Corning's 'A Day Made Of Glass 2' Reveals More Innovative Ideas (VIDEO)

Corning, the maker of Gorilla Glass display coverings for smartphone and tablet touchscreens, wants you to picture a future in which interactive displays cover nearly every surface.

In January, Corning announced an even more durable and lightweight second-generation of Gorilla Glass, but the company also has some ambitious visions of possible innovations. Showcasing some of its stunning, futuristic concepts, Corning on February 3 released a gorgeous video titled "A Day Made of Glass 2," a sequel to its equally impressive viral video "A Day Made of Glass," posted last February.

Both videos feature a family of four going about a "normal day," aided by glass-pane tablets and touchscreen walls. But the latest video reveals an even broader view of the role specialty glass could play in the "near future," reaching out of the home and into hospitals, schools, even parks.

In a release accompanying the video on the company's website, Corning explained the role that custom-made glass products might soon play in high-tech daily life:

Glass is the essential material enabling this new world. The displays and touch surfaces of the future will require materials that are tough, yet thin and lightweight; that can enable complex electronic circuits and nano functionality; that can scale for very large applications, and that also have a cool, touch-friendly aesthetic.

With these materials, the wall-sized interactive displays, multitouch work tables, paper-thin readers, and electrochromic windows shown in "A Day Made of Glass 2" could be available in homes, classrooms, hospitals -- nearly everywhere else.

The FAQs Corning made available on its website, as well as the "Unpacked" version of the video, featuring a narrator who guides viewers through the products shown, make it very clear that much technological development is still needed before we can reach the far-off, futuristic world of "A Day Made Of Glass 2."

Aside from that expected obstacle, according to Mashable, the company may also encounter trouble with "lower LCD glass prices, higher corporate tax rates and declining equity earnings, which have combined to lower Corning's profitability." However, Corning does expect a growth in sales to $10 billion by 2014.

While we wait to see how Corning fares in the years to come, at least we can enjoy this fascinating look at a potential future. Check out "A Day Made of Glass 2" (below):

Comments

[gregory57]

10:22 AM on 02/09/2012

Those kids, in the photo, look like they're at a funeral, gathered around a coffin with a video panel for a cover.

[omeo2013]

02:31 AM on 02/09/2012

The Future is AWESOME!

[MojoWorking]

11:41 PM on 02/08/2012

All this visionary crap is based on not only a healthy economy, but also on workers being valued and paid a fair wage. You know money for discretionary spending ... That is not the trajectory that we as a country are on. Wall St and the 1% just won't believe that people will not be able to afford to buy their junk as wages - jobs - and benefits keep shrinking.

What a bunch of hoo-haa

[Shannon Devon McKee]

05:14 PM on 05/26/2012

I'm pretty sure that the government plans to kill off most of the population before such a future as this comes to pass. They will get rid of all the lower classes and anyone with "undesirable" traits until only the best are left.

[ilovecandy]

09:21 PM on 02/08/2012

D: It's science, the end of the world is near.

[FreelanceWriter]

06:00 PM on 02/08/2012

Oh, sure, a world made of glass sounds great...unless you happen to live in California like me, where we're still waiting for the "Big One" to hit. And when THAT day comes there's going to be (1) a lot of dust pans coming out of the closet, to sweep up all that shattered glass...

...and (2) a heckuva lot of people slapping their heads in a Homer Simpson way saying "DOH! Why didn't I just keep all of my records written down in a spiral notebook like I used to?!"

[gregory57]

04:49 PM on 02/08/2012

Ever seen Fahrenheit 451? Finally! We'll be able to burn all the books!

[Dulce Janet Chiquito]

03:14 AM on 02/11/2012

seen? that was the beginning. I read it, but yes, the "family" is close

[Douglas Pyle]

04:02 PM on 02/08/2012

Goofy user interfaces from a glass company. Stick to glass!

[psychomom]

01:25 PM on 02/08/2012

Yeah, but can they make lightweight glasses that prevent the lenses from getting so scratched that you can barely see out of them? These plastic lenses s*u*c*k*!

[Layman23]

03:09 AM on 02/08/2012

Now this is what is called a Great American company that innovates and manufactures its stuff in the USA. Worthy of a "Made in USA" label.

