Traditionally, these light-to-dark lenses have been constructed by coating a normal lens with a photochromic dye. When UV light hits the dye, the individual molecules expand, darkening the lens and absorbing light. Coating contacts, however, doesn't work so well.

So researchers in Singapore have laced contacts with a matrix on nano tunnels filled with these photochromic dyes. Not only has the team been successful in producing transition contacts; these contacts darken in the presence of UV light faster than standard lenses (just 10 to 20 seconds).

Researchers are now working on isolating the photochromic material to just corneal region of your eye, granting you all of the UV filtering without turning your entire iris black.

But until they graft the timeless style of a Wayfarer onto my eyeball, I'll pass. [Technology Review and image]

This week, Gizmodo is exploring the enhanced human future in a segment we call This Cyborg Life. It's about what happens when we treat our body less as a sacred object and more as what it is: Nature's ultimate machine.

We upgrade, update, and customize nearly everything, so why not our vision too? Reach for the stars and all that jazz. And even the tech fits the theme: some more common optical surgical procedures are actually based on NASA technology:

Wavefront technology, originally developed by NASA to aid the focus of the Hubble Space Telescope on distant stars, measures up to 250 spots in the pupil to provide a precise map of the cornea and iris. This offers the potential to correct problems not addressed by glasses, such as halos around lights at night or glare.

Fighter pilots, snipers, long-distance drivers, politicians, supermodels, and your average Sally or Joe Smith are getting eye surgery. Why? Some are doing it for vanity, to no longer have to wear glasses they may consider unsightly, or contacts that may be a hassle. Others are doing it to advance in their careers: some pilots wouldn't be allowed to fly without meeting certain vision requirements, and others just wantbetter than normal vision.

Gradually it's becoming more and more common for patients to request procedures which will over-correct or modify their corneas with goals other than simple 20/20 vision in mind. Those pilots might want better night vision and the speech givers want to avoid wearing reading glasses and request monovision. That's great, but what about that Yankees catcher who gets surgery to see the balls flying at him better? While no one will care much about other cases, there could eventually be argument that his vision surgery is some form of unfair enhancement.

Potential arguments and debates aside, it's not all just about boosting career aspirations and vanity though. Dr. Julian Stevens of Moorfields Eye Hospital, an expert on laser refractive surgery, gives an example of how "customized" vision helped a patient's quality of life:

"One of my patients led an active life and had high-quality distance vision. When he became paralyzed from the neck down, his world became smaller - reading and television. Spectacles on your nose become painful if you can't shift them." The solution? Mr Stevens made him slightly short-sighted.

I must admit that this particular example made me cringe a little bit. What are the ethics of downgrading someone's vision at his or her request even if it's for an improvement in lifestyle. No matter. There's some great potential for both good and evil in it, so I'll be paying attention to advances in this whole custom-tailored vision trend, because my death glare definitely needs some upgrading. [Times Online]

Photo by bogenfreund

We still want to live here though. [IGN]

The eye, known as Argus II, is made by American company Second Sight. It works by using a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images to a tiny receiver placed on the outside of a patient's eye.

73-year-old Ron lost his site in his 40s thanks to retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited disorder that causes progressive peripheral vision loss. He is one of 18 patients across the world taking part in Second Sight's experiment.

"They said let their be light, there was light. For 30 years I've seen absolutely nothing at all, it's all been black. But now light is coming through," he told the BBC.

"It's a great privilege and an honor, I think, to be able to take part in an experiment such as this - hoping that the outcome is going to be able to bring sight to people, like myself, that were completely blind." [BBC via Boingboing]

About the size of a chunky iPod, the Vision is an MP4/MP3 player, radio/TV tuner, voice recorder, eBook reader and camera. OK, not games, but not bad, right? That's until you realize that it's only got 2GB of storage, that TV tuner is analog (soon obsolete) and the camera is a measly 1.3MP.

The Vision was once going to play simple flash games, but Sega didn't want people to think they were trying to compete with Sony and Nintendo. So now it's just an overpriced European PMP (expected to go for $100 or more) and a novelty prize for Sega's UFO catcher arcade machines.

