Hasta La Gadget!

The advent of cheap cameras and free online streaming services means teachers can stream or even pre-record their lessons so students can watch them at their own pace and even in advance. But using conventional blackboards or whiteboards means the teacher is often facing away from the camera. That’s why Prof. Michael Peshkin of Northwestern University made the Lightboard.

The Lightboard is a 4 x 8 ft. pane of architectural glass lit by 8 ft. strips of white LEDs at the top and bottom of the frame. The transparent board lets Prof. Peshkin write and look at the camera at the same time. He uses fluorescent markers and a black background to make his notes and sketches more vivid. He also uses the board to superimpose images from a projector.

When he’s recording his lessons, Prof. Peshkin shoots himself and the board through a mirror to correct the orientation of his notes and sketches.

If you want to make your own Lightboard, check out Prof. Peshkin’s guide here.

[via Laughing Squid]

We’ve featured a sound system called the Transparent Speaker, which really only has a glass case. Two post-doctoral fellows at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) made an actual transparent speaker. It’s stretchable too. But the loudspeaker is not an electronic device; it’s an ionic device.

Instead of electrons, Jeong-Yun Sun and Christoph Keplinger’s speaker uses ions in an electrolyte to transport electric charge. The speaker is made of a thin and transparent sheet of rubber sandwiched between two layers of polyacrylamide gel filled with saltwater. When a high-voltage current is passed through these layers, the rubber sheet acts as a diaphragm. Harvard SEAS reports that this clear device can produce any sound in the “entire audible spectrum”, from 20Hz to 20KHz.

The speaker demonstrates two of the key advantages of an ionic device over an electronic device – transparency and elasticity – but there’s a third benefit: biocompatibility. Ionic devices are easier to incorporate into living creatures compared to electronics. They may also be used to create what Keplinger calls soft machines: “Engineered ionic systems can achieve a lot of functions that our body has: they can sense, they can conduct a signal, and they can actuate movement. We’re really approaching the type of soft machine that biology has to offer.”  

With that kind of potential, it’s not surprising that there have been previous efforts to make ionic conductors for practical use. Harvard SEAS explained that ionic conductors are prone to undergoing chemical reactions – including, uhm, combustion – when exposed to high voltage, and that ions move slower through a circuit compared to electrons due to their size and weight. Fortunately, Sun and Keplinger’s ionic conductor “overcomes both of these problems.” You can read the full report on Harvard SEAS’ website.

[via The Verge]

Polytron Technologies, a Taiwanese technology manufacturer, has unveiled designs and a prototype of their transparent smartphone. The entire touchscreen is transparent and is made out of what Polytron calls “Polyvision Privacy Glass”.  The technology behind “Polyvision Privacy Glass” is “Switchable Glass”. Basically liquid crystal molecules react when an electric current is passed through them to form a special sequence and they allow light to pass, making it transparent, when the charge is removed, the molecules reflect light.

(more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: LG Showcases Panorama Note Feature For Optimus Vu 2, Samsung Readies 5.5-inch Flexible Smartphone Display For CES 2013,

Transparent displays are nothing new, but while trawling the labyrinthine backstreets of CES in search of hidden gems, we couldn’t help but stop at IL WOO’s booth and ogle one. The company was demoing a couple of its Transview display cases with see-through Samsung panels, intended for interactive advertising and other commercial uses. We were particularly drawn to the 22-inch, 1,680 x 1,050 model with infrared touch control, mainly because of the nifty Flash program running on it, which did a great job of showing how the cases could be used. It was very much a treat for the eyes, so we’ll leave it there and just point you to the gallery and video below.

Kevin Wong contributed to this report.

Continue reading Transview touch-sensitive transparent display case eyes-on (video)

Filed under: Displays, HD

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Sharp has announced an unusual photovoltaic panel for the Japanese market that collects energy from the sun while still allowing the light to shine on through. Though it’s rated at a lowly 6.8 percent / 98 watt max efficiency, the glass-like properties make it useful as a construction material (as shown in the balcony railing above), with the semi-transparent nature giving occupants privacy, to boot. The energy-producing cells are embedded in a laminated glass structure and an air slot provides a thermal barrier, allowing the panels to also be used as “windows, curtain wall and eaves” according to Sharp’s PR. Though the system won’t win any potency prizes, it has garnered a design award in Japan, so it won’t blight any landscapes. There’s no mention of pricing or western availability so far, but you can hit the source for all the technical details.

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Sharp unveils semi-transparent solar panels, lets you see the sun while reaping its benefits originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 05:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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