Dynamic Eye LCD sunglasses blot out the sun, not the rest of your life (video)
Those giant Chanel sunglasses you bought for $450 may make you look happening at the pool, but did you notice the extra squint-lines you're getting thanks to their barely-there tinting? Not cool, and that wouldn't be a problem with Dynamic Eye shades. The concept model above admittedly looks worse than that pair of knockoff Oakleys you got for $20 from some mall kiosk, but that's hugely better than the early prototype demonstrated below, ready for its cameo in Revenge of the Nerds V: Nerds Hit the Beach. The concept is simple: each lens is an LCD that creates a dark box over the sun, blotting out the biggest source of glare and allowing the rest of the glasses to remain rather less tinted. They're even said to work at night. It's a project the company has been working on for years and still has many months of development left, but it feels close enough to ask for your help via Kickstarter. If you're feeling generous, a $400 donation will ensure you get one of the first pairs to roll off the assembly lines -- or you can just chip in $10 for now and get an e-mail telling you when you can order. Probably the safer way to go.
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Dynamic Eye Develops LCD Sunglasses; Initiates Funding Effort on Kickstarter.com
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 13, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Dynamic Eye (www.dyneye.com) announced today that it has completed the technology verification testing stage of its electronically controlled glare reduction sunglasses. Dynamic Eye's LCD sunglasses offer active glare control that is completely unlike and superior to today's passive technologies, and let you see what you need to see. The sunglasses darken only a small spot on each lens instead of the entire lens, so glare sources are dimmed dramatically, while everything else can be seen easily. The products combine sensors, miniaturized electronics, and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to increase comfort and safety in glare conditions.
To raise capital and identify an early adopter base, Dynamic Eye is offering fans a chance to show their support through monetary pledges at Kickstarter.com. Kickstarter is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Top pledge levels are essentially preordering the first pairs of LCD sunglasses off the assembly line at a discounted price. The commercialization stage of the product will require additional funding and development, but Kickstarter affords an opportunity for market feedback. Dynamic Eye will then offer the sunglasses to the consumer market at a competitive, premium sunglasses price, and bring the price down as the technology matures.
The sunglasses are being developed for the $2 billion US sunglasses market, as well as for entirely new markets such as fighting headlight glare at night. Company founder and CEO Dr. Chris Mullin states, "Our products let users see more in glare situations than ever before, because they reduce direct glare ten to one hundred times more than any other sunglasses. On the technology side, we have a compelling application for the nascent plastic LCD industry because the application itself requires the lightweight, shatterproof, and bendable characteristics that distinguish plastic from glass."
About Dynamic Eye: The Company was founded to solve the problem of glaring lights by Dr. Chris Mullin, who received his PhD in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. The company has been awarded two patents and is pursuing several more. Dr. Mullin and his team have over thirty years' experience in LCD process development and manufacture.
