Here in the optical world, news that Google are working on “augmented reality eyewear” is being greeted with interest, granted, but it’s the kind of interest you show when a neighbour announces they are, for example, going to convert all their domestic electrical equipment to run on chicken droppings. Perhaps “bemusement” is a better word.
Answers on a postcard as to who this woman is? Anyone?
I dare say however that the A-to-Z map people (remember them?) felt the same way about Google’s first foray into cartography; similarly, Nokia probably chuckled around their Finnish boardroom table at the first announcement of Google’s Android Phone. “Google? Phones? Ho ho ho” etc, and now look. From Finnish to finished in under 5 years.
In fact, new branch-outs announced by the Chocolate Factory are frequently greeted with this kind of absolute surprise. To those who don’t follow the rumour blogs, most of Googles’ departures from their existing product range have been utterly unexpected. Often therefore an announcement that they are going into field X seems, as Douglas Adams once said, “not so much unlikely, more a sort of mismatching of concepts, like the idea of the Suez crisis popping out for a bun.”
However, the thing about Google is it’s like all tech evolution but speeded up a billion kazillion times, mainly because they have so many people, so much money, so much…. STUFF. One day, a bizarre, novel idea emerges; the next day they’ve cornered the world with it and former household brand names are relegated to the status of punchlines in nerdy jokes.
So while – in these early, naïve days – the usefulness of these Goggles will be limited to trivial, playtime features, it’s probably a good idea not to dismiss it all so quickly. One minute, it’ll be all “proof of concept” and “beta”; the next thing you know, everyone will stop buying televisions. The Sony, LG and Panasonic guys will find themselves hanging out with the Nokia, A-to-Z and Lycos dudes. At the Job Centre.
However, in the short term, expect lots of hilarious throwaway apps allowing you to put comedy face-masks on friends and imagine people with no clothes on. Sounds ok, actually.
Posted on: April 13th, 2012 by Mark H
One of our favourite bloggers eye-wear-glasses.com popped in to see us at our recent press event and to check out what we were up to with London Retro and take a look at our eco range Element. With a constant finger on the eyewear industries pulse, Eye-Wear-Glasses Founder, Rob is a seasoned pro when it comes to spotting whats new in opthalmics.
First hand experts and tough task-masters when it comes to passing the test in creating stylish, yet functional eyewear, there was a collective *phew* and a few sporadic air punches when we spotted that we’d made the cute and been added to their gallery of eyewear and sunglasses. Take a look at the feature, here.
Shop The London Retro collection, here
Posted on: April 12th, 2012 by Sarah
We were really excited when a sneak-peek of London Retro’s new ad campaign landing in our inbox this morning. Shot on location in London’s coolest northern spots, the new collection has moved on to a more 70s inspired vibe with aviator silhouettes, tortoiseshells rounds and preppy tones of navy and red being introduced into the sartorial collection. With names such as ‘Ronnie’, ‘Suzy’, ‘Kiki’ and ‘Sherlock’ included into the 70s vibe of London Retro’s second season, we’re all set for a rather psychedelic summer in the city.
Here’s some exclusive shots from yesterday’s shoot in London.
Straight from the camera...
Shop the collection, here: http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/londonretro/
Posted on: March 6th, 2012 by Sarah
To celebrate men, moustaches and the month of Movember, I have decided to pen a little piece celebrating the art of the double facial appendage. I mean, why hide your features behind one clever disguise when you can completely bamboozle the enemy with two! So let’s all get out our moustache combs, brush the dust off the Ray Bans and embrace the month of Movember as if it were our last!
Ned Flanders:
No other programme captures modern life like The Simpsons and no other man carries the old push broom as well as Ned Flanders. Clearly designed around the Magnum PI ‘tache, Ned epitomises the suburban nerd and captured the moustache/specs combo perfectly…….okely dokely?
Ned works specs AND a tache. Genius.
Say “hello Ned-erino” with the JL260F and matching jumper.
Hercule Poirot:
Although, probably the most famous creation from the mind of Agatha Christie and brought to life so perfectly by David Suchet in the TV adaptations, his keen mind and sleuthing skills have been well hidden behind his little twirly moustache and glasses. Although not as unkempt as the “Flanders”, what it lacks in volume it more than makes up for in “Artistic Polish”
Ali G:
As part of the “West Staines Massiv” but actually living with his grand mother at 36 Cherry Blossom Close, Ali G has come to represent all that is well wicked in W London and his sporting of the full on face fungus and bright yellow lensed sunglasses is, in our books, proper booyakasha and deserves much respek.
'Is you Madonna?'
Join in wit da crew with the Nueu 06 with yellow tinited lenses
Groucho Marx:
Born in a room above a butcher’s shop means too things. A) you’ll never run out of sausages and B) there’s a good chance you’ll grow up to be a very famous film star.
Groucho achieved both of these with a razor sharp wit, a trademark cigar and a truly awesome ‘tache. It started off as being grease painted on but proved so popular Groucho decided to grow his own and kept it for the rest of his life showing you can never keep a good moustache down!
- Groucho goes for a classic wayfarer
Posted on: November 18th, 2011 by Jon
'Need a little help reading the small-print?'
Being nice to his mum, a model citizen and “that nice chap next door” are 3 phrases not commonly associated with Adolf Hitler. In fact, they’re about as well used as chopsticks at an all you can eat soup buffet. The other sight you don’t get to see very often is Hitler wearing specs and as The Daily Mail reported this week, there’s a very good reason for it.
According to recent stories, Hitler needed reading glasses but being the chap he was, deemed them as a sign of weakness in front of his supporters, so he never wore them. Now most of us when we hit a certain age, will be told we need specs to read. So we bite the bullet, log on to the Glasses Direct site and buy a pair. What we don’t do is toodle off and invade Poland.
