Sunglasses

Most people are aware that ultraviolet (UV) rays can cause damage to the skin, but it can also damage the eyes. The cumulative effect of not protecting eyes from the sun can cause unpleasant problems such as cataracts, skin cancers around the eye and pterygium - an abnormal growth which starts in the corner of the eye but can grow over the cornea. Researchers from Penn State are hoping that a new recipe for making glass will further improve the protection offered by UV blocking sunglasses. The team has discovered that adding cerium oxide to phosphate glass could result in sunglasses, windows and solar cells that block UV light more effectively and have increased radiation resistance.  Read More

Given the increasingly-strange places USB Flash drives turn up these days – from Swiss Army knives to penguins – nothing should come as a surprise. But it still seems odd that ck Calvin Klein would decide that what the world wants right now is a 4GB USB data storage device built into a pair of designer sunglasses.  Read More

Vuzix has been a pioneer in the world of video eyewear, introducing the virtual reality video visor, the AV310 widescreen experience and now, video glasses that won’t make you look like you’re auditioning for Star Trek. In fact, the new Vuzix Wrap 920AV doesn’t simply combine a 60-inch viewing experience with the look of fashion sunglasses - you can actually see right through the screen into the outside world.  Read More

OK it’s not on the Inspector Gadget scale of ingenuity, but five cool functions in one pair of sunnies from the Xonix Watch Company still gets the gadget gene in us twitching. When you’re not simply wearing them to shield your eyes from the sun – which is one of its functions – the sports-designed sunglasses also serve as a video recorder, camera, music player and memory storage device. Built-in memory of up to 16GB caters for up to eight hours of AVI format video capture or up to 160,000 images depending on the resolution, which peaks at a less than awe-inspiring 2.0 megapixels.  Read More

June 26, 2008 Now this is an interesting idea we haven’t seen before – fitting bright LED lights to glasses so they can be switched on and make you “invisible” to cameras. Sadly, the otherwise good idea comes unstuck because no self-respecting celebrity would choose to look so silly. The promotional email we received for this video had a disclaimer – “CAUTION! - never use them for illegal act.” Sadly, the most likely market for this invention is bank robbers.  Read More

Barz Optics began creating purpose-built eye-protection for extreme watersports but the company’s ingenuity has seen it diversify into an array of products pursuits involving wind, salt, water, dust, sand and glare. Now it is entering the mainstream with an innovative set of wrap-around, low-cost, lightweight, polarized sunglasses with built-in non-polarized reader lenses – so you can read your GPS, mobile phone, PDA, digital instrumentation while in roughhouse conditions. We tried them and they are bloody marvellous!  Read More

September 10, 2007 It’s a sinking feeling – literally. You’re busy pulling in the first catch of the day and your sunglasses get caught up in the action, hit the water and sink serenely to a watery grave - never to be seen again. This invention gives a far better chance of retrieval - specialty sunglasses that are designed to float.  Read More