Oh that, the thumbnail thing for youtube links. Yeah, I miss that too, its stupid not to allow it. Same for pic links too, because if you post a pic of something there is no display of it in the post and you just see the link to it and you are still restricted to the ‘h’ separation trick (see below) to keep it out of moderation – and that just spoils the post if its something explanatory about that being posted for a comment.

Over at TTAG now, they don’t allow that either. But you can post youtube links without going to moderation over there (from which your post may never return at TTAG) by putting a space after the ‘h’ in ‘https’ like this h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90eg_erObDo

SNW also doesn’t display Gravatars anymore, either.

I should clarify…

There was a stretch of time in which they didn’t work. They do now as of recently, but are only displayed as links. They don’t show the vid thumbnail. I like that feature of Dan’s previous site.

Oh, and Transparent Aluminium actually exists. Right now its so costly to make no manufacturer has invested in doing it exclusively, so its not really available as a mainstream material. But do a search for Transparent Aluminium on youtube or a search engine and you will come across it. Recently though in the last few months science has come up with a way to make it cheaply, and if that works out we might see it used.

Oh, and Transparent Aluminium is a real thing, has been for years now. Its a ceramic composed of Aluminium, Oxygen and Nitrogen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DduO1fNzV4w

Its very expensive to make, project cost prohibitive when cheaper and more quickly and cheaply manufactured materials are available. More manufacturing is needed, some company needs to go all in on making it and mainstreaming it for the cost to come down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn_JBCz09Y4

They do allow youtube links at SNW…

Scotty and Transparent Aluminium

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90eg_erObDo

Transparent aluminum. Like ‘ol Scotty’s gift to the 20th Century in Star Trek IV…

(I wish SNW would allow YouTube links like TTAG does)

“Optical grade sapphire would be nice, but I’m guessing not.”

It would be nice, literally ‘transparent aluminum’. (Well, aluminum oxide, anyways.)

Most wristwatch crystals are made of it, *highly* scratch-resistant…

“Wouldn’t the clear top allowing bright light to invade the ‘dot space’ make visibility of the dot a challenge for the user?”

Good question. I’m guessing it would.

I’d like to see a real ‘hands on’ actual use review free of hype. Dan, can you get your hands on one? Maybe ask them to send you one for review?

Only the lens is glass – the ‘Translucent roof’ (its what Shield calls it) is a clear ‘polycarbonate’ based material it seems.