Awesome Video - Imagining Glass Technology in The Future

Here is the video, ‘A Day Made of Glass,’ showing a magnificently hypothetical concept or rather Imagination created by Corning Incorporated, an American manufacturer of glass, ceramics, and related materials, primarily for industrial and scientific applications.

The video shows that what would be your typical day scenario, waking up from the bed in your beautiful luscious estate with your good looking wife side by and as the photovoltaic glass revealing yet another perfect day in pleasant ambiance, in a completely interactive glassy world. Followed by various interactions—with every piece of glass you encounter throughout the day—being touch sensitive, electronic enabled displays.

The video, five and half minutes duration, was created by Corning Inc. and uploaded on YouTube an year ago.

And the video receives a notable comment from a viewer: The car will be largely autonomous, the smart phones will be wearable (and shortly followed by direct neural connections) and the clothes will be printed at home and probably disposable. The world will be point and click whereby items are either printed/produced on the spot or delivered in a very short time. Going to work will be obsolete with most tasks performed by AI robotic systems. Citizens will receive money unit credits and no longer have to work to support lifestyle. Personal entertainment and enrichment activities will become the primary focus of life.

How soon do you think this glass future will be a reality, and what future elements would you like to include?

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Google's Self-Driving Cars Roam Around Silicon Valley Roads

The latest models of Google’s self-driving cars are now cruising the streets near the Internet company’s Silicon Valley headquarters as an ambitious project to transform the way people get around shifts into its next phase.

This marks the first time that the pod-like, two-seat vehicles have been allowed on public roads since Google unveiled the next generation of its self-driving fleet more than a year ago. The cars had previously been confined to a private track on a former Air Force base located about 120 miles southeast of San Francisco.

    Google announced last month that it would begin testing the curious-looking cars last month, but hadn’t specified the timing until Tuesday when it disclosed the vehicles are driving up to 25 miles per hour on the roads around its Mountain View, California, office. 

     Google had installed its robotic driving technology in Lexus sports utility vehicles and Toyota Priuses during the first few years of testing before developing the smaller prototype. The new models are designed to work without a steering wheel or brake pedal, although the vehicles will be equipped with those features during the initial runs on public roads.

     A human will also ride in the cars to take control in emergencies, just as has been the case with the self-driving Lexus vehicles during the past six years.

The debut of the pod-like car will help Google get a better understanding on how well its technology works around other vehicles steered by people.

In 2014, Google Inc. told reporters it hoped to have a 100 of the self-driving prototypes in its fleet by now, but the company said it has only built 25 of them so far. All 25 have received permission from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to drive neighbourhood roads.

If all goes well, Google hopes to gain regulatory clearance to remove the steering wheel, brake pedal and emergency driver from the prototype. Company executives have expressed hope that self-driving cars using its technology will be joining the flow of daily traffic by the end of this decade.

The earlier models of Google’s self-driving cars had been involved in 13 minor accidents through more than 1.8 million miles on the roads, according to the company. Google blamed the collisions on other vehicles in every instance except one when the company says one of its own employees was steering.

Motorists who encounter Google’s latest self-driving car while they are in Mountain can share their experience with the company at http://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/contact/.

Reference: The Hindu

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