Crave

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.

The contact lens on the left contains photochromic dyes that darken in the presence of UV light.

(Credit: Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology)

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 at the Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology 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).

The researchers are now working on isolating the photochromic material to just the corneal region of your 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.

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

Windows 7's Aero in pictures

Introduced for Vista, the translucent Aero skin has been heavily developed and expanded in Windows 7. See what this key design and interface feature looks like and behaves like in the new operating system.

3M's new 3D optical film relies on directional backlight technology to focus left and right images sequentially into the viewer's eyes.

(Credit: 3M)

3M has come up with a new optical film that lets you ditch the glasses when viewing stereoscopic 3D images on mobile devices.

The 3D optical film goes into the gadget's backlight unit and uses two alternate rows of LED lights to project left and right images sequentially into the viewer's eyes. As the sequential images are focused on the individual eye, the technology eliminates the need for 3D glasses to block the picture for the other eye. And, according to Erik Jostes, LCD business director of 3M's Optical Systems Division, it does so without sacrificing screen brightness or resolution.

"This technology can switch from 3D mode to 2D mode and back and you don't make compromises on the original display," he said.

3M's technology works on displays up to 9 inches, and the company envisions it primarily for games and other single-user applications. It requires one LCD panel and operates at a 120Hz refresh rate (most monitors and TVs display video at 60Hz, but to watch video in 3D, the video must be displayed at 120Hz, since each side of the screen creates two perspectives for each frame).

Since installation of the 3D film is almost identical to that of film stacks on existing systems, 3M says it can be easily integrated into the display's backlight module at the assembly stage. The film--which will be on display at the Korea Electronics Show next week--is currently appearing in one mobile device in Asia, according to Jostes, though he wouldn't disclose which. He says it's currently in small-scale production and may show up in products stateside as early as the holidays.

With Justin's return from his sojourn into the great outdoors, The 404 crew is complete again to bring you another awesome show, replete with "GI Joe" and "District 9" reviews, optical gaming, and a surprise appearance by Motherboard!

Street Fighter style!

(Credit: Justin Yu/The 404)

After getting mauled by a bear in Yosemite (where's the app for THAT?), I'm back, and much to Jeff, Wilson, and everyone else's dismay SO ARE THE GLASSES! That's right suckers, a little Krazy Glue goes a long way, but I'm not sure how long these things will last, so please continue to e-mail us submissions for the contest to choose my next frames. I'm not gonna lie, I've missed the show dearly and it's great to be back!

The first half of today's show has a lot of movie talk, starting with us talking all sorts of garbage on the new "G.I. Joe" movie. The movie won't be prescreened to critics, and we suspect it has something to do with the trailer receiving so much backlash from justifiably angry fans of the original television series. Jeff also gives us his take on the trailer for "District 9", the new science fiction movie based on the short film Alive in Joburg. Go check that out and let "G.I. Joe" go the way of the buffalo!

The second half just gets nuts, that's all I'll say. OK, well, without giving too much away, it all starts with the Get It Guy, a fake Australian accent, and a very steamy call from SadaCori in the chatroom (a must listen!), but then we get a surprise knock from Motherboard herself, who has something very special to show us...something that NOBODY HAS SEEN BEFORE, so be sure to check out the video for all the details. After that, we dredge up a claim about racism in Resident Evil 5 and it all devolves from there. Trust us, it's the last time you'll hear about it!

As always, feel free to leave us a voicemail at 1-866-404-CNET or get in touch with us on Twitter or at the404[at]cnet[dot]com!

Most of us spend several hours a day peering into a screen. Whether we're working, gaming, chatting, or entering a semivegetative movie-watching state, we tend to blink about once every five seconds. If we grow bored, drowsy, or just less focused, that rate slows, which puts a serious strain on our eyes.

Enter the Wink Glasses, comprising a USB-powered device (with an eight-hour charge) that fogs one of its lenses the moment the user hasn't blinked in five seconds. This forces the other eye to focus instantly, which is one way to jolt someone back to wakefulness. Japan's Masunaga Optical Manufacturing reportedly plans to release the Wink Glasses with their support frames to the Japanese market on August 10 for a total of just less than $430, or 40,950 yen.

The USB-charged Wink Glasses are designed to keep you awake by making you refocus.

(Credit: Masunaga Optical Manufacturing)

Somewhat paradoxically, news of this gadget has the video-gaming world all atwitter (or is it "ablinking"?). It turns out that we tend to blink less frequently not only when we have grown bored or sleepy, but also in the opposite circumstance, when we are hyper-focused, pumped with adrenaline, trying to see every movement of every supervillain dashing across even the most remote corners of the screen.

