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Samsung demos transparent smart window prototype
Samsung showed off its transparent display technology at last week's Consumer Electronics Show, demonstrating its potential use as replacement for actual windows at people's homes. The CES 2012 innovation award winner Samsung Smart Window is essentially a 46-inch LCD, only that it is completely see-through and can overlay touch controlled widgets as well as a browser and media.
Samsung also showed a series of applications running in its prototype device, including weather forecasts, flight information, Twitter feeds, view recipes, and a slick set of digital blinds that lets you control the amount of light coming in. You can also watch live TV or local media on this screen and even work with office productivity applications -- though it hardly seems the best fit for this purpose.
The Samsung Smart Window runs on ambient lighting so the LCD is powered by the sunlight outside. Privacy shouldn't be a problem as the display reportedly acts as a two-way mirror -- you can see out but not the other way around. Also, during the night time when there’s no light shining through the window powering the device, you can switch to night mode and use an edge-lit backlight instead.
We should note that this is still a concept device but apparently Samsung might start producing these displays by the end of 2012. Unfortunately, there's no information on expected pricing. Samsung also said that the technology could be scaled down for use in military visors and heads up displays.
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User Comments (16)
Post a comment|
Burty117
on January 16, 2012 10:58 AM |
I can see this costing an arm and a leg, very cool though. |
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Guest
on January 16, 2012 11:14 AM |
^ We wil be better buying an space shuttle to play with. |
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Taharial
on January 16, 2012 11:45 AM |
Absolutely that technology will be extremely costly right now but with all things, it'll eventually be affordable for average consumers. Very exciting stuff right here. I've seen something similiar to this where they could pull up traffic data and such on a windshield of a car. |
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Vrmithrax
on January 16, 2012 11:46 AM |
This could be an interesting technology to incorporate into certain fields, but I'm not too sure home windows would make sense - at least until the tech is really cheap. An information display embedded into something like display windows at a zoo or aquarium would certainly be cool, though. Sales window displays. Heads-up displays (or tactical for military) in windshields maybe... Places where cost is less of an issue, at first. |
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VitalyT
on January 16, 2012 12:24 PM |
Wow, the old sci-fi stuff gets realised. I remember first seeing this in Alien-2 when Ripley was sitting on a bench by this huge screen playing a park scene, looking quite realistic, and now it comes to reality, what do you know... |
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ikesmasher
on January 16, 2012 12:38 PM |
how bout cheap basic "glasses" for a Hud type thing for gaming? like, it would show your health and ammo and stuff, then if someone sent you a message, you could pull it up. and it wouldnt block your TV and stuff. |
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Guest
on January 16, 2012 2:26 PM |
the thing is, sci-fi by picturing futur techs, adds to the probabilty that they will exist at one point |
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Guest
on January 16, 2012 2:30 PM |
WOW it can become transparent to not on demand, while being a capacitive display? THIS IS THE FUTURE. Samsung truly is one of the few innovators in the CE industry. |
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ramonsterns
on January 16, 2012 2:52 PM |
I like this. Will it run on the next Windows? "Windows Windows"? "Windows˛"? Just "Windows"? |
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Mindwraith
on January 16, 2012 3:11 PM |
burty117 said: I can see this costing an arm and a leg so did black and white analogue tv's when they first came out |
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Cellar
on January 16, 2012 4:00 PM |
Can't 1-up a display like that. |
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Guest
on January 16, 2012 5:27 PM |
wow, that is pretty impressive tech. However, we all know how often windows get broken due to children or high winds, so even if this drops to the price of a normal computer i probably won't get one as it will be a bit too likely to be damaged. Also, I assume you can see the computer from outside too, so anyone passing by will know the home-owner is loaded with cash, so they'll probably be broken into, or at least have a brick thrown through their precious window :P |
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Guest
on January 16, 2012 9:43 PM |
Could be nice for a car's windsheild; the built in transparent display could work great for gprs 3d navagation [computer Ai voice] " Follow the blue arrow, turn left at stoplight, arriving in 30 seconds..." |
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pixelstuff
on January 16, 2012 11:27 PM |
Reminds me of the Corning: A Day Made of Glass video. A first step perhaps. |
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Guest
on January 17, 2012 12:46 AM |
I want this on my bathroom mirror! Oh, and as for the comment about people being able to see what you're doing, apparently it's one way. Personally I'd like to see what it looks like from the other side to see how "one way" it actually is. |
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bounca99
on January 17, 2012 1:14 PM |
I wonder if its waterproof....... |
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