HUD? That's so old-fashioned...

There's a group at the University of Washington that is working out how to make contact lenses with video displays inside them. No, really. They have the circuits, the display, the antennae (power and signal) all integrated into the lens itself. Here's a picture of one:

You know how the robots in Terminator scan objects and get data on what is in their field of vision? You could have that too:

Subject: Johnny Fairplay
Note: He owes you $1,500
Last Encounter: Jan 5, 2008 - ran like a cockroach

or

Target: 325 yards
Wind: 15 knots, steady from L
Elevation: -24 feet
Club: Big Bertha

or

Sex: Female
Height: 5'6"
Waist: hard to tell, negligee is in the way
Chances: 1000 to 1 with lens in, 2 to 1 without

The group, led by Babak Parviz, a UW EE prof, has succeeded in integrating the materials and the manufacturing processes for two very different products - a very soft gel for ophthalmic uses and highly flexible substrates for circuits. No human has yet tried them out (that they will admit to), but several rabbits have been subjected to 20 minute sessions of wearing them.

My question is about focus: whenever anything is floating about on my cornea, it is definitely not in focus, so how is the eye going to see anything but a blurry dot? Maybe the LEDs are focused on the retina somehow?

We take another baby step towards our machine future. Skynet will exist, resistance is futile, you will obey.

In any case, the concept is very intriguing, and I can't wait for BlueTooth contacts to appear. Me first! Me first!

It's not the symptoms, doc, it's the side effects..

You might not think that something called "Restless Leg Syndrome" (RLS) is all that serious, but for those of us that suffer from it, it is a major pain in the... well, the leg.

If I don't get to sleep early enough, I risk lying awake with RLS, wanting to rip my leg off and beat it against the wall. This basically means a night with really, really crappy sleep, which everyone can agree is miserable.

So when adverts come on the TV for things that I have (or think I have, as my wife points out), I pay attention. I'm not happy that I'm paying more and more attention to these adverts as I age, but that's another post about sampling frequency...

There is a product called Requip by GlaxoSmithKlein for treatment of RLS, and one of the side effects quickly stated at the end of the TV advert really caught my attention: "Also tell your doctor if you or your family notices that you develop any unusual impulses or behaviors, such as pathological gambling or hypersexuality," and later: "Most patients were not bothered enough to stop taking Requip."

Duh. Of course I'm not going to be bothered enough if I have pathological needs for gambling and sex.

Hmm. I think I'll stick with beating my leg against the wall, thanks.