Windows! Yes, not the phone, or the operating system, but the thing you fling open when it’s too hot, wave to your friends from, and perhaps throw rubbish out of. Samsung’s turning your household glass into a touchscreen wonder.
Mea culpa — this is probably the one thing we genuinely missed out on at CES. A sole regret. Chalk it up to the fog of war — or maybe because from afar, Samsung’s “Smart Window” looks just like… a window. At any rate, this thing is very cool, and unlike most “smart” (ugh) products we saw, actually looks like it could fit into a sci-fi home of the near future.
Essentially, the Smart Window is Haier’s transparent TV, only not utterly stupid and pointless. In actuality, it’s a TFT LCD panel with the ability to go fully transparent, like any other pane. But floating across the glass are a diversity of apps and images — you can check the weather, read email, Twitter and recipes. Or just watch TV. It’s all touch-controlled, and looks very smooth. And worry not, food and porn multitaskers — Mobile Nations says the panel will only be visible from the inside.
I balk a little at Samsung’s idea that I’m ever going to lean across my kitchen counter for serious computing stuff, but for casual info peeks, it’d be a nice little luxury. And that virtual blinds feature! Pure eye lollipops and gumdrops. Just make sure your neighbourhood baseball-slugging kids are at a safe distance when this thing arrives someday, or never. [Samsung]