New Source For Information

I apologize for not taking better care of my blog recently as finding Wifi has been extremely difficult but now I've found an excellent source for new stories. It's www.slashdot.com. They put out a daily newsletter full of techie news and curious oddities from which I can glean material from time to time. Which brings me to today's entry.

Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that Inventor Stephen Kurtin has developed glasses with a mechanically adjustable focus that he believes can free nearly 2 billion people around the world from bifocals, trifocals, and progressive lenses. Kurtin has spent almost 20 years on his quest to create a better pair of spectacles for people who suffer from presbyopia - the condition that affects almost everyone over the age of 40 as they progressively lose the ability to focus on close objects.

The glasses have a tiny adjustable slider on the bridge of the frame that makes it possible to focus alternately on a book, a computer, or a mountain range in the distance. 'For more than 140 years. adjustable focus has been recognized as the Holy Grail for prebyopes,' says Kurtin. 'It's a blazingly difficult problem.'

Each lens is actually a set of two lenses; one soft and the other firm. The flexible lens (near the eye) has a transparent, distensible membrane attatched to a clear rigid surface. The pocket between them holds a small quantity of crystal-clear fluid. As you move the slider on the bridge, it pushes the fluid and alters the shape of the lens."

The product is called TruFocals and can be found at www.TruFocals.com . The introductory price is $895 a pair, which seems a bit pricey since they are slightly dorky looking, aside from the fact that it more than doubles the alternatives. It remains to be seen if the product will hold up to the scrutiny of the market.

It seems to me that, given the fact as stated by Stephen Kurtin that there are a potential 2 billion customers in the world, that starting out at such a high price is a bit cheeky. I mean, who really needs a potential 1.7 trillion dollars? Just a thought. All in all, the invention is certainly worthy of a Speed Of Life rating. If anyone gets a pair, tell us how they work for you. Who knows, they might even have an affiliate program.