Samsung has teamed up with Absolut Vodka to show off the screen on a commercial cooler for its liquor. The screen is the front of the glass cabinet door. The buyers can see advertisements on the door of the cooler and still look inside to see if the cooler is stocked.

The 46-inch LCD screen has a contrast ratio of 4500:1 and a resolution of 1366 x 768 allowing it to show (720p) HD content. The downside is that the see-through design makes the display have worse than normal color reproduction with a 70% color gamut. Still, it’s pretty cool.

Samsung showed off a similar transparent display demo at last week’s CES, which was used to create what they called a “Smart Window.” What other cool uses do you see for a clear display like this?

The touchpad runs along the base of the keyboard. When the device is closed, the visible gap converts to an touchscreen, using a custom Windows 8-esque “Metro” interface to display one or two rows of tiles. Users can tap them to access a summary of pertinent information such as their calendar, e-mail, Facebook or news updates. You can also view power settings, the date and time without opening up the laptop’s lid.

Keep in mind that the touchpad itself isn’t a display. It’s just letting you see through to the laptop’s screen underneath, and software automatically changes what’s displayed when the laptop is closed.

Intel is also partnering with Nuance in order to develop voice recognition technology for the device and wants to retail it for less than $600 (USD).

[via The Verge via Designboom]

Developed by Sanden, in cooperation with Okaya Electronics and Intel, this concept vending machine has a 65-inch full HD vertical display on front. The transparent touchscreen display can not only show animated graphics, but provides product information and merchandising, and even acts as a clock while waiting for its next customer.

The prototype machine even offers facial recognition technology so it could display customized menus based on the individual user as they walk by.  And if it doesn’t know you, it can display products based on what demographic it THINKS you fit into based on your age or gender. How Minority Report of them.

[via DigInfo.TV]

So what several Japanese scientists from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute did instead was develop a chemical reagent that could turn biological tissues transparent. The photo above is not of a human embryo (because not only is it unethical, it’s also illegal, but the thought still crossed my mind all the same), but of a mouse embryo.

The reagent is called Scale (with an italicized “l”, as you can see) and was developed by Atsushi Miyawaki and his team at RIKEN. Scale can turn any tissue transparent, without causing any major alternations or changes in the overall shape or proportion of the sample. While Scale is definitely the most advanced of its kind, it still has a long way to go. The reagent can be used on living tissue; however, it quickly turns the tissue from living to non-living because of its nature.

Miyawaki explains that Scale was primarily intended for conducting research on the brain of mice, but that he and his team hope to improve the reagent more to extend its application to heart, muscle, and kidney tissues–not only of rodents, but also to human and primate tissues in the future.

[via PopSci via Dvice]

The panel is also made of glass, and has all of the parts that the default and demure back panel has, including the camera lens, flash diffuser and bezel. The picture above already shows the panel installed on an iPhone 4, while the picture below shows the panel installed on an iPhone 4 with its logic boards stripped of their EMI shielding. The latter is much prettier, but it also increases the risk of damage to your phone.

Unfortunately for Verizon iPhone 4 owners, this panel is only compatible with the GSM version. You can order the transparent iPhone 4 rear panel from iFixit for $30 (USD). If you don’t know how to remove and replace the back panel, just check out iFixit’s guide.

[via iFixit Blog via Electronista]

From what I can tell, only about 10 of these machines were ever made, and they lived within the walls of Apple. Now, if you’ve got deep enough pockets, you could be the proud owner of one of these extreme rarities. Apparently, these machines were built for the Macintosh R&D team at Apple to verify the placement of internal components, and never were intended for production.

This particular see-through Mac SE is being offered over on eBay with a starting bid of a whopping $25,000 (USD). For that price, you could buy a pretty nice car. Or 50 iPads. And this transparent Macintosh doesn’t even boot up properly. The guy selling it says it’ll boot off of the 800k floppy drive only. And being such a rarity, I’d doubt that cracking it open and fixing the hard drive would be good for its resale value.

Imagine if they had actually released this thing back when it was made. What if it came out and bombed? Would the transparent iMac have ever seen the light of day?

