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Permanent anti-fog coating could mean end to steamy specs
Unless you're blind, or just plain out of the loop, you've probably noticed a proliferation of folks rocking spectacles as accessories of late, but for those of us who wear the things out of necessity, there's no taking 'em off when our lenses fog up. Lucky for us, a team of Canadian researchers have patented a new permanent anti-fog coating that they claim is the first of its kind. To make sure the stuff wouldn't wash away, the crew applied four successive layers of molecules to a transparent material (either glass or plastic) before overlaying it with polyvinyl alcohol, allowing water to spread uniformly and avoiding the steamy-windows effect. The result? A super durable, multilayer coating that won't rub off, regardless of the freakish conditions you and your face encounter. Its creators see endless applications for their invention, including windshields, visors, camera lenses, and, of course, eyewear. Now that that's out of the way, we suggest they concentrate their efforts on sweat-less nose pads.
Rayqual adapters bring Leica, Nikon, and Canon lenses to Sony's NEX cameras
Sony's new NEX-3 and NEX-5 cameras may have a few limitations when it comes to their UI, but it looks like they won't be hurting for lens options -- Japan's Rayqual has announced that it'll be offering a series of lens adapters for the cameras starting next month. Those will let you attach any number of Leica, Nikon or Canon lenses to the compact shooter, although you'll expectedly have to make do without autofocus if you decide to venture beyond Sony's own lenses for the cameras. They also won't come cheap, with the adapters set to run ¥19,950 to ¥25,200, or roughly $220 to $275 -- although that could be a small price to pay if you've already invested in some serious glass.
FotoNation embeds red-eye reduction for that cellphone cam
Are you that avid cellphone cam user who snatches a dozen nocturnal photos a day to wirelessly upload to that Flickr or other photo blog account? If you use the measly flash found on most cellphone cams these days, dontcha' wish there was a way to have that nasty red-eye effect taken out before your precious photos ended up on the global net of photos? It's a pity when you have to download that sweet pic into PhotoShop, Picasa or some other app just to wipe that red-eye out. That concern will be a non-issue to many cellphone cam users shortly if FotoNation gets its way. The online imaging company has announced its "Red-Eye Correction Technology" (snazzy name, eh?) it hopes will be soon embedded into the firmware of most cellphones.