[gregory57]

04:50 PM on 02/08/2012

They're trying to get people excited about Glass here. The potential of a world where every surface is a video monitor. That's a future you can have. I want no part of it.

[Carbon Forteetoo]

09:38 PM on 02/07/2012

1. What about flexible glass surfaces?
2. Those dinosaurs should have feathers.
3. There is no third thing.

[Carbon Forteetoo]

09:35 PM on 02/07/2012

Buy stock in Windex ASAP!!

[Chuck Dick]

08:21 PM on 02/07/2012

Getting sick and tired of these videos. Lots of talk, no action. You never see Apple making these types of videos. Why not? Because they're an action company. They just do it. No "Here's what we're doing next year," or "Look at what we're working on." With Apple it's simply: "Here it is."

Microsoft and RIM are notorious for these pie-in-the-sky videos. It appeases shareholders, who think that the payday must be just around the corner if this is what they're working on. And 2010 rolls by. Then 2011. Then 2012. Then it's, "Well, we need to reevaluate our strategy in light of what Apple has just released."

[stopgeorge]

08:42 PM on 02/07/2012

I hold Apple responsible for this idiotic over-the-top commitment to touch-screen technology.

[FreelanceWriter]

05:48 PM on 02/08/2012

LOL the reason you "never see Apple making these type of videos" is because the Cult of Apple devotees make these type of videos FOR them. For crying out loud, you can't go online and throw a stick without hitting a web site that will have some kind of article -- complete with graphics or video -- where they talk about "what" the next iPhone or iPad will look or be like.

Heck, you can't even log in HERE at Huff Po without being treated to a once a week slideshow trumpeting "Apple rumors of the week!" where they do the exact same thing.

Sure, the videos are for shareholders. Sure they're to get people jazzed. But it's also good test marketing too. True Story: years ago, AT&T ran a series of commercials narrated by Tom Selleck, where they'd show you high tech stuff and basically he'd say "Imagine a world where you can...(show futuristic device being used)...well, one day you will!"

ALL of those things were ACTUALLY current experiments at Bell Labs. They just wanted to see HOW people would respond to them and IF they should keep pouring money into them, to bring them to market.

So keep in mind the videos aren't always fake.
In fact, some of these things might be closer than you realize!

[jackbond]

05:57 PM on 02/07/2012

"lower LCD glass prices, higher corporate tax rates and declining equity earnings, which have combined to lower Corning's profitability."

Seriously who writes this drivel? Higher corporate tax rates??? Poor poor corporations. They can MURDER people at will, buy all the politicians they want, they OWN the supreme court, are paying the lowest taxes in modern history, and higher corporate taxes are a problem? Give me a break.

[MichaelAKD]

07:19 PM on 02/07/2012

in terms of technology, this section of the h.post, the story is relevant. the discussion in regards to unfair tax rates, loopholes, etc. that is for the politics section and isn't addressed in this piece, not drivel imho.

[MtnGeek]

04:53 PM on 02/08/2012

Read the article again. jackbond was responding to a quote from the article.

[spartanladkenny]

05:34 PM on 02/07/2012

Very cool! Just wondering though, when are the kids going to "write", "draw" and "paint" with their hands?

[stopgeorge]

05:46 PM on 02/07/2012

Another good point. The act of writing is highly unsatisfactory with a simple "stylus". There is not enough "friction" -- the same subtle (but highly important) tactile feedback that you get from a regular pencil or pen.

It is another problem that must be resolved before tablets become useful in the real world.

[spartanladkenny]

05:57 PM on 02/07/2012

One of the things I've noticed (as an architect) is that more and more architects don't really know how to sketch. I was an arch student in the late 90s which was probably the last few years before computers took over the trade completely. So we learned how to draw with our hands the old fashioned way. We also had students with phenomenal handwriting which was considered our personal touch. I've seen younger architects with handwriting as terrible as doctors. I think its a direct result of designing only on computers. The same goes for other fields.

[Humanity Beyond Profits]

05:21 PM on 02/07/2012

a good reminder we are trying to teach a 21st century generation with 20th century methods...

the world is full of possibilities if only we are able to teach kids the extent of our knowledge by the time they get out of high school instead of them not even being introduced to the basic concepts until college/universities...