Product turns windows into sound generators

Imagine hearing sales pitches as you walk by a glitzy shop window, or soothing dinner music emanating from a tabletop.

Etrema Products Inc. makes Whispering Windows, a device that uses rare metals to turn windows, tables and walls into sound generators.

The conference room at Etrema is filled with the sound of “We Will Rock You” and other Queen tunes. There are no speakers in the room — only two small, black objects on the edge of a marble-topped table, each the size and shape of a hockey puck.

“The music is actually coming from the table,” explains Todd Kreamer, the Ames company’s director of sales and marketing.

The device is marketed to retailers wanting to broadcast messages from their storefront windows.

Survey

Young adults lacking financial education

Young adults are generally optimistic about their financial futures, although not even a quarter say they have a good understanding of how to invest in stocks or mutual funds, according to a poll of nearly 1,000 young people.

Additionally, only a third are comfortable taking financial risks for possible gain and not even half pay off their full credit card balances monthly.

This apparent contradiction between future financial expectations and current practices is from a study of young adults ages 18 to 29 by State Farm Insurance. The Bloomington, Ill.-based company concluded that many people in this group were suffering from a lack of basic financial education.