The XCM Cyberbot case doesn’t just look awesome, it actually lets you see your Blu-ray or DVD disc spinning when it’s switched on.

Check out the video below to see some spinny Blu-ray action.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

No word on how much the Cyberbot case will retail for, but you’ll probably be able to find one at Extreme-Mods or Totalconsole any day now.

Samsung Mobile Display has started showing off an AMOLED display that’s completely transparent. The 19-inch screen is the largest see-through display yet, and Samsung is working on techniques to produce this technology in displays up to 40-inches diagonal – although there’s no plan to produce the sort of curvy screens seen in Avatar.

While I’m not sure what Samsung’s market plans are for the technology, I could see it being great for heads-up displays on windshields, cockpits, head-mounted displays, news anchor desks, and other locations where seeing through a display is useful. Better yet, I’d just like to have one because it’s flat-out cool looking. Samsung hopes to ramp up AMOLED production in 2012 and beyond, but has announced no further plans for these transparent prototypes.

[via ETNEWS (translated) via OLED Display]

Fils Sound Film is a flexible, light transparent sound technology which can be used to create speakers pretty much anywhere you’d ever want. The speakers are actually produced using piezoelectric film which can produce sound waves when electrical current is applied. Sound quality isn’t stellar, since the low-end drops out at 200Hz, but the highs range all the way to 25kHz.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Fils currently wholesales a number of strange looking speaker units that are made from the thin stuff, like these.

But I think the real innovation will come when display manufacturers start layering this stuff in front of tiny flat screen portable devices which don’t have room for a speaker. I imagine you could also produce some pretty cool interactive art using this tech.

You can get more information on Sound Film technology over at the Fils website.

The ZAZ tells time using a minimal liquid-crystal display that that indicates the hours, minutes and seconds using stacks of dots and dashes. Unlike most LCD watches, the ZAZ features an unusual transparent screen that lets you see through to your wrist below. And unlike some other unconventional watch displays out there, this one is actually pretty easy to tell the time with.

The stainless-steel watch comes is positioned asymmetrically on its band, lending to its distinct looks. Each one is water-resistant to 3ATM, and is available with either a black or white leather band, or one with mesh silver styling. The Nooka ZAZ will ship later this Fall, and is available for pre-order over at Watchismo for $380 (USD).

Despite its name, the Crystal Clear actually sports an red face, not a clear one. The watch features a smooth black polyurethane band and a large LCD display which shows through its transparent ruby red face. A stainless steel bezel does a nice job offsetting the display from the band.

And if black isn’t your thing, it also looks like there’s a white version of the watch in the works too.

Who says design is dead? The Crystal Clear watch should start shipping on or about 10/25/2008 over at the Fossil website for $125 USD.

That’s exactly what the guys over at Transparent House are doing with their cassettes. The designers make each lamp from dozens of individual cassette tapes, arranged into visually appealing patterns. Not only do they look cool as a sculptural piece, they cast dramatic shadows onto surrounding surfaces.

Each lamp uses a bright, cool-burning neon light source to keep the plastic cassettes from melting. Of course, they left each tape in its original transparent case so they could be together glued neatly.

And if you have a fond place in your heart for the old micro-cassette, you don’t have to feel left out. They’ve got a lamp just for you, made from 140 of the mini tapes.

Now the guys over at Transparent House don’t say if they’ll be producing these en masse, or if they’re just one-of-a-kind design pieces. Personally, I’d love a couple of these in my media room.

[via geeksugar]

The display features a simulated analog clock face along with a digital readout for a secondary time zone. It’s also got day, date and alarm functions so it’ll even work as a bedside clock if you don’t mind the lack of backlighting. Plus, it’s battery-powered so you won’t have any cords running around. The World Panel Clock is available from CB2 for $24.95.

The minimal briefcase-style design features a unique transparent plastic enclosure. There’s a dock for a Nokia music-capable phone (not sure if anything else will dock there), and then two substantive speakers with all their guts exposed for the world to see. The Nokia boombox is currently slated for release in Finland. Plans for other markets are unknown.

[via The Cool Hunter]