It’s not always easy for nurses to find the right vein for an intravenous drip — the target vessels are sometimes hidden below the skin. Evena Medical’s new Eyes-On smart glasses may make those injections a little easier. The Moverio-based eyewear overlays a 3D blood vessel map on the patient, helping the nurse insert even a tricky IV line on the first try. It can also tap into a hospital’s medical records and share imagery with doctors in remote locations. There’s no word on just which hospitals will use Eyes-On when it ships in the first quarter of 2014, but don’t be surprised if it makes your hospital stay a little more bearable in the near future. Check out a video promo for the glasses after the break.
I find that receiving too much information while I’m driving can be a major distraction, but I guess that Nissan thinks that Japanese drivers can handle it. They’ve just unveiled their own augmented reality glasses which appear to compete directly with Google Glass.
It’s expected that Nissan’s 3E glasses will connect to the Internet, allowing you to overlay real-time information on the heads-up display. You will be able to record projected images, communicate with your friends on Facebook, and more! Tipsters believe that the AR headset will use low-energy Bluetooth in order to save power, and will be able to pair up with a smartphone.
Assuming these ever make it past the concept phase, I’m pretty sure there will be a lot more accidents on Japanese roads, unless of course Japanese cars start driving themselves.
After its successful entry into the Japanese eye wear market a couple of years ago, we were expecting the frenzy around J!NS PC glasses to run its course and die out as these kinds of hypes often do in Japan…But not only have JIN company stocks multiplied by six since the launch of the product, the company is planning on expanding to China and even entering the American and European markets. Considering the relatively short and domestic lifecycle of products in Japan, the lasting popularity of J!NS PC glasses is pretty surprising.
So what makes these glasses such a great hit?
All of this goes back to the company president. After JIN company employees heard him often complaining about how much working on his computer all day tired out his eyes, they started looking into what exactly was causing their president so much pain. Further research revealed several papers and articles about blue light emitting screens, energy-efficient light-bulbs and their link to eye stress. Determining the culprit of their president’s eye problem, the staff at JIN got to work…and approximately five years later came out with J!NS PC glasses.
Tested by eye wear professionals as well as by employees at a number of IT companies, the glasses garnered a good reputation from both word of mouth as well as through a carefully implemented promotional strategy. This included progressively lowered price adjustments, and collaborations with popular figures including ONE PIECE, Arashi’s Sakurai Sho, and even gaming hardware company Alienware.
The distribution strategy of the glasses are also particularly interesting. J!NS PC glasses are very easy to get a hold of as they can be bought in either one of the country’s dedicated 500 stores, online, or more unconventionally at vending machines, and even at a drive-through in Gunma prefecture.
And if all of this hasn’t already convinced you that J!N kind of know what they’re doing here (and perhaps also that you may need to buy a pair), there is the price. Cheap glasses in Japan are not something that is hard to find – you can usually find something between 5000 to 20,000 JPY (50 to 200 USD). However, J!N PC glasses start at 3990 JPY (about 40 USD) and require no extra cost for any prescription single focus lenses, meaning that people can afford to own several pairs to suit their tastes.
This product offers not only real health benefits to a generation living in a world were computer usage is rapidly increasing and becoming the new office work norm, but also caters to those who want to use glasses as a fashionable accessory. In this context, JIN’s plans to export their innovative product don’t sound unfeasibly ambitious – especially since their brand has already gained a degree of popularity overseas thanks to online shops. How successful the product will be in European or American markets remains to be seen.
We’ve seen a number of ways modern technology can help the blind as well as those with limited vision get around a little easier. Just this week, we saw a robotic cane that can help its user make their way past obstacles, but a new pair of smart glasses could actually help that person with limited vision see obstacles for themselves, as well as other things around them. (more…)
We’ve heard a number of consumer electronics companies have reportedly started to create their own version of Google Glass, with Microsoft being the latest company to allegedly throw their hat into the smart eyeglasses ring. According to The Wall Street Journal, another giant tech company seems to also be developing their own smart glasses, and it’s a company we’re sure you’ve heard of: Samsung. (more…)
It would appear that the folks responsible for creating new and exciting products for Microsoft have found their way in to the wearables business this month as a tip arrives on a Windows-based Google Glass rival. This device would be eyewear along the lines of Google Glass, but would aim for not only a head-based […]
There are quite a few companies who are working on their own wearable technology similar to the Google Glass, and it appears Microsoft may be throwing their hat in the ring as well. According to a report published by the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is in the process of testing prototypes for what is being described as “internet-connected eyewear,” which should obviously mean their own pair of Google Glass. (more…)
Microsoft may have not hopped on the smartphone bandwagon especially early, but they aren’t about to be left behind again. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is already working on its own smartglasses. Yup.
Over the years we’ve seen a variety of concepts for portable augmentedreality devices, but it seems as if Google Glass opened the floodgates for AR devices that are worn like eyeglasses. Case in point, the Japanese telecommunications company NTT Docomo, which recently showed off not one but four ideas for glasses with an AR interface.
The first interface that NTT Docomo showed off was a projector that mirrored the display of a connected mobile device. The player appears to float in front of you and you can still see what’s in front of you in the background of the window. That in itself isn’t particularly revolutionary or practical, but when paired with sensors it turns into a really neat product. For instance, Docomo imagines a combination of a head-mounted camera and a face recognition app that shows you information about the people you meet.
The other two concepts were more exciting: the real-time translator that I talked about a couple of weeks ago and an external projector that can detect the size of the object that you’re using as a display surface. When used with a ring-shaped accessory, the glasses will also be able to detect your hand, allowing you to manipulate the projection as if it were a touchscreen.
There you have it, another exciting look at the future of augmented reality, and perhaps fashion as well. Out of all the concepts I’ve seen, the one I really want to own would still be the Sixthsense concept from back in 2009. I wouldn’t mind looking like a dork for that.
You can get all of the games I just mentioned and they all look amazing. This will certainly impress your friends whenever you have them over. In fact, they might just try to walk off with a glass or two.
They are made by Etsy seller CrawlspaceStudios and will cost you about $20(USD) for a pair of two.
I’m going to get myself a set of these. The drunker I get, the more those Space Invaders will move.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
![Microsoft Testing Prototype Google Glass Like Eyewear [Report]](https://i0.wp.com/cdnrss.ubergizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/microsoft-smart-glasses.jpg?resize=640%2C389 "Microsoft Testing Prototype Google Glass Like Eyewear [Report]")
Microsoft may have not hopped on the smartphone bandwagon especially early, but they aren’t about to be left behind again. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is already 
