glass

What it really takes to make a flexible phone (Smartphones Unlocked)

Had Dipak Chowdhury known just how accident-prone I really am, he never would have handed over the 0.1-millimeter sheet of glass for me to bend between my fingers.

Luckily for me, the vice president and director of Corning's Willow Glass division is a trusting soul and gave CNET the world's very first public demo of this glass so thin it can bend without breaking.

Flexible glass and flexible screens have been a hot topic for some time, culminating with fanfare at Samsung's demo of its curvy Youm OLED display at CES.

Companies like Samsung, Nokia, and … Read more

Google Glass turns up in FCC filing

Google Glass took another step toward reality today when its maker filed paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission laying out key technical specifications and certifying its compatibility with various standards.

The documents are a routine part of bringing a new wireless device to the market. They describe a device augmented by a Broadcom 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi radio and Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy. As noted by Engadget and The Verge, the application also makes apparent reference to bone-conducting speakers that deliver sound to the wearer via vibrating contact with the head.

All of this bodes well … Read more

Brin wears his Google glasses on NYC subway: Um, why?

In recent times, Google's Sergey Brin has become an ambulating, flying billboard for his company's next great invention, Google Glasses.

These things will project all the information you need to know (Mariah Carey just kissed someone!) straight into your eyes, as you bump into another fellow human, who is trying to take in the winner of the 3:30 race at Belmont Park.

Yesterday, though, Brin took his glasses for a very curious roam into the depths of New York's subway.

In this place where drunks commune with priests, strippers, Wall Street fiends and administrative associates, Brin … Read more

Is this 'Tron'-style floor the future of basketball?

Painting lines on a floor for team sports is so old school. Why not use programmable LED lights under a glass surface?

That's what Germany's ASB Systembau is doing with its ASB GlassFloor. With a frame of aluminum supporting a glass floor, it can be set to display lines for sports like basketball, handball, volleyball, or whatever else you want to play.

Ceramic dots on the glass re-create the feel of a wooden surface, while special etchings diffuse the LED light and prevent glare from bothering athletes.

That means you can also have all manner of ads, scoreboards, and graphics on the floor. … Read more

This Google patent application had us at 'laser keyboard'

Among the challenges developers will face when they start building for Google Glass this year is a basic one: how do users communicate with the device?

Glass has a microphone, and a button for taking pictures. But what if the user is in a noisy environment, or wants to create a long message? Is there any way to include a keyboard?

The answer is yes, according to an intriguing new patent application filed today with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Patent 20130016070, "Methods and Systems for a Virtual Input Device," shows a version of glass that … Read more

What to expect in the next BlackBerry

Wednesday's CNET Update gets a glimpse of the future:

Today's tech roundup looks at the leaked specs of the BlackBerry 10 L-Series all-touchscreen smartphone. TechRadar reports it got the specs from official training documents at Research In Motion. It's expected that all will be unveiled by RIM at an event later this month.

There are also rumors out about Nintendo and Sony. Reports say Nintendo is changing its corporate structure to combine its handheld and console teams into one. And Sony's vice president of home entertainment hinted that we may see a PlayStation 4 by the … Read more

The 404 1,190: Where we're knee-deep in Kudos (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- OK Cupid launches Crazy Blind Date.

- Delta's new iPad app shows off the world below your plane.

- MoviePass is the Netflix of movie theaters.

- Developer canned for outsourcing his job to China so he could surf Reddit.… Read more

Google Glass hackathons coming up in SF and NY

Google announced today that it is throwing two hackathons for developers to get to know and work on its Google Glass project. The people allowed to participate in the events are those who agreed to fork over $1,500 for the developer edition of the wearable device.

"It's the first opportunity for a group of developers to get together and develop for Glass," Google told CNET.

The hackathons are slated to be two days long and take place in San Francisco on January 28 and 29 and in New York on February 1 and 2. Those developers … Read more

Hands-on with Corning's bendable Willow Glass (exclusive)

LAS VEGAS--There's no question that flexible screens are the future, along with the bendable products that go with them. Corning, maker of Gorilla Glass 3, was kind enough to drop by our CNET booth at CES to show me Willow Glass, its take on bendable glass so thin you can curve it in a deep arc without breaking.

Willow Glass is as thick as a business card -- only 0.1 millimeter thick -- and as malleable as promised. I could easily bend it within its plastic laminate cover, but at this early stage in development, I wasn't … Read more

Eyes-on: Samsung's Youm flexible-display tech at CES 2013

LAS VEGAS -- Samsung debuted its Youm flexible-display technology at CES' closing keynote, and the tech is nothing short of eye-popping.

The screens, which were shown off here as just a concept, promise to change what kind of form factors are possible for companies that make smartphones and tablets.

Samsung brought out a handful of demo units around 5-inches in size to show press, including a phonelike device with a screen that wraps around the side edges and could therefore display information like text messages and other alerts without a user needing to view the entire screen. A similar design … Read more