And Now … The Eyephone

Good news for those who think we don't stare enough at screens—soon there will be a way to keep up with e-mail, news feeds and TiVoed movies every waking minute. At the Consumer Electronics Show this week an Israeli company named Lumus will introduce a high-resolution system that beams an image directly to the eye, via glasses barely heavier than normal spectacles. Though Lumus's prototype frames are a bit dorky, the lenses themselves are only 2 millimeters thick, and the see-through image is brighter and less disorienting than previous efforts. Lumus CEO Zvi Lapidot envisions a day when you'll order these "informative glasses" as a routine addition to your usual prescription. Though Lumus is enthusiastic about watching movies with the glasses, more intriguing are the prospects of "Terminator"-style readouts that layer Web-based information onto one's field of vision. Lapidot calls this "augmented reality," and it could include news headlines, GPS navigational directions and possibly, with the addition of tiny cameras and facial-recognition software, a way to ID acquaintances whose names you just can't place.