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Let the Games Begin

High-tech eyewear is most coveted where it can lend a competitive edge, and the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next month, Aug. 5-21, is the ultimate playing field. What performance shades will athletes be wearing during Rio 2016?

Oakley-supported Olympic competitors will be sporting sunwear from the company’s new, limited-edition Green Fade Collection (shown here). The hand-painted green that pops on this lineup is a throwback to the vibrant green hue used on Oakley’s very first performance product in 1980.

But, the new collection’s tech is no throwback. Most styles are engineered with a performance-enhancing extreme wrap design plus Oakley’s revolutionary Prizm lenses, which deliver precise color tuning and detail enhancement (features tested by EB).

The Green Fade roundup includes seven performance and lifestyle models, with four of those available in Asian Fit. The style EVZero is also available with Oakley’s first-ever dual Iridium lens coating that combines two Prizm lens tints on a single toric shield for enhanced performance and a distinct look.

—Erinn Morgan

Oakley EVZero Green Fade with Prizm lenses. Photographed by David Douglas

Do Wearables Matter?

Here’s why your business might benefit from this developing field

The Recon Jet style Iona 1 offers runners and cyclists eye-level data regarding their pace, heart rate, and other vital stats

few categories of optical are embracing new technology as quickly as the wearable-tech arena. Though it may have all started with Google Glass, other tech companies have joined the fray and elevated the uses of (and demand for) headset- and eyewear-mounted computing.

The result is a constantly increasing number (and expanded scope) of wearable technology products available today.

Should wearables matter to your eyecare business? Maybe. Some experts agree that the optical industry has a role in adapting wearables for users who wear prescription lenses.

“Smart glasses pose unique optical challenges, and we have an opportunity as optical experts to address each challenge with innovative solutions,” says Patrick Ho, CEO of Rochester Optical, a lab that has created Smart GOLD prescription lenses for a number of wearable tech devices.

“Whether it’s using our lenses to optimize the HUD viewing zone, or blue filter coatings and lenses to reduce the risk of early onset macular degeneration, the opportunity to support smart eyewear with relevant optical products and services is there,” Ho continues.

Jay Sales, innovation strategist and co-founder of The Shop, a VSP think tank for emerging technology, believes wearables have a big future in general, and in optical specifically. “The real value of wearables will be to move beyond simple fitness tracking into the capability to enrich and personalize traditional medical records with context from daily living,” he says.

Even smart glasses used on the job will present opportunities for ECPs. “This [use] will result in a demand for prescription lenses, as well as immediate accessibility to replacement frames and lenses,” says Lance Anderson, VP of enterprise sales with Vuzix Corp., maker of smart glasses for enterprise and industrial uses. “Therefore opportunities for optometrists as well as retail stores located in close proximity to the users will be paramount.”

Optical’s opportunity within the wearable tech field doesn’t end with smart eyewear. What’s looming potentially even larger on the horizon are virtual reality (VR) headsets for use in gaming and enterprise.

“Virtual reality is the game changer,” says Ho. “Devices like Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift are gaining popularity in the consumer market, and VR is a natural extension of the digital device dilemma concerning eye strain and blue light concerns,” Ho notes.

Here, we offer a roundup of some of the most recent—and coolest—launches for which ECPs can offer Rx’able lens solutions:

EPSON MOVERIO: The BT-300 (available for preorder) is a lighter, more streamlined version of the BT-200 smart glasses, that also offers crisper imaging in its augmented reality. Rx lenses are available via Rochester Optical.
INFO: epson.com/moverio



Epson Moverio BT-300



GOOGLE GLASS: Though the consumer version remains stalled, the enterprise applications, called Google at Work, are going strong, especially in medical settings. The VSPOne Sacramento lab is still Rx’ing lenses for any Glass users who need it, and remains ready to handle the prescription demands of whatever new versions of Glass emerge.
INFO: google.com/glass/start



Google Glass



PROJECT GENESIS: Still in development at VSP’s The Shop, this wearable employs an eyewear frame with a chip that tracks health data to send to a smartphone app. A new prototype is in the making, with a smaller chip, improved battery life, all-new frame designs, and a new app. Beta testing is beginning this summer.
INFO: vspglobal.com/cms/about-us/innovation



RECON JET: Nicknamed “Google Glass for sports,” the very popular Recon Jet from Recon Instruments displays all vital performance metrics live, just below the runner’s or cyclist’s right eye. The company also recently released an enterprise model for use in occupational settings. An Rx’able insert is available from Rochester Optical.
INFO: reconinstruments.com



ROCHESTER OPTICAL: The optical lab’s proprietary digital free-form Smart GOLD lenses were developed specifically for use with smart glasses and are available to all ECPs with wearable-tech-owning patients. The lab also just launched UnderRx, eyewear that’s designed to fit under VR and AR headsets. And, it just partnered with Atheer to offer prescription inserts for Atheer’s AiR glasses, which deliver 3D digital information in the “air” in front of one’s face.
INFO: rochesteroptical.com



SONY: The Sony SmartEyeglass developer edition extends the functionality of Android mobile devices, and provides augmented reality and other digital information superimposed on the wearer’s field of view. When fully released to the market, Rx’able lenses will be available from Rochester Optical.
INFO: developer.sony.com



VUZIX: Launching this summer, the M300 smart glasses (a follow-up to the M100) are a rugged, full-feature device designed for enterprise and industrial use. Rx’able lenses are available from Rochester Optical. Vuzix also has see-through wave guide smart glasses on the 2016/2017 horizon that will enable more augmented reality use cases.
INFO: vuzix.com



Vuzix M100



ZEISS: ZEISS Smart Optics is still a work in progress, but it will reportedly function similar to Google Glass (without Glass’ mounted computing system).
INFO: wired.com/2016/01/zeiss-smart-glasses

—Susan Tarrant