High Tech Eyewear Can Detect Emotions

Have you ever wished you had a window into someone’s thoughts and feelings while you were having a conversation with them? Well it turns out we already have a perfect fisheye for peering into the emotions of the people around us; facial expressions, some immediately noticeable and others far more subtle, can give us rich insights into how people are feeling in a given moment, if only we knew how to read them accurately.

Scientists from MIT and Cambridge have created a prototype of a pair of glasses that can track 24 “feature points” of your conversation partner’s face and feed back information to the wearer on how their compatriot is feeling. This new eyewear isn’t just useful if you’re a little obtuse about the finer points of body language. They could also be valuable tools for people on the autism spectrum who often have a difficult time gauging the emotions of others according to NewScientist. They could also help with communicating across cultural boundaries, where the computer software that the glasses use might be better able to parse unfamiliar facial expressions than the human eye.

The person wearing these special specs receives information via a small headphone and a blinking light that, together, convey the mood of the other party. The six main expressions that the glasses can detect are: thinking, agreeing, concentrating, interested, confused and disagreeing.

While it would be useful to know if you were talking someone’s ear off or thrilling them with your wit and charm there’s the issue of privacy. No matter how good an actor you are, there are some microexpressions that you can’t mask. As a result, if someone wearing the glasses starts conversing with you without your permission, they could glean information that would make your interaction more, rather than less, awkward.

But you don’t need to worry just yet about your great aunt Doris discovering what you really think of her goulash. It will likely be a while before these glasses are on the market.

Young-at-heart Rock Critic Jane Scott Dies at 92

When you picture the prototypical music insider, someone who has their finger on the pulse of all the hottest bands, your mental image would likely change depending on your favorite genre (a dreadlocked reggaehead, a leather-studded metalhead, a skinny-jeaned indie kid, etc.) But one piece of the picture that’s probably consistent is you were picturing a young person. Jane Scott defied that picture.

At the age of 45, Scott started covering rock and roll in its nascent moments and kept doing so until well into her 80s. The writer for The Cleveland Plain Dealer, who was known, among other things, for her signature red fashion frames, with roundish lenses in the cat eye frames and a keystone bridge, started her beat covering the Beatles’ 1964 Cleveland concert when none of her colleagues were interested in going.

Scott went on to interview some of the biggest names in the music world including Paul McCartney, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Mick Jagger. Though she often didn’t fit in with the rest of the artists’ swooning teenage fanbase − the Philadelphia Inquirer once referred to her as “a drop of bleached blond and pink polyester in a roiling sea of blue denim and black leather” − Scott always kept an open mind, and openly adored many of the acts she covered.

Though Scott grew up listening to music on a Victrola, her vigor and her enthusiasm kept her in the music journalism field until well into the iPod era. She passed away earlier this week from complications due to Alzheimer’s.

Night Vision Contact Lenses and Osama bin Laden

When we think about the future of vision technology, science fiction and comic books often bait our imaginations. In 50 years will we attain the Robocop-like overlay of information on the world around us, or Superman’s ability to see through walls? After all we already have the ability to see in the dead of night using night vision goggles.

And now, rumors are circulating that night vision technology has been taken to the next level. At the Kit Up blog on Military.com, which discusses military gear and equipment, the seeds of speculation have been sown that the operatives who captured Osama bin Laden were using “cat vision” or night vision contact lenses.

If this rumor has any truth to it, then it definitely crosses the dividing line between an interesting vision technology and an awesome vision technology. That division lies in the human-machine interface. Using an augmented reality app on your phone has many interesting applications but when the information becomes an extension of our bodies, that’s the future that science fiction has lead us to expect.

If they are for real, these contact lenses would likely be powered by magnetic induction. The person putting on the contact lenses would place a gel with a strong magnetic on the eyelids and the lenses would get charged every time the wearer blinked.

Sadly for fan boys and girls though, even if these contact lenses are 100 percent real, they still have a long slog to make from being top of the line military technology to being fashion contact lenses you could pick up from your local eye doctor.  Still, we can dream can’t we?

In Iran, Fashion Contact Lenses Scream Rebellion

For some, colored fashion contact lenses are an easy way to change their look and startle their friends, or a spooky accessory to a Halloween costume, but for Shirin Aliabadi, they’re a powerful symbol of rebellion.

