7 ms·
IXI's autofocusing lenses are almost ready to replace multifocal glasses
- iandanforth 5mo agoPutting two adaptive dynamic systems next to each other is tricky. Your eyes and these glasses could easily create a positive or negative feedback loop or begin oscillating. So while cool I hope they have some experienced controls people on staff to detect and prevent such things.
- kennyadam 5mo agoIf only they’d had a frontend web dev on the team!
- doublerabbit 5mo agoDon't say that, I don't want lenses running on Vue/React. Make it love2d where humans and building are replaced by pixel art.
- perching_aix 5mo agoMaybe they really should. That way, instead of having a run of the mill unusable parallax scrolling landing page, they could have a page with a controllable animation that visually explains the mechanism of action behind these glasses. Would be a hell of a lot more interesting than vague or otherwise inscrutable prose about liquid crystals / their products / their company being cool.
- russdill 5mo agoThat's the beauty of eye tracking. The two adjustments are orthogonal. You don't cross and uncross your eyes to adjust focus.
- dnnddidiej 5mo agoHow does it compare to multifocal contact lenses?
- pavel_lishin 5mo agoMy understanding of those is that contact lenses work the same way that multifocal glasses work, with the added disadvantage that every time you blink, it takes them a second to re-align correctly. So this should be completely different, if it works.
- SoftTalker 5mo agoI tried them and could not get used to them. I went back to using single focus lenses and using mild readers (1.00 or 1.25 for desktop screen work at arm's length, and slightly stronger readers (2.00 or maybe 2.50) for very close work. I typically have a pair of mild readers that I leave on the desk and carry a pair of the stronger ones around for reading my phone, restaurant menus, etc. Note if you wear glasses you can "focus" them to some extent by sliding them up and down your nose.
- homeonthemtn 5mo agoAs a glasses wearer I'm looking forward to this tech. I like the idea of natural, seamless auto focusing, and as a future fantasy, a simple, toggleable overlay of info would be nifty. Going out foraging and being able to identify plants and fungi by simply resting my vision on something for a pause is the sci Fi tech I actually want
- ece 5mo agoI wonder how long the wait will be for AR glasses to have this option too.
- pavel_lishin 5mo agoHonestly, even if they could shift focus via some sort of "command" - a muscle tick or something - that would be a game changer as it is. Every time I play D&D, I have to keep taking off and putting on my glasses so I can read my notes, and see my players' faces clearly. (I'm aware of the multifocal glasses mentioned in the article; they didn't work well for me.)
- gedy 5mo agoI'm in a similar situation but found that getting "computer glasses" made which use the near prescription (and are not for long distance) work well for this. (I run D&D as well lol) I could not handle multifocal at all, was disorienting for me.
- pavel_lishin 5mo agoHow does that work for far vision? I'm nearsighted, myself - so for near vision, I need zero prescription at the moment. (We'll see how that changes in a deacde, I guess.)
- gedy 5mo agoIt's not for all day wear if you are going outside or driving, etc. But around the house or in a room it's fine. All depends on your prescription though. In my case, far vision is better than not wearing any glasses, but I'd not been comfortable driving wearing these.
- russdill 5mo agoThey do! The command is, cross your eyes a little bit
- snackbroken 5mo agoAn alternative to multifocals is glasses with one lens for near and the other for far or to use a contact lens in only one eye in addition to your normal glasses. This also obviously comes with downsides that take some getting used to but some people prefer it.
- isityettime 5mo agoI'm under 40, recently had cataract surgery to address mild cararacts, and deeply regret that choice. I strongly feel I lost more than I gained, and now need to carry multiple pairs of glasses every time I go out to engage many common activities. Unfortunately I don't have presbyopia at all (my surgery still left me myopic) and my inability to change focus distance is drastically more severe than what happens naturally with aging. This first generation of IXI glasses won't be useful to me. But I really, really want something like it.
- dmayle 5mo agoYou can swap out your default lenses with multifocal lenses... I use multifocal contact lenses, and my wife and my mother both had the surgery. My wife got the panoptix (no need for glasses at all) and my mother got vivity (just need reading glasses). At night, there are halos with the panoptix lenses (same with the multifocal contact lenses), the severity is not always the same per-person, and it bothers some people more than others (interferes with night driving), but it's an option. Yes, it's another surgery, but depending on your ability to afford it, and the amount it bothers you, it is still an option. From my point of view (admittedly, with contact lenses), going from three different pairs of glasses (vision, vision+reading, plain contact lenses+reading) to contact lenses with no glasses at all was just unquestionably worth it.
