Gizmodo Australia » uv

I Wear My Suncontacts At Night

Mark Wilson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:10:27 +0000

Photochromic lenses that allow you to walk from inside to outside without putting on UV-filtering lenses have been around for decades. But the technology is just making its way to contacts.

Traditionally, these light-to-dark lenses have been constructed by coating a normal lens with a photochromic dye. When UV light hits the dye, the individual molecules expand, darkening the lens and absorbing light. Coating contacts, however, doesn’t work so well.

So researchers in Singapore have laced contacts with a matrix on nano tunnels filled with these photochromic dyes. Not only has the team been successful in producing transition contacts; these contacts darken in the presence of UV light faster than standard lenses (just 10-20 seconds).

Researchers are now working on isolating the photochromic material to just the corneal region of the eye, granting you all of the UV filtering without turning your entire iris black.

But until they graft the timeless style of a Wayfarer onto my eyeball, I’ll pass. [Technology Review and image]

Pureray UV Baby Bottle Could Be A Baby Killer

Sean Fallon — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:40:00 +0000

I get it — a baby bottle with a built-in UV lamp for killing any germs that might be lurking in the formula. Parents would eat this up. But would it do more harm than good?

Seriously, we have become a generation of germaphobes with our Purell bottles and crazy germ-killing gadgets. We are never exposed to germs so our resistance is down. That’s probably why everyone always seems to have a cold. So ditch the UV lamps, go out and and push that pram around town to toughen up. [Yanko]

Cole Cleaner Disinfects Your Disgusting Pop-Top Cans

Sean Fallon — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:40:00 +0000

I’ve never given it much thought, but looking at this Cole Cleaner UV pop-top disinfectant while I drink my un-sanitized Diet Dr. Pepper is giving me something of a hypochondriac panic attack.

Who or what could have touched the top of the can I am currently putting my lips to? Seriously, I can barely drink this now. *Slurp* I’m mortified beyond belief. At any rate, the idea behind the Cole Cleaner is much like any other UV gadget on the market—zap the germs into oblivion with a cleansing radiation bath. To be honest, I’m surprised this concept doesn’t already exist. [Yanko]

UV Razor Sanitiser Fights Off Nasty Bacteria You Picked Up Below the Equator

Sean Fallon — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:40:00 +0000

So, you use your razor to shave EVERYTHING on your body and now it’s as sharp as the edge of a manila folder. Dull blades lead to cuts and cuts lead to mutant face fungus.

Storing your razor in this UV sanitizer ensures that 99.9% of germs and bacteria are killed—plus it is portable. Remember that before you start going crotch to face again. You may also want to check out the long line of UV gadgets designed to keep you germ-free even in the nastiest environments. [Brookstone via TRFJ]

UV Monitor Assures Extra Tasty Crispy Tanning

Mark Wilson — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:04:00 +0000

If you’re like me, your skin boils in the presence of anything brighter than a 40W bulb. While my self-prescribed cave dwelling generally keeps me safe from the harsh glow of the sun, this UV monitor deals with those times we’re forced to go outside by tracking solar radiation levels in real time. Enter the SPF on your sunblock, and the device will calculate your safe window of remaining time in the sun. Plus, you can set a counter to alert you for when it’s time to call a beach bunny over to reapply. Pro tip: set the alarm for one-minute intervals. [techchee via coolestgadgets]

Bust Up Bali Belly With Your Own Magic Wand

Nick Broughall — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:36:51 +0000

Sure, you could just buy bottled water whenever you travel overseas to avoid the pleasure of spending your holidays bent over the porcelain because you brushed your teeth in the hotel’s bacteria-laden water supply. Or you can go the high-tech route.

The SteriPen JourneyLCD (which doesn’t at all sound like a permanent male contraception device) uses high-frequency ultra-violet light to kill off all those nasty bugs in your water. It can take a little bit of time to clean all the water, but thankfully the device features an LCD screen which comes up with a smiley face when your water is safe to drink.

Costing just US$130, and weighing about 140 grams, the SteriPen isn’t meant to replace filtration – if your water isn’t clear to begin with, the UV light won’t help much. But it does make it easy to ensure that your overseas holiday doesn’t involve a heap of snapshots of you with your pants down, crying like a baby.

[SteriPen via NYTimes]

Maxablaster Flashlight Burns Skin, Clouds, Vampires

Mark Wilson — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 17:00:49 +0000

The Maxablaster is a 38-million-candlepower flashlight that was made at home by (mad?) optics engineer Ralf Ottow. Replacing a commercial flashlight’s bulb with a plasma-powered mercury arc bulb, the Maxablaster creates a highly focused beam of light with a high UV content not so different from a star.

So UV-filtering glass was added to block the potentially harmful rays—though evidently this thing is still plenty bright enough to burn skin, as it has Ottow’s on at least one occasion. In real world application, the flashlight can illuminate a cloud that’s four miles in the air, or scare the neighbours by lighting up their house from the same distance.

One things for sure: when the vampires finally come out of hiding (a few hundred years after the robot apocalypse) we’re calling this guy.

And then we’re gonna be all like, “I see your Schwartz is as big as mine.” (Sorry, we held that joke back until our arms were trembling.) [popsci]

Germ Guardian Air Sanitiser Scares You Well

Mark Wilson — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 14:40:30 +0000

We’re not germophobes here at Gizmodo—not necessarily because we aren’t afraid of tiny sickness-inducing attack—but because we’re too lazy to dust let alone sterilise. But the Germ Guardian Air Sanitizer offers a lifestyle of sloth paranoia we could live with. Using UV-C rays (like similar models on the market), the device kills 99.9% of airborne germs with light alone. Why do we like it? The Germ Guardian’s design induces feelings of an inescapable bleak future—like it’s waiting for us to curse, at which point it will blind us with a flash of light and we’ll boil in our skin. Now that’s a conversation piece. $US200 [product via appliancist]

VIOlight Travel Toothbrush Sanitizer, for Germophobes on the Run

Charlie White — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:11:12 +0000

Out here on the toothbrush beat, you run into all sorts of fear-mongering products such as the VIOlight Toothbrush Sanitizer. Now you can take that germophobia out on the road with the VIOlight Travel Toothbrush Sanitizer, a smaller version of that near-miraculous home version that probably does no good but might make you feel better anyway.

Just like the home version, this travel version works with ultraviolet rays, and its makers claim that 99% of the germs are killed in seven minutes. Never mind that the 1% of bacteria that are left are probably superstrong, and might just put the hurt on you 10 times as much. But then, the way you feel about this product is probably a whole lot more important than the way it actually works. But hey, it’s your $27.99. [productdose]

Hands On with the UV Sonicare Flexcare

Seamus Byrne — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:15:43 +0000

Our own Charlie White got a chance to fiddle around with that fancy UV Sonicare Flexcare toothbrush we showed you this morning, and he came away impressed. He says it runs as quiet as a mouse, which is good if you don’t want to wake up your wife with a toothbrush that sounds like a chainsaw, and it feels nice and solid in your hand. It has a few different modes, including a timed three-minute brush and a click brush. The UV sanitizer that nukes germs is available separately, just in case you don’t want to invest in a whole new brush setup.

Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let Charlie stick the thing in his mouth to try to clean up the Dorito crumbs and whisky breath, so I guess we’ll just need to wait till August to test their claim that it removes more plaque than any other electric toothbrush.

–Adam Frucci