Nov 11 2009 Hooray?: Auto-Tinting Contacts Coming Soon

You know those eyeglasses that automatically darken whenever you go outside? I know, they remind me of pederasts too for some reason (but they look great on you, really). Now scientists are working on transferring the technology to contact lenses.

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 to 20 seconds).

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

Yeah, but do they allow you see through a woman's blouse? And, more importantly, can you believe I just said blouse? I don't even know what that is!

I Wear My Suncontacts at Night [gizmodo]

Thanks to twellve, who wears Transition glasses at night so she can, so she can, watch you live and offer you candy.

Oct 27 2008 What A Wonderful Super Mario World

Geekologie songwriter in residence brentalfloss is back at it, this time with a ditty called "Super Mario World", sung in the style of "What a Wonderful World". And, as a longtime Louis Armstrong fan and guy who drank his weight in gin & tonic (I hate gin) in New Orleans last week: I lost a contact in an ice-filled urinal and had to beat up a stripper. True story.

Youtube

Thanks to brentalfloss, the man behind the microphone.

Sep 4 2008 WTF!?: Crystal Embedded Contact Lenses

Ah yes, rocks and eyes. I mean, what a perfect match. Enter "Sparkle", a contact lens with tiny Swarovski crystals encrusted around the edge. I've got to admit, this has got to be the most brilliant eye-care product I've seen since pepper spray. Seriously, what could go wrong? Well, besides looking sexy. I'm gonna make myself a pair, I'll let you know how scandalously super-sexified I look.

UPDATE: Okay, so I glued some glitter and broken glass onto my regular contacts. Here goes nothing!

UPDATEDER: Wow, good thing I can type without looking, because I can't see a thing. Seriously though, how long does it take to grow a new pair? Ha, I'm talking actual ball balls now, mistook the paper shredder for a commode.

Sparkle - Swarovski studded contact lenses for blinged vision [bornrich]

Thanks Mary, and I trusted you to lead me to the bathroom. Pfft, some friend you are.

Jan 22 2008 It's About Time: Self-Assembling Bionic Eyes

Finally, bionic vision. I've been waiting for this technology forever, and apparently it's right around the corner, waiting to pounce on me like a mugger. We have a group of electrical engineers from the University of Washington to thank for this awesome step into the future. The idea was to provide a means of streaming information in your field of vision without the use of some goofy looking glasses.

Sporting circuits a few nanometers thick and grain-of-sand-sized light-emitting diodes, the lenses have full Count Zero potential. They're also the product of some ingenious hackery: since contact lenses are delicate and circuit manufacture is hot and toxic, the researchers designed each component to attach itself only to certain other components. Their powder of circuits and diodes literally self-assembled into gadgetry when sprinkled onto the lens plastic.

The engineers say they'll have basic models out "fairly quickly", but the cooler wireless-enabled and radio/solar charging ones will take longer. And sadly, at this end of this post, I come to the realization that bionic vision has nothing to do with seeing through a woman's shirt.

Self-Assembling Bionic Eyes Coming Soon [wired]

Thanks to Sebastian, who doesn't need any special technology to get to see a woman's hooters, for the tip