Americans spend 11 hours a day looking at screens, NY Times 2018. We need and deserve more tools to help us balance our interaction with tech and consumption of media. IRL Glasses use horizontal polarizers to block the light from LCD/LED displays found in TVs — they also work to as sunglasses to block UV light.
@mickc79 Thanks! The design of the glasses is inspired by THEY LIVE, a 1988 cult classic where the protagonist finds a magical pair of glasses that blocks ads.
@ivan_cash ok I get it, I love that movie but even I didn’t get the reference.
It’s possibly a bit self indulgent and definitely risky to design your product in the spirit of such a super-niche reference point.
The vast vast VAST majority of potential customers will just see them as per my original comment.
@mickc79 Thanks for your feedback! I agree, it's definitely a bit niche, but we wanted to make sure the glasses didn't just blend in as any old pair of glasses. We wanted them to be a statement!
Since IRL Glasses are still in beta and because they don't yet block all screens, we felt the need to root the design in something iconic, unique, and memorable. As a professional storyteller, I also felt inspired to the glasses in a bit of a story and context, even if it's an easter egg, to your point.
That all said, it's been cool to see the media latch on to the THEY LIVE-inspiration as a means of getting the word out:
https://www.wired.com/story/irl-...https://boingboing.net/2018/10/0...https://bloody-disgusting.com/mo...https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/th...https://nerdist.com/real-life-th...
Guys, I don't want to be the negative one here, but... these are just polarised glasses. Nothing more than a marketing spin applied and some hype. I just don't get it, sorry.
@colinwinhall sure, but can you point to other polarised glasses on the market? And even if what you say is true, it's hard to dispute the apparent excitement or interest given the money pledged on Kickstarter so far...
@colinwinhall Totally hear your concerns! We're not denying the tech behind this is quite simple. What we've specifically done that—as far as I can tell—no one else has, is rotated and flattened the polarized filter so it blocks all vertically polarized LCD/LED screens. As we state in the Kickstarter FAQ, we're supportive of anyone who wants to roll up their sleeves and try to make this DIY style by ordering polarized filters and manually adhering them to the frames. The point of this beta pair is to validate the need, build community, and fund R&D for glasses that block OLED as well, which we're currently working on. We also explain a bit more about how we arrived at our pricing point on the Kickstarter FAQ. Definitely want to be as transparent as possible, I swear we're not trying to "trick" anyone and welcome the dialogue. Thanks again!
@colinwinhall Yeah, I came here to say the same thing. Here are my current Maui Jim World Cup polarized sunglasses looking at an Asus PA328Q at my desk: https://imgur.com/a/PGhS9vc it depends on the specifics of the monitor and the angle, but it definitely blacks these monitors out nearly 100% in the normal horizontal orientation (they're IPS panels).
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