Sometimes geeks sit in front of computer screens for a really long time, and we forget to do stuff like eat food, drink water, and blink our eyes. That’s why Masunaga, the company that designed Sarah Palin’s glasses, is coming out with a new product called Wink Glasses on August 10th. A sensor attached to the lenses detects blinking movements; if it doesn’t log any activity for five seconds, an ultra-thin liquid crystal sheet pasted onto the lens surface fogs up and doesn’t clear up until you blink again. The sensor is operated by a battery rechargeable via USB &mdash I guess that means that if you don’t charge them, they don’t fog up. The frame and sensor set will cost about $400.
Product page [Masunaga via Impress]
Why not make the computer screen go smudgy? You’d have to stop typing and mousing for 20 minutes to get the screen to clear.
Cheaper, too!
Crispy Critter, I still have mine from the HHTTG game.
(Not, not really, but I can make another pair.) (Hmmm, ‘Make’ article?)
I think it’s around 8999, why do you ask?
Depending on how they orient the liquid crystals they could arrange for them to be fogged by default and require power to de-fog. That would solve any unpleasant glasses-not-fogging-and-eyes-shrivelling-into-raisins situations.
Is this really a problem that people have, though?
More useful might be a screensaver that switches on every 10 minutes or so to make sure you’re taking a moment to focus on a distant object, to avoid eye strain. Maybe these glasses do that too.
Can BBG confirm the rumor that the Mark II version will, by way of sophisticated AI and biometrics, automatically administer a series of “unicorn chaser” pictures (or even a quick squirt of eyebleach) when appropriate?
How about one where, if you’re in a vice-presidential campaign debate and you wink too often (say, more than twice), you automatically forfeit?
clever and somewhat practical, but not safe for driving.
I’m waiting for the peril-sensitive version.
They should make a version for born agains that fogs over whenever too much nudity is visible.
Could you hook up a webcam to do the same?
Detect faces in front of the screen, and if one of them doesn’t blink for X seconds, slowly fade the screen to black until a blink is detected.
Someone should totally write an app that does this.
VEGETA. WHAT’S HIS POWER LEVEL?