Along with plastic surgery, facial piercings, and the ever-controversial veil, colorful contact lenses are part of an evolving body of fashion statements that young people, women in particular, can use to push the envelope of what the Iranian government deems acceptable modes of dress in a Muslim society.

Aliabadi, who graduated from the University of Paris with a degree in art history and archaeology, lives and works in Tehran. Her most recent series of photographs, titled Miss Hybrid, shows young women flouting the moors of the powers that be, and exploring the boundary zones of Western and Middle Eastern standards of beauty.

Aliabadi began taking these photos back in 2006, and she finds her subjects in the streets or local stores of her hometown. She approaches the subject of religion, and the role of women in her country with a touch of irreverence both in her work and in interviews. Her photographs were on display for much of June at the Gallery Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris and some of her work, such as the portrait above, can still be viewed online.

Polaroid Kicks Off Sunglasses Design Contest

It used to be that you had to be Lady Gaga to get a sweet gig crafting designer sunglasses for a company like Polaroid. Recently, however, the company opened up that opportunity to anyone who thinks they have the fashion sense or design experience to give it a try.

Polaroid is hoping to spur their consumers to design some sunglasses inspired by decades past or decades yet to come (in a press release, the company cheekily encouraged designers to find their muse from any point in time between 1930 and 2020).

As many as 10 of the top designs will be chosen for inclusion in Polaroid Eyewear’s “Best Under The Sun” Signature Sunglass Collection, which will be made available in the spring of 2013. An earlier installment in that collection debuted this spring featuring reproductions of sunglasses worn by celebrities and icons over the past few decades.

In addition to getting their name in the product description of the glasses, the winning designers will rake in the royalties for each pair of shades that’s sold. As the cherry on top, they will get to unveil their handiwork in fashion-forward Milan.

The contest is open until September 30^th of this year, and the sunglasses designs will be judged not only by a panel of experts but by the votes of average Joes and Janes on Polaroid’s Facebook page. For more information about how to enter the contest, go to Polaroid’s website.

The Unabomber’s Five-figure Sunglasses

Even Hollywood A-listers don’t often shell out five figure sums for a pair of fashion sunglasses, unless of course, they’re coated in precious stones. But the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski’s sunglasses and hoodie recently sold at auction for just over $20,000.

Kaczynski, a former professor and mathematician, became infamous for a series of mail bombings over the course of two decades that killed three people and injured many more. After his 1996 arrest, Kaczynski’s name became synonymous with extreme reclusiveness and technophobia.

In the widely disseminated FBI sketch of the Unabomber, he is pictured wearing large, dark, aviator sunglasses, and a tight-fitting hoodie. The notoriety of these accessories is likely part of the reason why they fetched such a high auction price. All of the money raised from selling Kaczynski’s possessions went to compensate his victims.

In addition to his distinctive sunglasses and hoodie, U.S. Marshalls sold off Kaczynski’s handwritten manifesto, his typewriter, tools, photos, and thousands of other pages of hand written documents. The auction took place despite Kaczynski’s legal protests, he claimed that the sale of his journals was a violation of his right to freedom of speech. Total sales of his effects netted $232,246 in an online auction that concluded last week.

Brad Pitt, Sunglasses Trendsetter

While some celebrities prefer dark shades to fight off the glare of paparazzi flashes, a new trend among male actors is transparent fashion sunglasses. After all celebrities put so much effort into looking good, why hide it all behind tinted shades.

At the forefront of this trend are Hollywood hunks Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, and Jude Law. The actors were first spotted rocking their stylish eyewear at the Cannes Film Festival. Each of these leading men sports the see-through look in their own way.

Brad Pitt, who was on the press circuit for his film Tree of Life wore tortoise shell frames with a cinnamon-colored fade. The style was inspired by Colin Firth’s character in A Single Man. Tom Ford, who directed that Oscar-nominated film, also designed the glasses.

Depp was seen wearing the “Lemtosh” style which has been worn by iconic figures of the past including Buddy Holly and Truman Capote. Unlike Pitt’s look, Depp brings the see-through lenses to life with light purple lenses, silver accents accents on the sides of the frames, and rounder frames to fit the shape of his head.