- isityettime 5mo agoI'm unfortunately not a candidate for multifocal intraocular lenses due to other problems with my eyes, otherwise I would have gone with them for the first surgery. Multifocal contacts are probably not a good long-term fit for those same reasons, and there's the same problem with progressive lenses in glasses. Old-school bifocals are okay, but limited in the usual way.
- NetMageSCW 5mo agoPerhaps you could try monovision in glasses instead of multifocal? I have monovision contacts and they work pretty well for me, though mid-tier (e.g. desk computer) work requires special glasses.
- alsetmusic 5mo agoIn the last two to three years, I've hit a point where I need to take off my glasses (near-sighted, can't see things far away) to read my phone. I can still make out the text with them on, but it's physically uncomfortable and holding it at a distance helps. I've been thinking about the existence of bifocals and how they aren't ideal as I come to terms with the inconvenience of removing my glasses and putting them back on repeatedly as I task switch. This sounds pretty great and I hope it's not smoke and mirrors (given enough time, science fiction tends to become reality, so I'm hopeful).
- linsomniac 5mo agoI'm at the same point you are, and a couple years ago I ended up getting bifocals, and let me tell you it's absolutely worth it! I ended up getting "multi-tasking bifocals" (what my glasses place called them), which are basically normal glasses with the lower area a second prescription for reading the phone. There are others that have 3 areas (reading at the bottom, distance a small spot in the middle, and then a middle ground elsewhere). I didn't really want to get bifocals because it's what old people wear ;-). But it's so much better with them. The glasses place (CostCo Optical) guy was kind of a jerk about it, all but saying "you're going to wreck your car if you use these for anything but at your desk", but I just "yeah, yeah"ed him, I like my prescription dialed back a bit from max power for day-to-day use. If you can afford it, maybe give them a try? Zenni and other onlines might make them affordable enough to just try?
- nottorp 5mo agoI was reluctant to try progressive lenses at first as well. Ended up loving them. Look ahead to see far, look down to see the car dashboard or your phone. Of course, being a programmer I have another pair of glasses just for monitors. If your work doesn't involve reading a lot maybe you can get away with just progressives, but this is HN so not likely.
- heikkilevanto 5mo agoI am not so sure about the eye tracking and autofocus stuff, but would love a simple focus knob on the frames to adjust instead of changing to a different pair of glasses. I suspect the tracking and focusing electronics must be somewhat clumsy and a battery life of a single day sounds suboptimal for me.
- RickJWagner 5mo agoAdd to that the blinking LEDs that track eye movements. No thanks.
- sva_ 5mo agoAre you one of the few people who are able to perceive infrared light?
- RickJWagner 5mo agoNo. My wife has migraines, though, triggered by flashing lights. I’d have to wonder about the long term affects from the glasses.
- SomeHacker44 5mo agoThis exists. There was a frame with a slider on the nose bridge which refocuses circular lenses. I read about it a long (decade+?) time ago.
- heikkilevanto 5mo agoSounds interesting. But I suspect my astigmatism would kind of exclude just turning the lenses around
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- xp84 5mo agoLooks super cool! > It still needs to obtain the necessary medical certifications in order to sell its glasses and get all the production pieces in place Oh, ok. I hope they have enough funding to last till the FDA clears them, in 2030 :/ The same organization which allows any snake oil to be marketed as long as they say it’s a “supplement” will hold a pair of glasses up for years, as though there could be a hidden danger to a lens that can change to a second prescription.
- dcrazy 5mo agoThe FDA doesn’t “allow” snake-oil supplements. They have no authority over supplements.
- SoftTalker 5mo agoThey in fact do have a lot of requirements for supplements and their labeling, but do not require (in fact forbid) any claims that the supplements should be used to treat or cure any disease. https://www.fda.gov/food/dietary-supplements-guidance-documents-regulatory-information/dietary-supplement-labeling-guide https://www.fda.gov/food/dietary-supplements-guidance-docume...
