SmartWindow
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Ford’s smart windows can help blind passengers take in the view
Ford has created a device that could help visually impaired travelers get a sense of what the scenery around them looks like. It's called "Feel the View" and it turns a window into a vibrating depiction of what's outside. First, with the push of a button, the device snaps a picture of the window's view. It then turns that picture into a grayscale image and each shade of gray corresponds to a vibration of different intensity. Feel the View can generate up to 255 different levels of vibrations. The blind or visually impaired rider can then touch the window and feel what the outside looks like.
Researchers develop cheaper, more flexible smart glass
Thanks to the work of a team of researchers at the University of Texas, Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering, your next car windshield or apartment window could have an efficient, low-cost way of electronically controlling its tint, while also keeping your heating and cooling bills in check. According to a release from the University of Texas, associate professor Delia Milliron and her team of chemical engineers have invented "a new flexible smart window material" that can lighten or darken with a small electric charge and can easily be applied with a new low-cost, low-temperature process.
Researchers develop energy saving smart window that filters out heat and / or light
In the heat of summer, either you shut the windows and crank up the AC, or pull down the blinds and stumble around in the gloom. At least, that was the case. A team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has developed a new smart window that lets people choose what they want to let into their home, filtering out visible light, near-infra-red light, or both. Using a thin layer of nanocrystals that change state when electricity is passed through, will enable people to save on home energy bills by keeping the bulk of the Sun's heat out of the home without sacrificing the natural light. Now all we have to do is hook this up with one of Samsung's touchscreen windows and we'll never have to leave home again.
