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MM: Google Glass' Factory Comeback; New Material For Super-Fast Jets

In this Manufacturing Minute episode, Google Glass makes a return and a new material for super-fast jets.

Google Glass Enterprise Edition

It’s been a while now since we’ve heard anything about Google Glass. First launched to the general public, the expensive augmented reality eye piece raised privacy concerns and early adopters were known as “Glassholes”, but then in 2015 the program was shutter and the devices were no longer available for sale. 

Now Google is relaunching the device as Glass Enterprise Edition and targeting businesses. With improved hardware, battery life and camera upgraded, the design has been reimagined and is being tested at companies to like AGCO which has reduced machinery production times by 25 percent by incorporating Glass into their manufacturing lines. Employees can have instant access to checklists, manuals and can make reports efficiently. 

DHL is also testing the devices to speed up the supply chain by delivering location info to a warehouse picker and recommend the best pick bath increasing efficiency there by 15 percent. 

SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

Can you see Glass becoming mainstream in manufacturing and warehouse settings? How could you use it in your workplace? Tell us what you think by leaving your comments below. 

A New Material For Super-Fast Jets

A handful of companies are currently working to once again offer supersonic passenger air travel more than a decade after the Concorde ceased flying.

But newly released research suggests that traveling at significantly faster speeds could be possible in the future.

Scientists at the University of Manchester in the U.K. and Central South University in China developed a new kind of ceramic coating capable of withstanding speeds of Mach 5 — or five times the speed of sound.

Although current aerospace systems — such as rockets, re-entry spacecraft and defense projectiles — can travel at those intense speeds, they rely on materials called ultra-high temperature ceramics to prevent extreme heat and speed from eroding their structure and components.

The newly developed carbide coating, however, proved to be 12 times better than conventional UHTCs at resisting temperatures of up to 3000 degrees Celsius.

It was also fabricated with a process called reactive melt infiltration, which takes less time than rival processes.

Engineers said the breakthrough could one day enable passenger travel at hypersonic speed — and revolutionize both commercial and commuter travel. 

A flight between New York and London at Mach 5, for example, would take just two hours.

SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

Is this coating really capable of reinventing air travel? What other applications could this ultra-durable material be used in? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.