Presbyopia or the loss of accommodation in the eye ( or, the need for longer arms) is something we all encounter at some point as we pass the great, big 4…0 but we just chalk it up to experience and carry on. Hitler choice to ignore it completely and simply had a type writer made with extra large print and had his top PR bods and spin doctors (now that’s a tough gig) double space all his speech notes so he could read better.
So his rather classy specs, probably the most under used in history, find themselves up for sale for the princely sum of £5000 (you don’t even get a second pair free) along with a few other of his personal effects. If you have the cash, then casually dropping into conversation “you haven’t by any chance seen my glasses have you? You know the ones, gold? rimless? swastika on the side?” might impress some but I’d prefer the 2 for 1 for £59 with us. Cheaper and a bit less controversial when flying abroad.
Posted on: October 7th, 2011 by Jon
The question in the news right now is ‘could glasses soon be history?’ It turns out scientists have identified a gene that causes short-sightedness and have predicted they will reduce the number of individuals with short-sightedness within a decade. So what does this mean for the world of spectacles?
I have been a glasses wearer since the meager age of three, where the glasses were so big you could barely see my face behind them. I remember starting school and being looked at strangely and making friends with the only other kid in the class who also wore glasses too. By the time I was leaving school and starting university, specs had all of a sudden become cool. I looked around and everyone was wearing them, even people who didn’t need them. The world had gone crazy for the one thing I had dreaded wearing most of my life!
Specs have become a fashion statement, so what will happen if they are no longer needed as much? Will people continue to wear them anyway but without prescriptions? What will happen when the genes are identified for the other various eye disorders?
It’s an interesting concept. Feel free to post any thoughts you might have, we’d love to hear from you.
Posted on: September 15th, 2010 by Sarah
With 65% of the British public feeling ‘ripped off’ at their opticians and almost half admitting they’ve actually postponed their eye test because of the costs involved with buying new glasses, we at Glasses Direct felt it was our responsibility to help clarify the rather baffling optical world.
We have created a guide called ‘seeing clearly’ to help you make clear, informed choices when it comes to shopping for your glasses. We teamed up with Plain English Campaign (an independent group fighting for plain English in public communication) and received their Crystal Mark to show that this guide is as clear as it can be.
For clear information on what your prescription means, what you should expect during and after an eye test, how to find the best glasses for you and much more, check out our seeing clearly guide here. You will also find a downloadable pocket guide to take with you in your pocket or handbag at your next visit so that you’re armed with all the knowledge you need!
Have a listen to our latest radio coverage here:
And take a look at some of the other great coverage below in the Times, Metro, Sunday Mirror, the Scotsman and Daily Express.
Posted on: August 2nd, 2010 by Sarah
MIT Media Lab claim to have found a way to get your eye prescription – through a new app on your mobile phone. It works by clipping a small plastic device onto your mobile phone, looking into the lens and pressing the arrow keys several times. It all takes less than two minutes – less time than making a cup of tea! The company has built this app for use in developing countries which lack these systems, to ensure people are looking after their eyes.
Imagine… testing your eyes and then browsing online to find a pair of glasses you love all in the comfort of your own home – you wouldn’t even have to step out of your front door. Check out a short video here to see exactly how it works. Well we’re certainly going to be watching this space. For those of you reading this, do let us know about any other new and inspiring technology developments in the optical world, we’d love to hear all about it…
Posted on: July 8th, 2010 by Jamie
Recently featured in Wired magazine, you will need a microscope to see these glasses. This is a 2mm frames sporting a 0.1mm logo, seen here pictured on a house-fly. The logo is the equivalent size of a human hair, and was lazered onto the frames using, from a stationary machine, whilst the frames were moved around using a positioning machine.
Looks as though this was a warm-up act by German company Micreon for their next trick: to engrave tiny lettering onto watch faces. Reminds me of the artist Willard Wigan, who creates sculptures too small for the human eye to see. One of his works that I saw was set on a plinth which was the eye of a needle, and the sculpture itself was of a ship whose ropes were made out of spiders web strands. He gives a fascinating talk here.
We’ll be sticking to the day job of choosing the best styles and designs that suit your eyes and wardrobe, which means you probably won’t find these bug-eyed glasses at Glasses Direct for the foreseeable future
Posted on: January 4th, 2010 by Jamie
Lot 364 at New York’s Antiquorum Auctioneers had a reserve of about $20,000 and by the end of the auction, bids had been received for up to the staggering amount of $2 million. But the highly popular auction for Mahatma Gandhi’s iconic glasses became controversial after various calls (bolstered by the Indian Government itself) that it was of questionable legality, that it threatened to remove a national treasure from India, and tampered with the Gandhi legacy. People were particularly incensed that the sale itself was a contradiction of Gandhi’s own anti-materialist principles.
The twist in the tale is that Vijay Mallya, an Indian liquor and airline executive who owns the company that makes Kingfisher beer, turned out to be the winner of the auction and subsequently declared that he will be returning the glasses to India for public display. Added to that, the happy ending was that Tushar Gandhi, 49, a great-grandson of Gandhi, hasbeen reported as saying “I am very happy now. Now the things will come back to India to where it rightly belongs.”
I recommend reading the NY times coverage of the exciting auction process and surrounding controversy here and here.
So what do you think? If the auction had not gone ahead, as everyone was calling for, the glasses would be probably still be hidden in the collection of filmmaker James Otis somewhere in Los Angeles. But now that it has gone ahead, the glasses are returned to delight crowds in a museum in India.
Posted on: March 18th, 2009 by Jamie
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