Of course, we all know that blinking too much can cost you a presidential election, so each person should probably weigh eye health (blink more) with professional success (blink less) on an individual basis.

I haven't had a chance to try these out yet, and while I love the idea of the Wink Glasses, it seems reasonable to assume that they would be mildly annoying for typical users at best and frustrating for hypervigilant gamers at worst.

Still, how many times a day does the average person drift off into a five-second-plus nonblinking daydream? Surely, this fogging device will boost productivity, not to mention help with those eye-straining headaches to which we've all grown begrudgingly accustomed.

This begs the question: won't the boss want to buy these for every employee, along with the office Coke machine and coffeemaker? It could bring a whole new meaning to that all-seeing eye, which something tells me does not fog over.

No kid wants to be the one who blends into a crowd. That's why it's important to start young when setting your children up for a lifetime filled with the nostalgic irony that comes with being tragically hip. Of course, they may not like you when they grow older, but that's fashionable too, right?

Listen now: Download today's podcast

EPISODE 148

Look at this f**king hipster

This Death Star cookie jar is fully operational

Cassette tape lamps light up your nostalgia

NES Controller Business Card shows you mean real geek business

Casio calculator watch. For realz. (Thanks, Sparkman!)

The iPhone’s best neo-retro game: Space Invaders Infinity Gene

Good Vibrations
The Vibrator Museum

A propos (of) nothing
Japanese auto-fogging glasses prevent eye strain

What the hell?
Microsmores (thanks, Sheala)

Kill Me
Wi-Fi scale notifies the internet of your lapsed diet

(Credit: Designboom)

You've heard of Coke bottle glasses. But you probably haven't heard of Sprite bottle glasses.

That's the concept that Suning Chen from China came up for the "RE-think + RE-cycle" design competition organized by Designboom way back in 2005. I just happened to come across this little DIY project while doing a Google search on PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles. (A public relations representative sent me a release on an upcoming Ecogear backpack made out of recycled PET bottles and I wasn't sure what PET stood for).

Naturally, you could make these glasses out of any plastic bottle, but if you really want to be green, you probably have to go with Sprite, Mountain Dew, or Sierra Mist. I'm not sure of the UV protection on these, however.

Anybody want to guess what that ring is (hint: it's not a nose ring)?

(Source: Designboom)

(Credit: Fraunhofer Institute)

If you thought there were enough menaces on the road with people yakking away on Bluetooth headsets and texting while driving, these OLED data eyeglasses just upped the ante.

Just imagine if this little invention out of the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems in Germany were to hit mainstream use. We'd have a global epidemic of distracted users plugged into their eyewear, busily accessing the day's news, e-mails, instant messages, and miscellaneous data on their glasses, barely paying attention to where they're going.

Still, there's no halting technology. So looking on the bright side, this interactive eyewear does provide a far more natural alternative to head-mounted displays. The data glasses throw the image onto the retina via an OLED micro-display so it appears a meter in front of the wearer. And instead of getting a static image, an eye-tracking device fitted to the hinge lets you scroll through information by simply moving the eyeball, leaving you essentially hands-free.

Fraunhofer's Dr. Michael Scholles believes the eyeglasses already have ready-made applications in the medical and construction fields, and will open up new uses and, I'm pretty sure, new users like Stephen Hawking and others who are disabled.

(Source: Crave Asia via Gizmag)

The Write-On Glassware

(Credit: Fred Flare)

I don't even start thinking about what I'm doing on a given day until I have a little caffeine in my system. The makers of Write-On Glassware have realized I'm not the only one and have come up with a coffee mug that you write on as you sip your morning brew. They also offer a tumbler--in case your morning routine focuses more on juice than on coffee or tea.

Both are glass with a special surface added on the outside. The surface comes preprinted with lines and times for a schedule, and you can write on it with just about any pencil. When you're done, just erase your notes. It does seem that pencil is the only recommended writing tool for the mug--pens and markers aren't as simple to erase. The Write-On Glassware comes with a miniature pencil.

The Write-On Glassware is ideal for notetaking: it's much harder to misplace than a scrap of paper. It appears that the mug is hand-wash only, but the glass surface is easy to clean. The mug is 3 inches by 3.5 inches, while the tumbler is 3 inches by 6 inches. Both are priced at $16.