in-car control with simple hand movements — Whoosh – move your head and a new track plays. This is manual operation in the true sense of the word… However, having all this information projected on the front window may sound dangerous because one immediately associates it with poor visibility. But this might be the future …

Smarter Homes, Windows & Window Cleaning Apparel

'Smart' electrochromic and gasochromic windows latest in green innovations: For the past few years, a seminar on new and innovative green building products has been a staple at Construct Canada. This year was no exception as BuildGreen Solutions partner Rodney Wilts updated architects, engineers and contractors on the some of the “great” green products that have crossed his desk in the past 12 months. “This (presentation) is a bit of a hodge-podge of things that we look at in the green building world,” said Wilts, whose firm works with architects, developers and other organizations to implement sustainable practices in the built environment. 

BuildGreen has managed more than 40 LEED projects in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Wilts, whose firm is part of the Windmill Developments family of companies, said windows “are getting serious” as manufacturers compete to build the most energy-efficient products. Soon to hit the market, he said, are “smart” electrochromic and gasochromic windows. “We’re seeing leaps and bounds in quality window manufacturing,” Wilts said.

Other green products include a device that monitors energy consumption over a period of time and automatically kills “vampire” power and building-integrated photovoltaic systems. On the materials side, “torrified” wood appears to be catching on “like wildfire,” Wilts said. A chemical-free process is used to heat up the wood, making it less susceptible to mould, rot and fungi. Other green materials include an environemtally friendly drywall product. Wilts, whose firm is based in Ottawa, said clients also are demonstrating increased interest in indoor air quality. One such item that is on the market is a proprietary drywall product that cleans the air, reacts with volatile organic compounds and makes them inert and is highly mould-resistant. “It is no longer enough to be less bad,” Wilts said.

Living walls also are catching on in a big way, he said, noting that a five-storey, plant-covered Biowall has been incorporated into the Algonquin Centre for Construction Excellence in Ottawa. This system helps control humidity while also cleaning the air. Water efficiency is also gaining increased attention, Wilts said. He cited introduction of a greywater reuse system that is suitable for either commercial or residential projects, a dual-flush toilet that has an integrated sink for immediate greywater reuse and a 0.8 gallon per flush, high-efficiency toilet. In his presentation, Wilts also touched on various developments on the green building front, including LEED Canada and the Living Building Challenge, which he described as “LEED on steroids.”

Clothing to harness renewable energy: Silvr Lining, a California based fashion company, has created the Go Collection of clothing with integrated solar power supplies suitable for charging personal communication devices (PCDs), such as cell phones and smart phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), such as MP3(4) players. This "wearable" power virtually eliminates the need to recharge at wall sockets. The power supply hardware is easily installed in GO garments in less than one minute, and un‐installed for cleaning just as quickly. The GO Integrated Solar Power System is comprised of 6‐inch by 8‐inch solar panels designed to fit pockets in the front of the garments. As these pockets contain windows to allow the sun's rays to impinge on the active side of each panel, the pockets are referred to as "frames". There are two frames in the GO Utility Vest, four in the GO Director's Jacket, two in the GO Myer's Topper, and two in the GO Cargo Pant that can accommodate panels.

 

The GO Solar Power System contains a power regulator and energy reservoir connected in between the solar panel and the device under charge (DUC). Its function is to efficiently capture the electrical power generated by the solar panel, to store that energy in the reservoir, and to provide the DUC with a highly stable voltage and current at its output compliant with the requirements of the mobile device. The system features "Power Tracking" to condition the energy making the most efficient use of the sun. The output voltage and current are automatically controlled by the regulator to the precise levels required by the DUC.

Simple indicator lights show the status of the system. GO power supplies can also be used separately as carry‐anywhere charging systems for hiking and picnicking, and can be left on the dashboard of the car or placed in the window of the office for complete internal recharging. Silvr Lining also offers the "Booster Panel", a stand‐alone panel about twice as large as the Small Panel. When connected, the Booster Panel would cut in half the charging time of either the reservoir of the Small Panel or a DUC connected to the Small Panel.

The solar panels are constructed of rugged, flexible, and non‐flammable materials able to withstand the sun's radiation, hot and cold temperatures, and wet and dry conditions. Cable assemblies, including cables, connectors, and receptacles, and electronics enclosure are also waterproof. Additional adaptors are also available. More.

Smart, Intelligent, Living & InterActive Glass

Intelligent materials which can adapt to their environment and those which, more modestly, are able to alter their properties as required by their users are called "intelligent" or sometimes get pre-fixed with 'i-'. Liquid crystal glazing can be used to instantly block out intrusive observers. Thanks to electrochromism, blinds or curtains are no longer needed to darken a room: just press a button and a window will darken. At night, electroluminescent polymers can be used so that windows continue to emit light. Intelligent materials will be user and environmentally friendly. Continually self-cleaning materials, which are presently at the development stage, will keep roofs, windows and external glazed walls effortlessly clean without the need of special cleaning products. Many of them are used to make traditional products more attractive, enjoyable and safer to use. One company, namely the LTI Group in USA, give a multitude of applications not excluding ballistic glass. Thanks to the MWCoA forum for the tip & giving me the insight for this blog.

Living glass is applied to that glass that inter-acts with the user by coming into or near its vicinity: two demonstrations are given below. This glass will probably be the worse nightmare for window cleaners!

And finally, inter-active glass that will still need cleaning, but probably not by your average window cleaner, but I couldn't resist adding the video's as I'm blown away by this technology. If you want to keep up with this technology, go to Microsoft suface, Mindstorm, i-bar or google any of the title key words.