- snackbroken 5mo agoThere is potential danger with a lens that can suddenly change to a second prescription. For example: imagine you're driving and your whole field of vision suddenly starts flickering in and out of focus. That would be incredibly distracting and pretty dangerous. Even if they just started focusing on 1 foot away it'd be quite bad.
- cperciva 5mo ago"Cameraless eye tracking" is understating the key insight here. They don't even need to track which direction you're looking! The only thing they need to measure is the difference between the two directions, and parallax tells them how to focus. Important to note, of course, that this only works for people with normal binocular vision -- but that's the majority of customers.
- pmontra 5mo agoIt's only me or it does not explain how it works? > the technology [...] can be separated into two parts. First [...] is the part that tracks eye movements and what they are focusing on. The second part is never written. There is a hint later on: > [the] prototype lenses, made up of layers of liquid crystal and a transparent ITO (indium tin oxide) conductive layer. This combination is still incredibly thin, and it was amazing to watch the layers switch almost instantly into a prescription lens
- FatalLogic 5mo ago>It's only me or it does not explain how it works? I'll try my best to explain, according to what I understand: An electric field can re-orientate the liquid crystal molecules, which changes the speed of light within the liquid crystal, and thereby changes the liquid crystal's refractive index. This changes the angle of light as it passes from other material (such as air or plastic or glass) into the liquid crystal, and that change of angle changes the focal point of the light ray. That effect provides the ability to focus incoming light, controlled by electricity. That's probably not exactly right, but it's better than the explanation in the original story, which is non-existent and also has a very confused reference to ITO (indium tin oxide), like you've noticed.
- sandworm101 5mo ago>> The team has also refined the nose pieces and glasses arms to accommodate different face shapes. Apparently, when testing expanded from Finland to the UK, British faces were "...different." A little harsh when talking to me, a Brit. So the finish company's eyeglasses didn't fit a "British" face? Fun story about this problem. When I was a kid I was a nationally-ranked swimmer. Almost everyone who could wore "Swedish" racing goggles aka swedes. These are very simple and tiny goggles, just a plastic cup that fits on, almost within, your eye socket. Your eyebrow normally sits over the top of the goggle, holding it onto your face. (I could swim slowly without the strap.) They are amazing, by far the best racing goggles out there. No foam to peal. Small enough not to fall off during a dive. And held together with string so you can adjust them perfectly to your face. They were also dirt cheap. But without any soft parts they are unforgiving to the point of racism. If your skull is even a slightly different shape than the Nordic/Viking/Swedish ideal, the goggles will not sit on your eye socket properly. On Asian people they tend to leak unless you tighten them painfully. On many black people they tend to rotate and climb into the eye socket. To nobody's surprise, they have kept the "Swedish" name because, in this case, any racial connotation is very appropriate. https://malmsten.com/en/products/p/swim-goggles/swedish-goggles/2168/2357 https://malmsten.com/en/products/p/swim-goggles/swedish-gogg... https://alltides.com/products/lunettes-de-natation-swedish-bleu https://alltides.com/products/lunettes-de-natation-swedish-b... (If you buy these, ditch the stock straps. Nobody uses them because they rot/age very quickly. Use silicon string.)
- julianlam 5mo agoDoes this mean a single pair can be adjusted over time to adapt to a changing prescription? Buying lenses is often the most expensive part, especially for those with astigmatism, second only to the frames themselves, which is another racket altogether.
- utopcell 5mo agoThis article is from Jan 8.
- maxgashkov 5mo agoI pray for the next major development in glasses tech to be some thing that blocks ultra-bright oncoming LEDs while driving.
- JumpCrisscross 5mo agoWhy not in the windshield?
- maxgashkov 5mo agoAt this point I'd take anything but my guess is this will make windshield quite more expensive (and it's already not cheap to replace it due to the sensor array calibration on most newer cars).
- peteforde 5mo agoUm, take my money. This cannot materialize quickly enough.
- metalman 5mo agodeal breakers for me would be needing an app/ account,and having wifi/bluetooth if the setup "app" was free to download from there servers, or preferably built in and worked with all major OS's, the this would be very interesting, but there is zero possibility of guggle etall having my vision as a data set and leverage for extortion