Remember, these are the same guys who once released the Genesis and the Dreamcast. [Sega Nerds via Kotaku]

The story said the watergun was filled with Fox urine, which according to commenters in the know, can be bought at stores as a rodent repellent. Good to know! Although the man is facing charges, I hope he gets off. Although in some cultures, if convicted, he'd almost certainly be facing a firing squad of urine filled water guns. Think about that for a second. [twincities via obscure store]

As the comments about this device over at the Register suggest, this is one butt-ugly portable that probably shouldn't have been compared to the PSP, let alone a DS. The "games" it plays are actually Java-based affairs, and its strengths, should they materialize in 2009, would be as a portable TV, movie player, camera, and even an eBook reader.

It's a device you should probably watch in the dark or after a few pints, but it does in fact mark a return to the hardware business for Sega after two generations away from the game. We're just having trouble figuring out what the hook is. Consumers aren't likely to be swayed by simple branding, Sega's storied history or not.

[The Register]

For people with retinal diseases like acute macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa, vision is impared because the retina's photo-sensing cells become unreceptive to light; however, the nerves leading from the eye to the brain (the most Monster cables) are generally left in good shape. Implants like this one stimulate the sleepy retina cells with electric current, which is generated from the wirelessly-powered coil surrounding the iris and processed by a microcontroller in the tiny titanium case that sits on the outside of the eyeball.

This iteration is the first to have components small enough to be mostly external, which is less complicated from a bio-rejection standpoint. So to go where lasers can't, hopefully Eye 3.0 tech like this will pick up the slack. [Technology Review]

Technology to restore sight to the blind by using electronic retinas has been around for a while, but the link between the retina and external cameras has involved wires, which just seems clumsy. UCLA Optical engineer Michelle Hauer thinks that technology may have advanced enough to embed a tiny camera inside the lens of the eye, capable of adapting for corneal optical effects and perhaps using haptics to stabilize its position. The camera would transmit images to a nerve-stimulating chip at the back of the eye, resulting in a complete electronic vision system.

Impressive idea, and I hope it makes its way into real medical devices sometime soon. In the meantime, I'm wondering if you could adapt it for infrared vision, or have a telephoto zoom built right into your eye. [Patent for intraocular camera via New Scientist]

•Interactive network display •Plug-and-Play "CD-less" setup •Operating Range: Up to 1,600 ft.** •Link Rate: Up to 300Mbps in 20/40MHz channel mode •Compatible with IEEE 802.11g, 802.11b, 802.11n draft 2.0*, 802.3ab •Ports: WAN - 1 Gigabit port; LAN - 4 Gigabit ports •Security: Wi-Fi Protected Setup™; WPA™, WPA2™; 64-/128-bit WEP encryption; multiple SSID •VPN Support: PPTP; IPSec pass-through

Chubby Creative Zen Vision:M Got Thinner [EverythingUSB]

Researchers at the University of Rochester tested both Unreal Tournament and Tetris, with Tetris doing basically nothing to your eyesight and UT giving that 20% boost. Well, you'd better log on and play some Facing Worlds CTF… it's for your own good.–Adam Frucci

University of Rochester [via Medgadget]

Product Page [Via ubergizmo]

For no reason in particular, Creative decides to release an upgraded 1.60.01 firmware to reinstate FM recording. At first we thought the RIAA was pressuring Creative to remove the feature, but would the RIAA de-pressure them? When's the last time they relented?

In any case, if you were unlucky enough to upgrade to the gimped firmware, go and grab 1.60.01 and re-activate your FM recording. – Jason Chen

Download Site [Creative via i4u]

If only I had the Pocket Viewer then, I could have seen the small print and avoided the trouble I'm in now. It has a nice 4" x 3" display that magnifies up to 7x actual size. All you have to do is place the Pocket Viewer on top of what ever it is you want to magnify. In my case a document, but in your case Sherlock maybe it's a photo of a possible crime. Feel free because the Pocket Viewer has 3 different viewing modes including full color, text, and high contrast. I can't imagine who would need the high contrast mode, considering the image is already being blown up to 7x it's original size, but who am I to judge.

The Pocket Viewer will run you a staggering $899, but that's much cheaper then the couple grand I'll have to pay to replace my ailing HDTV.– Ben Longo

Pocket Viewer [first STREET]