
Samsung patents smart contact lenses with a built-in camera - lelf
http://mashable.com/2016/04/05/samsung-smart-contact-lenses-patent/
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gregmac
Okay Samsung, you now have 1 year to demonstrate a working prototype or
significant progress and effort spent building towards one, or you lose your
patent.

At least that's how it should work.... sigh.

~~~
tgb
Yup, and the article's fancy header graphic? It's of the Google diabetes-
monitoring contact lens project:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Contact_Lens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Contact_Lens)
Definitely not misleading...

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djrogers
Someone really ought to start patenting every awesome piece of technology that
we love from sci-fi, then license them for free to anyone who can actually use
them.

Maybe we could get a kickstarter going for it! I say we start with battlemechs
and work our way down from there.

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Jerry2
> _Someone really ought to start patenting every awesome piece of technology
> that we love from sci-fi_

That's actually Nathan Myhrvold's, ex-CTO of Microsoft, business plan for
Intellectual Ventures.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#Intellectual_v...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Myhrvold#Intellectual_ventures)

He basically gathered around a bunch of visionaries, 'industry leaders' and
sci-fi people and then they started patenting ideas that they thought would
end up as products a decade+ later. Some accused him and IV of being patent
trolls... because they patented all kinds of general stuff.

~~~
caycep
Sadly, IV is known as one of the most egregious patent trolls out there...

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jimrandomh
This is in South Korea, not the United States. While the United States patent
system is dysfunctional in a similar way (granting patents for things that
haven't been invented yet to parties that have not invented them), it is their
patent system that this reflects badly on, not ours.

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beambot
Google invents smart contact lens with built-in camera:

[http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/180571-google-invents-
sma...](http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/180571-google-invents-smart-
contact-lens-with-built-in-camera-superhuman-terminator-like-vision-here-we-
come)

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aetherson
Anyone who takes this to mean that "in the next ten years, it will be possible
to produce a contact lens that has a camera and a powered display capable of
any resolution that involves like triple-digits pixels in the horizontal and
vertical, and, god forfend, an actual battery for both, for any price
including $50M per lens," is dreaming.

~~~
godzillabrennus
That's right. Apple will make the first popular one and it'll cost $500 a
pair, and require an upgrade each year.

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extrapickles
If it was $500/year, I would get them in a heartbeat as contacts currently
cost $150-300/year, depending on fanciness (monthly/weekly/daily replacement,
coatings, etc)

~~~
themartorana
Yup. I was just thinking how inexpensive $500 sounded. Will they work with
hydrogen peroxide based solution or do I need to upgrade?

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jimrandomh
The article has a link that looks like it should lead to the patent in
question, but actually links to a page that pops up the badly-translated
message:

> "Is not the normal approach. After searching it uses."

And then closes itself. Does anyone have a link to the patent in question?

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snailmailman
Their website seems to have a weird linking system. I found the page in
question, and because their system is weird, the "get link" button doesn't
really do a normal permalink, it just gives you a goo.gl link. Whoever wrote
the article in question just copied what was in the URL bar, which doesn't
work for any of the patents.

[http://goo.gl/ZKRWCv](http://goo.gl/ZKRWCv)

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ommunist
Aha... Vernor Vinge predicted the device. I never realised the future can
become past so fast.

~~~
shostack
Rainbow's End is one of my favorite books, and he predicts quite a bit in it.

Patent question--could something like Rainbow's End ever be used to invalidate
this patent?

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david-given
<pedant> Rainbows End </pedant>

But yes, I really like it too. I wish he'd write a sequel. There's plenty more
mileage to Mr. Rabbit.

Also, could someone hurry up and invent UP/Ex? Pneumatic mortars firing
disposable cardboard gliders are so obviously better than any sensible
approach to last-mile package delivery...

~~~
aetherson
It even has a freaking _chapter_ named "The missing apostraphe."

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dmritard96
Problem is power. Batteries are holding back the future.

~~~
mmastrac
Wireless power transmission should solve that. The larger battery can live in
your jeans pocket, shirt pocket or somewhere else (all that space in your
sinuses is just waiting to be used!)

~~~
wglb
I would be nervous about RF energy directed towards the particularly sensitive
parts of my eyeball.

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brooklyndude
Guess the next step is to embed them into your eyes when your are born. Built
in VR.

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gene-h
Of course just because they have the patent does not mean it will actually
work or that we have the technology to do so.

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ENTP
And you thought google glass was creepy. This is a whole new level.

