Smart Sunglasses

"Many readers have submitted this story of chemists at the University of Washington who have made glasses with lenses that can be transparent or dark, in shades of yellow, green, or purple, all at the push of a button. The glasses will let the wearer instantly change the color of their lenses to virtually any hue by tuning a tiny electronic knob in the frame."

how about polarization

[Blue Shifted (1078715)]

i frequently use polarized glasses to examine lcd screens for defects; it would be nice to change the angle of polarization without having to tilt my head at odd angles. also, when i change the angle, i can see through many different reflections.

Re:how about polarization

[wass (72082)]

If you're doing this often enough, as you say, why don't you buy a linear polarizer? Here [edmundoptics.com] is a relatively cheap one. Much better ones can be had for more money. You can also use circular polarizing films to block reflected glares.

Re:how about polarization

[threaded (89367)]

What I do is rock my head side to side. or twist my glasses slightly. I think you'll find it is much cheaper.

Photocromatic glass

[baomike (143457)]

Really cool glasses do it without being told. Like mine have for the last 40 years.
Only one colour , true, but "look ma , no hands".

Re:

[Propaganda13 (312548)]

My dad had these too. He said they could be annoying in summer going from the bright sun to a dark room since it took awhile for the glasses to adjust from dark to light.

Re:Photocromatic glass

[Fred Ferrigno (122319)]

I have them now. The practical effect is that my brain and eyes actually adjust to the glasses faster than the glasses adjust to the environment. I'm never really conscious of whether the glasses are light or dark. It's weird because every now and again someone asks me why I'm wearing sunglasses and I have no idea what they're talking about.

Re:how about polarization

[zCyl (14362)]

If you drive with horizontally polarized sunglasses, you cut the glare from the road, but still get glare from the windshield. If you switch to vertical, you cut the glare from the windshield, but not the glare from the road. I don't want to see any reflected light.

You should try wearing a larger pair of horizontally polarized sunglasses on top of a normal pair of vertically polarized sunglasses. That will accomplish your goal of not seeing any reflected light.

Prediction for next /. story

[thegnu (557446)]

You should try wearing a larger pair of horizontally polarized sunglasses on top of a normal pair of vertically polarized sunglasses.

CMDRTACO, COWBOYNEAL CRUSHED BY 18-WHEELER

Re:

[theckhd (953212)]

If you drive with horizontally polarized sunglasses, you cut the glare from the road, but still get glare from the windshield. If you switch to vertical, you cut the glare from the windshield, but not the glare from the road. I don't want to see any reflected light.

You have your polarizations backwards. Light that reflects off of the road surface will be primarily horizontally polarized [physicsclassroom.com]; thus you would need vertically polarized sunglasses to reduce the glare.

Re:how about polarization

[Hijacked Public (999535)]

The ones you describe are called "Circular Polarizers" or CPLs. Most decent camera stores will also have linear ones but those require the kind of head movement that some poeple seem to want to avoid. I suggest asking for the Kasemann type of CPL because they last longer.

As an aside, some people less familiar with technology think that CPLs are voodoo magic. Show them that their reflections in a window appear and disappear as they rotate the glass and their reactions can be pretty interesting. Children will usually stuff the CPL into their pocket and run away. Some adults will stand there and play with it for hours while others will drop it and threaten to kill you. You never know what you are going to get.

Are they...

[rossdee (243626)]

Peril sensitive? Zaphod needs 2 pairs.

Buttons and Knobs?

[Reed Solomon (897367)]

What is this, 60's Star Trek? I want it to respond to my thoughts or at least memorize my preferences somehow. Buttons and Knobs. Really.

Re:

[FMota91 (1050752)]

this->give(Phrase("cute as a button"), 1.0, new Meaning());

Got nothing on my Joo Janta 2000's!

[mattOzan (165392)]

Button-pushing is for weenies. Glasses that go black all by themselves at the first sign of danger--that's where it's at!

No rose?

[the_bard17 (626642)]

Only yellow, green, or purple? No rose colored glasses?

I wouldn't have been able to resist the temptation to add it, myself... assuming it was possible.

Re:No rose?

[beav007 (746004)]

Only yellow, green, or purple? No rose colored glasses? FTA:

Chemists at the University of Washington in Seattle say they are developing 'smart' sunglasses that will let the wearer instantly change the color of their lenses to virtually any hue of the rainbow. So, whether you like your lenses clear, red, green, blue or purple, virtually any color could be obtained instantly by tuning a tiny electronic knob in the frame, the researchers said in a release.

