Hey! Four eyes! Sick of having to tilt your head to read stuff with your bi-focals? Then you need to geek up your specs. The EmPower! glasses do just that, electronically adjusting the focal point of the glasses as quickly as you can blink your eye.
By simply tilting your head or touching your temple, the glasses activates a layer of liquid crystals in each lens to provide correction for all types of sight problems. The glasses are powered by a microchip, mini accelerometer and come with tiny rechargeable batteries which offer two to three days of use between recharges.
Perhaps the description from the EmPower! site explains it best:
Now you can adjust your vision just by living your life. With emPower!™, the first electronic-focusing eyewear. A touch of the temple or tilt of the head activates a layer of liquid crystals in each lens, instantly creating a near-focus zone. emPower! not only gives you control over your vision, it also provides wider fields of view and less distortion than progressives. Explore the site and see why emPower! is the biggest optical advance in over 50 years.
For the fashionistas, the glasses come with a selection of about 48 frames and offer transition lenses to use as sunglasses as well.
Pricing is between $US1000-$US1200, which seems expensive to me , but I’ve never had to buy a pair glasses…
[Lifeactived via The Gadgeteer]
Titsnass
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 11:09 AMDo they actually look like that photo? Because if they do, good luck selling them! I use reading glasses, so something like this is a very nice idea, sans ridiculous price! There is another company. can’t remember their name that created a system of lens that is filled with a liquid and you can change the focus by adjusting the thickness of the lens. I think it was a cheap way to give glasses to the poor.
Corteks
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 11:44 AMGood luck selling them if they look like the photo? They look exactly the same as regular glasses. You do realize the image above shows them in their charging cradle right?
Titsnass
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 2:02 PMFair enough! Wasn’t looking that closely to be honest. If those are the glasses without charger, then OK. The price is still horrendous though!
Stu
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 2:09 PMlol
Ron Van Wegen
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 2:55 PMYou’re thinking of http://www.superfocus.com/
and they’re not for the poor, they’re for the fashionable rich – one design fits all!
Titsnass
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 3:16 PMI’m going to assume that was meant for me. They may now be for the rich, but when I first saw them, (I think it was one of the beyond/towards 2000 shows) they were definitely originally developed for those who couldn’t afford glasses. Just goes to show, if you can make a motza out of something, screw the poor! As for under $700.00 F*ck that!
Pies
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 11:22 AMGlasses cost 500 AUD for a designer frame and lens (after rebate). So yes, ridiculous.
Just This Guy ...
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 2:13 PMBut the $500 dollar ones don’t do all the funky electronical stuff.
$1000 bucks for glasses that can adjust themselves to suit your needs?
I’d pay that.
Costs more than that to get corrective eye surgery, which is the only other solution apart from getting (like I currently have) several pairs of (almost $400 a pair) glasses to accommodate the varying viewing conditions I’m up against every day. (Reading – one pair, watching telly, another pair and outdoors flying RC helis another pair again)
Plus, they can only get cheaper as the tech evolves.
Gimme gimme gimme.
attila
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 11:38 AMWhat happened to the story on the Sony 3D headset? Its gone down the memory hole.
Pies
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 12:08 PMWhat, you want to add 3D to real life? It boggles the mind!