Corning Inc. has a vision for your future.
It wants to fill it with electronically enabled, touch-sensitive display glass that will turn everyday household items -- bathroom mirrors, refrigerator doors and countertops -- into interactive surfaces.
It wants to put similar glass in vehicle displays and integrate it into vehicle designs.
It wants to make large-format display glass available for videoconferencing and business collaboration.
The blueprint for this transformation of display glass is contained in a six-minute video available on Corning Inc.'s website and on YouTube.
"A Day Made of Glass -- Made Possible by Corning," points to some "gee whiz" products that could be available in the near future.
One is architectural display glass that would allow you to send an e-mail from your bathroom mirror -- or any similar surface in your home.
Another is flexible display glass on which images and videos could be displayed. When finished with a presentation, just roll it up, tuck it under your arm and carry it away.
The new glass surfaces would allow you to transfer an image from your smartphone to, say, a kitchen countertop, where it could be resized. You could watch the news on the kitchen counter -- literally -- while making breakfast.
Large-pane display glass could make huge images available on building exteriors; while large-format glass could be turned into interactive, weather-resistant road signs.
There's not much doubt about the ability of the Twin Tiers' largest employer to deliver these products. It has a history of innovation that has pushed glass beyond its perceived limits for more than a century.
The big question is whether it will be able to sell them in profitable quantities. These are high-end products that will go into high-end new homes and expensive corporate construction projects in urban areas. You're not going to buy that e-mailing bathroom mirror in Wal-Mart -- at least not in the near future.
These innovative products are not likely to have significant impact on manufacturing employment in the Corning area. The center of the display glass world remains in Asia.
The area could benefit, however, if Corning Inc. decided to make Corning a demonstration community for the first wave of these products.
That would help the company by spreading the word to tourists about its display glass innovations and the community by adding to its distinctiveness.
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