This article was taken from the July 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Wired takes a look at five great pieces of transparent technology, each of which lets you see-through its skin to reveal its inner workings.
Glass pool table
Nottage Design G-1
A glass pool table that plays like a fabric one? The secret is the transparent Vitrik surface that's layered on top of a 15mm glass base.
The Vitrik ensures that balls roll at a similar rate to those on traditional cloth/slate tables, can be spun (to slightly more aggressive effect) and are similarly silent. Tables are available in 2.4m x 1.2m or 2.1m x 1m.
From £26,000
<span class="s1">CNC-bot
Diatom Studio Piccolo
This tiny CNC computer-controlled robot is run using the open-source Arduino platform and comes with a library of software. Assemble and then hack it to do everything from draw tiny sketches, to work with other Piccolos to produce murals, to potentially laser-cut or 3D-print, depending on the tool attached.
Predicted RRP less than $70 (£45)
High-end aquarium
Octopus Studios Silverfish
A fish tank fit for a Bond villain, the Silverfish is designed for tropical freshwater specimens. The six interlinked chambers are made from polymethyl methacrylate and are assembled on site.
The 2m3 tank holds 230 litres of water and stands 1.4 metres high. The filtration, heating and lighting equipment are hidden inside the stand (not shown).
€5,000 (£4,039)
Syphon coffee-brewer
Hario TCA-2
This two-cup, 240ml heat-resistant glass siphon coffee-brewer is designed to extract maximum flavour from your ground coffee. Using a spirit burner to heat the water in the lower chamber creates pressure that forces hot water into the upper brewing chamber. Then, as the lower chamber cools, the coffee is sucked back down, through a cloth filter.
£80
See-through sounds
People People Speaker
To reduce shipping costs, this speaker arrives as a flat-pack kit containing all the electronics, speaker cones and assembly instructions - but no glass case. You buy the 6mm tempered glass, to the supplied template, from your local glazier. But if your glazing skills are lacking, the Swedish design consultancy will also sell you a ready-made speaker.
€500 (£404) (assembled)
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
