Poor Vision? There's an App For That

necro81 writes "Researchers at MIT's Media Lab have developed a smartphone app that allows users to measure how poor their vision is (myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism) and receive a corrective prescription. The user peers through a $2 optical adapter at the screen of a smartphone. The app displays lighted bars, and prompts the user to adjust the display until the bars line up. Repeating this with bars in different locations and orientations allows the vision distortion to be determined to within about 0.4 diopters using a Nexus One. The iPhone 4, with its higher-resolution display, should be able to improve that to 0.28 diopters. This could have broad application in the developing world, where experienced opticians and diagnostic equipment are hard to come by."

App for that

[TheKidWho]

Is there an app to bite my shiny metal ass?

PUB CRAWL!

[tomhudson]

Repeating this with bars in different locations

... won't your vision be affected by all the booze?

and orientations

... straight, gay, leather fetish, republican ...

I thought Apple wouldn't approve stuff like that?

Re:Cartridge alignment on inkjet printer?

[skids]

First, align your thermal laser etcher. Then align your eyeball. Then insert plastic sheet and print your eyeglasses. Do not operate with cover open!

Re:Please proceed

[estestvoispytatel]

Oh wait, you have one with the galvanic skin response metering. Just use some nice phone with two well placed antennas, short them with the patient's bare skin and do the math on the signal's drop.

Re:Not just great for developing countries

[Chris Burke]

It's great for those of us in countries like the USA, Canada, Easter Europe

It's really not needed in Easter Europe; they all have good eyesight, what with being bunnies... who eat lots of carrots... which are good for your eyes...

I'll show myself out.

Re:There... Fixed that for you...

[put_it_down]

I can see how people might be upset. Still you can't blame everyone in the west for Apple's actions. Besides, why not just run it on android?

Re:Which developing world?

[BrokenHalo]

I know a couple of people who actually drive cars wearing those damn things. Scary.