Unlike you, I read [part of] TA. I must be new here...

Motorcycles

[LBt1st (709520)]

I would buy these in an instant! I commute on a motorcycle and often times I leave in the morning. Unless it's cloudy i have to put on my sunglasses before the sun is even up. Then I ride north with darkened vision. But I have no choice because later I have to ride into the sun as it's rising. Impossible to safely do without the shades. Wearing a helmet, even with a flip up face-mask, it takes too long (and again, is unsafe) to fumble with putting on shades while on the bike. With these, I could easily turn a knob while at a traffic light. I just hope they put the knob where I can get to with with the helmet on, and while wearing gloves. Hell if they just made helmet visors that'd be even better!

Re:Motorcycles

[skiflyer (716312)]

If your visor isn't UV protected you can already do this today with Transitions... http://www.transitions.com/ [transitions.com] , they have several models for different usages (different starting tints basically)... but they're UV activated, so they kinda suck for their most obvious usage, driving. I hear their newer model "drivers" are supposed to be better for that... don't get me wrong, the old ones worked in a car, just not as well as they work out in the open air.

Re:

[TooMuchToDo (882796)]

I too commute by motorcycle, and look forward to the day I can get a transition visor (that tints based on level of UV it's being exposed to). My glasses have it, but I'm not sure if they can do it with safety plastic used on helmet visors.

Re:

[Hieronymus Howard (215725)]

They've been around for years:
http://www.performancemotorcycleparts.com/visor_pa ges/fog_city_hyper_optiks.htm [performanc...eparts.com]

Re:Motorcycles

[lisaparratt (752068)]

The Schuberth Concept and C2 range have a secondary inner sun visor that you can flip down with a slider on the outside of the helmet:

http://schuberth.klaxmedia.de/en/concept.html [klaxmedia.de]
http://schuberth.klaxmedia.de/en/c2.html [klaxmedia.de]

They're awesome - I've had my Concept about 4.5 years, and I'm definitely getting another when I replace it this summer.

Can you put them on random?

[cyphercell (843398)]

If you can they might compete with psychedelic drugs.

Nice!

[Dr. Eggman (932300)]

But I'd rather have contact lens that change colors everytime I blink. It'd look really cool, but it'd probably be real distracting to people and retnal scans.

Re:

[skiflyer (716312)]

people maybe, retina's are in the back of the eye... retinal scans better not get confused by a colored contact.

Here are the glasses

[suv4x4 (956391)]

There we go [acs.org], on top.

With glasses like those, you can be the hit of every nerd party, I can hardly wait.

Re:

[pete-classic (75983)]

The article you link to doesn't mention the powerful contraceptive effect of these glasses.

-Peter

Re:

[suv4x4 (956391)]

The images scream prototype. Check out the blue wires!

Of course, but you gotta admit that imagining wearing those in a club screams hilarity.

It'll be interesting to see what these turn to, but I've the feeling they'll introduce too much design limitations to make the concept practical. Can those screens bend in any shape? Are they as good protecting from UV?

And the most important of all... how plausible it is that you'll look totally uncool in the middle of a party, if your sunglasses's battery runs out of

Perfect!

[ScentCone (795499)]

These will be great for when I'm driving my flying car.

Re:Perfect!

[Max Littlemore (1001285)]

Pfffft. Flying cars are for weenies.

I bet these babies will be sweet for red shift compensation when I'm riding my warp enabled rocket pack! You haven't lived 'till you felt the rush of the inky void through your hair!!

Re:

[CrazyJim1 (809850)]

Rocket packs and sunglasses? And talking about when we'll never get a flying car!

My DukeNukem Forever character customizer better let me chose the color of my glasses.

I want Smart to actually be Smart!

[Nom du Keyboard (633989)]

The glasses will let the wearer instantly change the color of their lenses to virtually any hue by tuning a tiny electronic knob in the frame.

I don't want to have to turn a tiny electronic knob. I don't even know what makes some knobs electronic, rather than the old kind of knob. What I want are sunglasses smart enough to turn their own knobs and automatically adjust the the ambient light conditions properly. Now those would be smart!

And if a Vorlon comes along, just turn black.

Smart.....?

[IHC Navistar (967161)]

The only truly smart sunglasses will be able to skitter off of my seat before I sit down on them. That, and when to fold in poker.

Re:Smart.....?

[IHC Navistar (967161)]

'Hind'-sight is always 20/20!

