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Where Are Your Contact Lens Displays?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the we'll-use-them-as-huds-in-our-flying-cars dept.

destinyland writes "'We already see a future in which the humble contact lens becomes a real platform, like the iPhone is today,' argues researcher Babak Parvis, 'with lots of developers contributing their ideas and inventions.' He provides an update on the contact lens with transparent circuitry that's being developed at the University of Washington. (Its components will eventually include hundreds of LEDs which form images in front of the eye such as charts and photographs). They've already developed a lens-with-LED prototype that's powered by 330 microwatts of wireless radio-frequency power, and believe the lenses could also be used as biosensors to deliver body chemistry readings (including blood sugar levels). But 'What we've done so far barely hints at what will soon be possible with this technology,' says Dr. Parviz."

15 of 152 comments (clear)

  1. I Seem to Have Misplaced Them ... by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Where Are Your Contact Lens Displays?

    Oh, that's right, I left them out in the garage in my flying car. You see, I was running Duke Nukem Forever in Hurd but the battery ran out of power so I set them aside to bring in and recharge at my tabletop cold fusion station. It's okay though, I'll have forever to enjoy them now that Ray Kurzweil's Singularity has happened.

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:I Seem to Have Misplaced Them ... by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Funny

      What an insightful Slashdot comment, attached to this accurate summary of an original, well-written online tech story.

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      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    2. Re:I Seem to Have Misplaced Them ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ooo, ooo, I get it! We're bolding things that could never happen!

    3. Re:I Seem to Have Misplaced Them ... by Sockatume · · Score: 4, Funny

      ;_;

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    4. Re:I Seem to Have Misplaced Them ... by LordAndrewSama · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If the population grows, the flying car has to happen one day

      is that to facilitate transportation, or to solve the population problem? Because flat roads are beyond the abilities of most of the ass-nuggets behind the wheel already.

  2. No contacts, please by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I got rid of my contacts back in 2006 (I'm a cyborg). For nearsightedness they're far better than glasses because you need to see all day long, but for a display they're not the right platform. Put those transparent circutis in a pair of glasses; I can keep them in my pocket for when they're needed.

    You don't see anyone wearing contact sunglasses, now do you? Not even the ones that darken in sunlight and lighten indoors. Contact lens computer displays is a dumb idea.

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    Free Martian Whores!
    1. Re:No contacts, please by Scutter · · Score: 4, Funny

      You don't see anyone wearing contact sunglasses, now do you? Not even the ones that darken in sunlight and lighten indoors.

      No, it's because seeing people with solid black eyes would creep people right the hell out. Didn't you see Event Horizon?

      --

      "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
    2. Re:No contacts, please by thesandtiger · · Score: 4, Informative

      Professional athletes wear sun-sensitive contacts, actually. They're about the only people who have a big enough need for that kind of thing and can afford them - they're rather expensive.

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      Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
    3. Re:No contacts, please by stjobe · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm not sure it would be that obvious. Apparently Deanna Troi wore black contacts for all of TNG (as did other betazoids) and I can't say I noticed.

      "Hey! Up here!"

      Small wonder you missed it...

      --
      "Total destruction the only solution" - Bob Marley
  3. Focus? by Sockatume · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It strikes me that the real trick isn't putting a display on the lens of the eye, but getting a focussed image. I mean, you could write a crisp, clear letter on someone's eyeball right now, but they wouldn't be able to see it. It'd just be a smudge on their vision. That still leaves you open to using a flash of colour in different directions to attract the wearer's attention to hazards, or other blurry ways of presenting information, mind you. I think the real key will be putting MEMS-directed lasers in there which can draw on the retina, bypassing focussing entirely.

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    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:Focus? by Last_Available_Usern · · Score: 4, Funny

      Let me just make sure I read this right...you want to shoot lasers directly onto my retina?

  4. Where Are Your Contact Lens Displays? by Saija · · Score: 4, Informative

    maybe here:
    Augmented Reality In a Contact Lens
    Bionic Contact Lens May Lead to Overlay Displays
    Contact Lenses for Computer Professionals?
    Bionic Contact Lens May Lead to Overlay Displays
    Smart Contact Lenses
    Permormance-Enhancing Contact Lenses

    And for the recursive obssesed folks, there's:
    Where Are Your Contact Lens Displays?

    --
    Slashdot ya no es que lo era! ;)
  5. The Blue by JustOK · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Blue Cataract of Death.

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    rewriting history since 2109
  6. This it great by AP31R0N · · Score: 4, Funny

    These will definitely help me find Sarah Connor.

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    Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
  7. How do you look at specific things with them? by foodnugget · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't have contacts, but from what i understand, they center on your cornea and move with your eye, right?

    How would someone "look around" on a screen with contacts? Wouldn't the center of the screen always be what you're looking at, drastically minimizing what you can read and properly make out?