Finally, Jude Law went for blocky frames with rounded edges and big chunky earpieces, and a darker gradient to his shades that either of the other two actors. Whether these fashions will catch on with the common man remains to be seen, but it seems that for now, the see-through trend is not going anywhere.

X-Men: First Class Stars Sport Summer Shades

It’s no secret that this summer is already shaping to be a big one for Hollywood, and the next movie that studio execs are hoping will make a big splash is X-Men: First Class, which opens June 3rd.

Two of the stars of the movie, Michael Fassbender and Zoe Kravitz, have recently gone public with their off-screen relationship. The couple was snapped together in New York City wearing distinct, but equally chic fashion sunglasses.

Zoe Kravitz, the daughter of the musician Lenny Kravitz and the actress Lisa Bonet, is wearing round-framed John Lennon-style sunglasses, with a thickened bridge, and Michael Fassbender a classic pair of large aviator sunglasses with gold-colored frames.

In the upcoming X-Men movie, which delves into the origins of the Marvel superheroes, Zoe Kravitz plays Angel Salvadore, a new character in the hugely popular X-Men movie franchise; this is already the fourth film this decade. Salvadore’s character is a go-go dancer whose mutation is a pair of insect-like wings sprouting out of her back. Fassbender plays Magneto, the Holocaust survivor and ultimate cynic who has the ability to control metal with his mind.

Whether the movie will outstrip it’s competitors at the box office, including The Hangover 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean, remains to be seen, but with so many fans eager to experience the origin story of their favorite heroes and villains on the big screen and now a real life celebrity romance added to the drama, it certainly has a good shot.

The Passing of Dr. Jack Kevorkian

Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the controversial assisted suicide doctor, dubbed “Doctor Death” by some, passed away today in a Michigan hospital, reportedly from kidney and respiratory problems. Not long before his death, the 83-year-old medical pathologist was the inspiration for an HBO movie titled You Don’t Know Jack, in which Kevorkian was portrayed by Al Pacino.

In the poster for the film, Pacino is wearing reddish, thick-framed tortoise shell prescription glasses, with a keystone bridge, much like the ones Kevorkian wore in real life. Pacino also sports a knowing smirk, emblematic of the real Kevorkian’s love of making controversial statements to the media while advocating for legal euthanasia.

In the New York Times’ obituary, the author claims that even Kevorkian’s harshest critics should give him credit for one positive change in our country. “As a result of his stubborn and often intemperate advocacy for the right of the terminally ill to choose how they die, hospice care has boomed in the United States, and physicians have become more sympathetic to their pain and more willing to prescribe medication to relieve it,” the articles states.

After many assisted suicides in which the patients administered lethal substances to themselves, Kevorkian himself gave the fatal injection to a patient in 1998. He spent 8 years in prison for this before being paroled on good behavior four years ago.

What Your Fashion Sunglasses Say About You

Slate has an interesting article on how famous musicians, actors, and politicians rock particular fashion sunglasses to communicate a very specific message about the image they’d like to project, but there’s no reason you can’t use those tips as a guide to crafting your own style.

The article says that at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, sunglasses have become a crucial accessory, even more so than at other celebrity-studded events. If stars want to evoke the icons that have gone before them such as Grace Kelly or Steve McQueen, more and more they’re using their shades as the way to do that.

Sometimes, especially in the summer, you might want shades that showcase your aloofness and cool. Esquire magazine’s senior fashion editor, Gareth Scourfield, purchased a pair of Ray-Ban Clubmaster classics after being inspired by a fashion story the magazine ran about JFK.

However, in more conservative lines of work, you want to give an entirely different impression. Peter Stevenson, a London barrister, that’s a lawyer to you Yanks, says, “On a sunny day you could probably get away with a pair of Ray-Bans but mirrored lenses are out of the question. Barristers need at least to give the impression of being trustworthy; concealing your eyes is not the best way to achieve that.”

Similarly, it might make sense for a musician to wear shades outdoors where they don’t wanted to get spotted or need to deflect the glare of paparazzi flashes but if they wore shades to a concert, it keeps them from making a personal connection with fans, which is part of the point of the concert going experience.

So whether you want to show your classy side or get casual by the poolside, there’s a pair of frames to help you accomplish that.