[thelad]

Don't get this, what's the point in 1 device being corrected while the rest of the real world is blurry?

One use case example was a guy in a car with GPS navigation. So he can then see the GPS nav but how does he drive if he can't see properly!?

[Cass]

If someone's far-sighted, as many people above the age of forty are, they might be able to see the street perfectly well, but have trouble reading a GPS screen that's only fourty cm away from their face.

And speaking as one of the people whose vision defect can't be corrected by glasses, but only by uncomfortable contact lenses, there'd be immense value to me in a computer I can use without lenses - especially since reading on a screen is basically the only thing I need the damn things for while I'm at home. For someone whose work is mostly computer-based, you might be able to get away with taking your lenses out for the entire day and only wear them for the drive to work and back.

[danellis]

> they might be able to see the street perfectly well, but have trouble reading a GPS screen that's only fourty cm away from their face

So they would also not be able to see their speedometer, or their fuel guage...

This is a technological solution looking for problems that are far more conveniently solved by conventional means.

[jrockway]

This would be great for computer work.

Many people have vision problems where the eye can't easily focus on a variety of distances. So if you have glasses, they're set up to make focusing on one distance easy, but things closer or farther (if that distance is not "infinity") is more difficult. I have progressive bifocals to get some amount of varying correction with distance, but this is thrown off for computers since they take up more of your field of vision than a book. (I also find looking at my phone through the bottom of my glasses to be pretty awkward, even though I've had bifocals since elementary school.)

One solution is an extra pair of glasses for computer work, but this is annoying because you can't get up and go to the bathroom without changing glasses. If the computer monitor were set to add the extra correction between my normal prescription and the intermediate distance prescription, my life would be much better. (Same for my phone.)

Right now, I can pretty much focus without using anything more than my distance prescription, but as I get older, this will become more and more difficult. So I'm pretty excited about this; less eyestrain is always good.

Also, the ability to tweak the correction in software is great. Where I have my monitor isn't quite what the optometrist was expecting when I had my computer glasses made, so I have to change positions to use them. With control in software, I could just adjust some config file somewhere when I rearrange my desk.

[bikebot]

You'll find out when you hit your forties and you're trying to decide whether you need glasses or just slightly longer arms.

[hosay123]

Charity school with 25 tablets, shared among 500 poverty-stricken children in a third world country. If the correction can be adjusted in software and this can be made cheaply, it's a no-brainer application. The video indicates that it can indeed be made cheaply and adjusted in software.

Sounds much simpler than trying to ensure a continuous supply of glasses for 500 energetic kids

[Houshalter]

Not necessarily, see this guy for example: https://www.ted.com/talks/josh_silver_demos_adjustable_liqui...

Although I'm skeptical that third world countries will have access to high tech vision correcting tablets but not eyeglasses.

[warnhardcode]

I've been nearsighted for a long time and wear glasses. Recently I developed presbyopia, and now cellphone screens look blurry unless I remove my glasses. Most of the time my vision with glasses is fine, until I want to look at my phone. A screen that looked sharp to my ancient eyes with my glasses would be wonderful. First world solutions!

[ivank]

If you're nearsighted, maybe you could use this in combination with glasses to project near displays to look like they're farther away. This would eliminate the need to focus on near objects when you're reading or computing.

[higherpurpose]

There are already tablets for the kitchen, for blind people, and so on. I think the "tablets for old people" niche could be a pretty big one, and all of them could feature such displays.

[foxhedgehog]

Yes I was also questioning the benefits of a less blurry GPS if I am about to plow into oncoming traffic.