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Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

newscientist.com

41–50 of 68 posts

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#42
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you think this could ever be open source. It will be expensive to develop, and no corporation will spend the money to do so and then open source the software. It may (not likely) be jail breakable, but you still have to pay (probably) thousands to get it. I was thinking one way for people to afford them would be to accept ads. I would hate that, and I think I'd just wear glasses or normal contacts. In fact…

Hardware isn't software. I run open source on my hardware, but my hardware isn't open source. If your logic held, open source wouldn't be possible.

Sometimes open source on locked down and jailbroken hardware is better. Sometimes it bricks the hardware. I wonder what it's like to have a brick in the eye?

Also this is a thing that goes in your body, and the FDA might have something to say about open source in that context. Is there any open source software running on pacemakers at the moment?

I think there are many more issues involved than simply "it's my hardware and I'll do what I want with it." If we get better eyeware through open source then great, but I'm skeptical at the moment that it can, much less will happen.

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#43
post #15

I want one with facial recognition software. Never have that nervous moment again when you have to do introductions and you are just not quite so sure about your old acquaintances name.

In time, you could go beyond facial recognition and perhaps include gait recognition too.

My prediction is that face paint will come into style: http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/02/facial-recognition-camoufl...

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#44
post #7
post #3

Did anyone else think about the Eyephone episode of Futurama when they saw this?

I thought of Steve Mann's "eye tap"

Was just about to post the same thing. Pretty nifty device, I've considered building my own for a while now. It's pretty simple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EyeTap

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#45
post #13

I'm still waiting for easily affordable "Virtual Retinal Displays" (using a laser focused on the retina) to be available: ( http://www.hitl.washington.edu/research/vrd/ )

I'm waiting for the inevitable news stories that will follow - "Could hackers hijack your VRD to fry your eyes with lasers? Tune in at 11."

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#46
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How were your retinas damaged, if I may ask?

Luckily it was only a single retina that was damaged, and it was due to a parasite when I was under a year old, so I've never actually known what it was like to have two good eyes. You can get by with only one eye, but you don't have any real depth perception and you don't get any benefits from 3D movies (although you still get all the downsides). Plus, although I would love to try laser surgery to improve my vision…

Do doctors think you're brain did enough development when you were an infant that it would handle visual info coming from your bad eye if your retina were replaced? I was under the impression that someone like you (who grew up without using the eye) might not be able to usefully interpret the signals from the eye if it were repaired.

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#47
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I look forward to the day when my enemies leave an unattended Facebook session open, and I can update their status so they have a big "I'm carrying five grand in my wallet right now" sign floating above their heads as they walk around dark alleyways.

I know that was in jest (if not, you may be turning into a supervillian), but the actual implications of having facial recognition built into contacts is immense. It will be a Minority Report type world, where anonymity would be completely gone. I guess it would mean no criminal outlaws or parole violators walking around, but for a common man to not be able to walk anywhere without everyone around him knowing everyth…

I imagine that sharing facial-recognition data will be protected by new laws - although, of course, it won't work.

Perhaps we'll start seeing new fashions arise as a result: http://www.jwz.org/blog/2011/03/cv-dazzle/

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#48
post #24
post #22

How do you either keep them turned "upright" or detect rotation for updating the images? Contacts slide around in the eye a bit and their shape keeps them on the eye's lens pretty well, but there's no asymmetrical shape for keep the contact lens from rotating.

Some lenses, I think mostly the soft ones, are asymmetrical: They are intentionally heavier on the bottom and let gravity rotate them into place.

Still, there is going to be a significant amount of shake and sway as you move your eyes around. I wonder if you could correct it in software by tracking the movement of the lens with respect to the eye.

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#49
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In time, you could go beyond facial recognition and perhaps include gait recognition too.

My prediction is that face paint will come into style: http://venturebeat.com/2010/07/02/facial-recognition-camoufl...

Or perhaps infrared LED accessories: http://hackedgadgets.com/2008/02/21/ir-leds-used-to-defeat-s...

Perhaps a persistence-of-vision patterns that say "ANON" covering your face? http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/amazing-persi...

Re: Electronic contact lens displays pixels on the eyes

#50
post #25

Show me the best ratio to winning when playing Blackjack. WIN!

Geez - this will spawn a whole new area of detection in casino security systems. High resolution cameras capable of seeing the subtle reflective changes in the eyeball, EM detectors at the doors for finding the minuscule circuits on your eyes ... I can also see the casinos' utopia coming to fruition: those without the smarts to count cards, without the expertise to play properly, without all their electronics gadgets…

How is that significantly different from the casinos' status quo?
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