Ok, I know, bad pun.

Thanks for the thought though!

Sunglasses? Colors? Pfft.

[straponego (521991)]

I want mirrored contacts. When somebody takes a flash photo of me it'll look like my head is exploding. Don't ask why I want that, I just... do.

Colorblindness aid?

[ereshiere (945922)]

I've got red-green colorblindness (green traffic lights look white, reds look darker than other colors, brown looks like both green and red, etc.). Will this help people like me in any way?

Re:Colorblindness aid?

[TheThiefMaster (992038)]

Out of interest, are the pictures on the Wikipedia colour-blindness page accurate? They are supposed to show what the "colours of the rainbow" look like to a colour-blind person, but in theory if a colour-blind person looks at them then they shouldn't be able to tell the difference between the "normal" picture and one of the artificial colour-blindness ones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_blind#Classifi cation_of_color_deficiencies [wikipedia.org]

Re:Colorblindness aid?

[Dragonslicer (991472)]

I'm red-green colorblind, and I can tell the difference between those images. The colors in the second one look lighter and faded compared to the first one. Here [toledo-bend.com] is a page that has the Ishihara test patterns. Here [firelily.com] is another page that has more detailed information. As a point of comparison, the two pictures of flowers about half way down the page (subtitled "red-insensitive dichromat") look very nearly identical to me.

Re:

[complete loony (663508)]

Hmmm, what about only showing green+blue in one eye, and red+blue in the other. Your brain might be able to adapt to the difference eventually. It might cause some havok with your depth perception, and you'd look silly wearing 3D glasses all the time ;)

which one is it?

[miro f (944325)]

...all at the push of a button. The glasses will let the wearer instantly change the color of their lenses to virtually any hue by tuning a tiny electronic knob in the frame.

well? are we pushing a button or turning a knob? Make up your mind, people!

Similar stuff at Berkeley

[SpaghettiPattern (609814)]

Berkeley did similar work back in the 70-ies. Letting people see all kinds of colors. While hacking BSD.

Re:Similar stuff at Berkeley

[TempeTerra (83076)]

"There are two major products that came out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence."
        - Jeremy S. Anderson

Electric sunglasses?

[ResidntGeek (772730)]

With inventions like this, does anyone wonder why the world is dying of pollution? Do we really need electricity running our sunglasses, simply for the dubious pleasure of changing the color a few times before getting bored with it?

Re:

[x2A (858210)]

These are new... I hardly think you can say they're responsible for killing the entire world with pollution.

And btw, you're using far more energy reading and posting on slashdot. Look to your own habits before complaining about others.

Old news

[holy_calamity (872269)]

Electrochromics have been figured out for a long time. You can already buy rear view mirrors for cars [gentex.com] and a motorcycle helmet with an electrochromic visor [optics.org] has been around since 2003. Nothing to see here.

I have a special version of these glasses...

[AragornSonOfArathorn (454526)]

...designed for adventurers. The lenses turn blue when orcs are near.

Re:

[Starburnt (860851)]

This is why they call them "Smart" sunglasses - it's relative to their wearers.

Re:Oh Great

[Max Littlemore (1001285)]

So yet another reason for assholes to "wear their sunglasses at night" and be distracted about whilst they drive.

Aren't there yellow glasses for people with bad night vision that reduce glare? They're _supposed_ to be worn at night for safety reasons and I think from TFA, these glasses also go yellow. If the shade of yellow is right, people could use the same pair for day and night driving, which is pretty cool.

By the way, people who drive with sunglasses at night are not assholes, they are dickheads. There's a subtle distinction.

Re:Oh Great

[hcdejong (561314)]

Aren't there yellow glasses for people with bad night vision that reduce glare?

Yup. I've got a pair of those. AFAIK my night vision is okay, but headlight glare annoys me; driving with these glasses is a lot less tiring. I also use them during dusk/dawn and in bad weather: they decrease contrast, making dark areas more visible.

Re:

[SenFo (761716)]

Interesting. I ride motorcycles and always wear a full-face helmet. One of the problems I have is that in the morning, the sunlight can be incredibly bright, so I like to wear a reflective shield, which acts like sunglasses. The problem, of course, is that in the evening, it makes it difficult to see (it's almost impossible to ride with a reflective shield at night). This is also true at high noon on country roads where the trees create shadows on the road. I'll have to check into a shield with a yello

Re:I need to shit but I just started reading slash

[cyphercell (843398)]

No. Wait till your drawers magically change color and post a dupe.