Glasses

A chance meeting at 35,000ft some three years ago between a movie studio executive and a Polaroid eyewear product development manager has resulted in the first Designer 3D collection of frames that are RealD approved and certified (RealD technology is used in most 3D applications). During an international flight, Rhett Adam from Look 3D Eyewear was given a “heads-up” by a studio exec about the impending 3D onslaught and quickly identified a new market. By the time he’d landed in his native Australia, the then 35-year-old had put in place plans to quit his job and embark on a new adventure. From those humble beginnings, Look 3D Eyewear was born and the company now has four series of passive 3D viewing glasses that come in a huge variety of styles. Say goodbye to looking like a nerd while viewing 3D content.  Read More

Although 3D TV manufacturers are playing nicely by agreeing to a standard 3D Blu-ray format, they’ve unfortunately clung to their proprietary ways for active shutter glasses needed to view 3D TV images. This means anyone who shells out for a new 3D TV isn’t able to take their glasses to a friend’s home to watch their 3D TV unless it is the same brand. But the folks at Home Cinema Choice have stumbled across an easy – albeit less than comfortable – solution. Just turn the glasses upside down.  Read More

A team at University of Florida has developed a new thin film technology that can convert infrared light into visible light. In layman terms, we can stop eating carrots to improve our night vision because it might soon be applied cheaply to our eye glasses, car windshields, even our cell phones, and it could be here in a little as 18 months.  Read More

For those that like their entertainment as personal as possible, iTVGoggles has released an update of its ITG-Vidix video glasses. Along with offering a virtual screen of 50” and up to three hours on a single charge, they also feature 2GB of internal memory, a MicroSD slot and a built in media player.  Read More

Members of Free Art and Technology (FAT), OpenFrameworks, the Graffiti Research Lab, and The Ebeling Group communities have teamed-up with legendary LA graffiti writer, publisher and activist Tony Quan aka Tempt One to develop a low-cost, open source eye-tracking system that will allow graffiti writers and artists with paralysis to draw using only their eyes. Their product, the Eyewriter, recently won the Interactive Award at the celebrated Brit Insurance Design Awards.  Read More

Forget looking at the world through rose colored glasses – try these on for size. Video eyewear manufacturer Vuzix has unveiled its Wrap 920AR glasses prototype that features cameras mounted to the lenses that project real world images onto LCD’s inside the glasses, seamlessly mixing real-world and computer generated imagery. With the LCD’s offering the view of a 67” display from ten feet away and the cameras able to capture video at a resolution of 752x480 at 60fps, the application promises a myriad of uses from gaming to education and social networking.  Read More

The days of a Universal Translator like the one that made chatting between alien species a non-issue in Star Trek might be some way off yet. But a new device from NEC is definitely a step in the right direction for those of us on planet Earth looking for a way to communicate with other language speakers that doesn’t involve a human translator or a well-thumbed phrase book. The prototype device called a “Tele Scouter” is a glasses type display that translates the foreign language being spoken by a partner and projects the translation onto a tiny retinal display.  Read More

From the category of “why didn’t I think of that?” comes the stem glass tray – a clever item for waiters (and heavy drinkers) that makes carrying up to eight wine glasses so much easier. It’s basically a tray with little holes in which you place the wine glass stems and a ninth hole for your thumb.  Read More

The eye strain and resulting damage that often afflicts those who forget to blink while on a gaming marathon or glued to the Internet is a widespread problem. To combat this, Japan’s Masunaga Optical Manufacturing has unveiled Wink Glasses, which feature blink-sensing lenses that start to fog if the wearer neglects to keep their peepers hydrated.  Read More