Get Better Glasses! - Eyewear Features

Prada's Miu Miu Sunglasses, pay half what you would downtown.

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:59:00 -0400

Saks Fifth Avenue is currently selling Prada's Miu Miu sunglasses for $195 (see here). And that's the online special. Saks, you're great and all, but Best Buy Eyeglasses has ten times the selection of Miu Miu shades starting at $110. A lot of money for sunglasses? Compared to the gas station, sure, but these are the same brand name shades (guaranteed!) you'd get for twice the price downtown.

My top pick? I'm pretty hip on the 10HS:

What say you, America, about eyewear-wearers?

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 12:34:00 -0500

I ran across this little gem today...

Americans Reveal What Turns Them On and Off About Eyeglasses
Essilor of America, the makers of Crizal® Alizé(tm), a new anti-reflective eyeglass lens with unsurpassed cleanability and durability, recently asked more than 3,000 men and women about their eyeglass perceptions. Covering everything from sexy, spectacle-sporting celebrities to eyeglass fashion, the survey reveals America's stand on specs.
Star-Struck Spectacles
Britney Spears tops the charts again, but this time it's for being rated the sexiest eyeglass-wearing celebrity among men (44 percent). For women, all eyes were on Richard Gere, who topped their list at 35 percent.

continue reading at beauty.about.com...

Sounds like we glasses wearers are in the clear, as we are perceived to be smart and sophisticated by a fair number of folks surveyed. I'm glad those people haven't met me! Just kidding, I'm ultra-smart and ultra-sophisticated, thanks to my glasses.

Here are some sophisticated Avada frames for the fellows:

or maybe this Prada frame:

Those are designer frames, running about $160 (Avada) or $225 (Prada) after you add lenses. Though expensive, this is well off the $500+ you would pay retail. If you are looking for something a little more reasonable, check out the Prague frame at 39dollarglasses.com. It costs, well 39 bucks, including prescription lenses, and is shown here:

Well, that's all from me on this Funday-Sunday. Have a great working week, everyone!

2 Color Mod Reading Glasses

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 11:10:47 -0400

Are you one of the lucky few who only occasionally requires glasses for reading and other tasks?These simple, stylish reading glasses from Amazon cost just $10.50 and are available in five colors. Fashionable Italian-designed readers for peanuts.

Pretty hip readers. $9.95-$10.50

[Technorati Tags:Glasses,Reading Glasses]

Using Technology to Try on Glasses

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:29:40 -0400

I found this online today...

Mobile Fitting technology lets people virtually try on glasses Those crazy Japanese — they just gotta make us envious with their technology uses. Now, their Megane Top (”Top Glasses”) superstore has started a new service to allow its customers to virtually try on glasses using their mobile phones.

Read on at intomobile.com

I think this sort of technology is really going to take off. Many online eyeglass retailers, such as EyeBuyDirect offer an "online fitting" service. Basically, you upload an image and then you can plop some frames over your eyes to get an idea of what they would look like in person. While a nice service, I think the technology could use some improvement. What if it automatically determined your face shape and recommended the best frames for an oval, heart-shaped, or rectangular face? Here is how it works. Go to the site above, scroll down a bit and on the left side there is an ad saying, "Discover our Virtual Try On." Click on that. Once that page loads, you have to upload an image of yourself. You need a picture of yourself without your glasses on, so you might have to take a new one. I photoshopped my glasses out of an old picture. Next click on step 2. This is where the fun begins. I recommend finding your PD (Pupillary Distance -- i.e., the distance between pupils, measured in millimeters). If you enter this number and click "show rulers," then you can get an accurate representation of the ratio of frame size to your face size--what you have to do is put the two red lines that show up when you click "show rulers" and center your pupils over them. Next, you can rotate the image if you need to. I tried on the frame named "Sport" today. It is a basic $20 metal frame. I ordered a pair with an 80% grey tint to use as sunglasses. Click on the thumbnail for a full size image of me using the tool.

Titanium Frames

nospam@example.com (Adam Zekmueller) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:44:19 -0400

A hunk of titanium. Ooo la la.

It seems that everything these days is made from titanium. It used to be really something to have an aluminum bicycle frame. Now you can get a titanium (oooo!) frame. My wedding ring is titanium. Plus all that aerospace and airplane stuff is titanium. What else is often titanium, you ask? Eyeglass frames, of course! But before we go down that road, let's talk more about the metal. Titanium comes out of the ground. In rocks. It is popular because of a very high strength-to-weight ratio (thanks wiki!) To use an example, it might take a pound of steel to hold up king kong, but it only takes 1/2 a pound of titanium to do the same thing. While heavier than aluminum, pound-for-pound, titanium is twice as strong. The benefits for using titanium in eyeglass frames now seems obvious. This metal will result in frames that are equally as strong as steel frames yet are only half the weight. Titanium makes a lot of sense. Don't let any retailer tell you it will change the world, but it will provide a lighter pair of glasses equally as strong as a steel pair. Also, the other side of this is that if you know you'll only be wearing a pair of glasses an hour or two at a time (e.g., sunglasses or fashion glasses), you might get the best bang for your buck out of cheaper steel frames. A final note is that titanium is often alloyed, or combined, with other metals such as nickel. Some titanium frames are 100% and some are alloys. Unfortunately, the online retailers don't seem to be disclosing this information. I will contact a few and post again in a couple of days. Generally, you want to avoid an alloyed frame if you are allergic to nickel or other metals with which titanium might be alloyed. The rationale behind the alloying process is that the manufacturing process is easier and the titanium becomes easier to manipulate.
This nice looking pair of frames is from EyeBuyDirect The style name is "Free." It looks like this particular pair runs about $40, plus probably $20 or so in coatings and upgrades. A whole lot better than the $400 I remember my father paying for a pair back in 1999. Update: I stumbled upon this blogger whose father squished a pair of titanium eyeglasses. They were all mangled, but apparently they were able to be fixed without any breakage! Pretty neat metal, that titanium.