It is a struggle that many eyeglass users face daily, but the days when looking for your reading glasses may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to a new pair of “adjustable” glasses.
Futuristic glasses can change their strength with the twist of a button, depending on the user’s purpose.
They can change the focus from -5 to +2 in a matter of seconds, eliminating the need to carry multiple pairs of specs with you.
San Francisco-based designers hope their glasses can help people with presbyopia – a condition that affects the eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects and makes patients need different glasses for different activities.
Futuristic glasses can change their strength with the twist of a button, depending on the user’s purpose
Tunable glasses, called VOY glasses, have a small dial on each arm.
To adjust the lens, the user can simply turn the wheel away from the nose for a more negative force, or rotate the wheel towards the nose for a more positive force.
On their website, the designers explain: ‘You can adjust one eye at a time and then adjust your vision with both eyes open for a more comfortable view.’
The glasses use technology first developed in the 1960s by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Walter Alvarez.
The technology is based on two polycarbonate plates on each side of the windows, which slide over each other when the wheel is adjusted.
Depending on the position of the plates, the strength of the lenses is adjusted.
This technology is already used in a number of other configurations, including smartphone zoom cameras and medical devices.
VOY glasses come as glasses or sunglasses and come with a blue light blocker, anti-reflective coatings and UV protection.
They currently cost $ 79 (£ 58.55) and come in a variety of colors – black, turtle, brown, gray, burgundy and white.
The glasses use technology first developed in the 1960s by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Luis Walter Alvarez
Surprisingly, the glasses can change focus from -5 to +2 in a matter of seconds, eliminating the need to carry multiple pairs of specs with you
VOY glasses come as glasses or sunglasses and come with a blue light blocker, anti-reflective coatings and UV protection
This week, the glasses were awarded the 2021 Innovation Award in the Wearable Technology category at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
CES is usually held every January in Las Vegas, with thousands of exhibitors and more than 170,000 attendees coming to see a wide variety of new gadgets unveiled.
However, 2021 will see the convention move online with a new ‘digital location’ created with the help of Microsoft as a central hub for the show’s main announcements.
Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which organizes the convention, said that this year’s event will be ‘making history’ as its ‘first all-digital program’.
“This new experience will feature more than 1,000 exhibitors from around the world, showcasing the latest trends and innovations in artificial intelligence, 5G, digital health, smart cities, vehicle technology and more,” he said.
‘Technology will take us forward and CES 2021 will illustrate how innovation paves the way for a brighter tomorrow.’
CES 2021 TO MAKE HISTORY AS YOUR FIRST ‘TOTAL DIGITAL SHOW’
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will take place as a totally virtual event for the first time, as the technology industry adapts to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
CES is usually held every January in Las Vegas, with thousands of exhibitors and more than 170,000 attendees coming to see a wide variety of new gadgets unveiled.
CES is usually held every January in Las Vegas, with thousands of exhibitors and over 170,000 attendees coming to see a wide range of new gadgets unveiled
However, 2021 will see the convention move online with a new ‘digital location’ created with the help of Microsoft as a central hub for the show’s main announcements.
Lectures by executives from companies like Google, Twitter and Amazon will be shown online during the event.
Several new devices have already been unveiled before the event, including new TVs from Sony that use advanced artificial intelligence that they call ‘cognitive intelligence’ to process images and sounds similarly to the human brain in order to improve the viewing experience.
The pandemic has also had an impact on the type of gadgets that are expected to be unveiled, with computer monitors designed specifically for video conferences already envisaged by Dell.