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Tag Archive for: wired glass

Your beer glass could be spying on you

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Your beer glass could be spying on you

Your beer glass could be spying on you

With all the talk about who makes the best beer, another beer-related battle is brewing – who makes the best beer glass? A startup called Glassify says that it will soon bring its “smart glass” to a corner brewery near you – if you live in Europe or North America.

The glass is outfitted with a NFC chip and QR code combo that’s been embedded in the base of the glass. In theory, the consumer bellies up to the bar, introduces his brew to his smartphone (which is loaded with the Glassify app) and a little bit of marketing magic happens. The customer’s identity, age and location is transmitted to the brewery. In exchange, the customer receives a free beer or other promotion.

Patrons can “charge” their glasses with money to spend at the bar, and can transfer drinks to friends. In addition to receiving promotions at the bar they’re currently visiting, patrons can also receive promotions for nearby establishments. The app also keeps track of what a person orders, so bars can already see a patron’s preferences.

Never heard of a smart glass? Not surprising. Right now, there are only a few thousand glasses in use as part of a pilot program in the Europe and US. The smart glass invasion is expected to heat up in earnest in the first half of 2017. Based on the results of the pilot program, bars say that sales have increased substantially because of the glass. The programming limits the number of promotions to five per visit for each drinker. The app can also interface with Uber to help bar patrons avoid DUIs.

The smart glass just goes to show that there are a lot of things you can do with glass, including increasing drink sales!

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Photo Credit: Glassify

Wired Glass: Safe or not?

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Wired Glass: Safe or not?

Wired Glass: Safe or not?

You’ve seen wired glass. It’s used in doors and windows, and has an open wire mesh built into it. Many people assume that it’s safety glass, but it’s not. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, traditional wired glass doesn’t meet the organization’s glass safety impact standard.

Wired glass isn’t safety glass

In the late 1970’s, the CPSC determined that wired glass posed a serious danger and imposed size restrictions on its use. The size restrictions recognized that the glass had a very limited ability to survive impact stresses. The glass, which is weaker than safety glass, wasn’t banned outright because at the time the rule was made, wired glass was the only fire-rated glass product on the market. Because of this, wired glass was granted a compliance exemption for impact strength, specifically for academic and athletic applications.

By the early 2000’s, new safety glass had become widely available, and traditional wired glass lost its impact strength exemption. Any replacement glass in these locations had to meet the new strength requirements, and glass used in athletic environments had to meet an even more stringent safety standard. Traditional wired glass can be used as door lights, as long as it does not exceed the maximum size limits allowed by the CPSC standard.

The debate about wired glass is not about its relative safety in a fire. Wired glass – especially traditional wired glass – is weaker than regular glass and was installed liberally in schools, largely for its fire rating. Unfortunately, wired glass is responsible for more than 2,500 injuries annually in schools alone. Most injuries occur when a child accidentally impacts the window and the glass breaks.

School building codes do not permit the installation of traditional wired glass in certain areas, and limits the permissible size of wired glass windows in other locations. At the same time, building codes do not require the glass to be removed, either. Generally speaking, insurers and building inspectors recommend that wired glass be removed from areas where impacts are possible or likely.

Alternatives to wired glass exist, including a wired glass that incorporates a safety film. The film improves the impact resistance of glass and reduces the potential for serious injury in the event of a catastrophic impact. Other fire rated options that are more aesthetically pleasing are also available.

At GlassPaint.com, we can’t offer an improved safety rating, but we can definitely improve the aesthetics of glass. Glassprimer™ glass paint is specially engineered to bond to the surface of glass. Once cured, Glassprimer™ glass paint is permanent, and resists UV light damage, chipping, peeling and fading. We can also match any palette from any major paint manufacturer. If you’d like more information about Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit the rest of our site. If you’d like to purchase Glassprimer™ glass paint, please visit our online store .

Photo Credit: Frank Servayge , via Flickr.com