smart glasses

I’ve had problems for quite a while now, and one of them is to do with my eyesight. So the other day, I made the long bus journey—about two hours with a change—to visit the local blind society. Since I was heading that way, I thought I might as well try to sort out another issue I’ve been having with my hearing. I popped into the hospital and saw someone, but the problem’s still not resolved, so I guess I’ll have to go back there eventually.

I then made my way to the blind society to see a chap called Nick, who was going to tell me about these Meta Ray-Ban sunglasses. They’re designed to help people with vision problems, using built-in AI that can recognise objects and surroundings—useful for people who can’t see certain things. I also needed a bit of help with the VoiceOver feature on my phone.

There’s been a lot of buzz about these Meta Ray-Bans. I wanted to find out if they lived up to the hype—or if it was, well, just hype. (Pardon the pun.) It all seems a bit space-age—music playing through your glasses and AI guiding you as you go. I’ve used apps for this sort of thing before, but it’s always a faff: getting the phone out, pointing it, fiddling around. The glasses seem to eliminate all that.

Technology’s moving so fast these days. At this stage in my life, it feels like everything’s changing quickly and it can be hard to keep up. That said, there doesn’t seem to be much negativity surrounding these glasses—apart from the battery life.

When I tried them on, the sound quality was really good—though to be fair, I was in the society’s room, so it might not be as impressive outside. You can make phone calls and send messages too, though I don’t do much of that. I had a go at reading a bit of text—well, the glasses read it—and it seemed quite impressive. They can also be fitted with your prescription lenses.

They cost around £400, which I think is decent considering all that tech. They’ll also get updates. The only worry is that someone else might bring out a new model, and then I’ll end up wanting that one instead. But if you always wait for the next big thing, you never actually get anything—and there’s no guarantee the new version will live up to the promises.

While I was at the society, I also looked at some cooking tools that could help me in the kitchen. There were talking scales at a reasonable price. Rowena, the lady there, said I could have the scales for free, thanks to funding from social services. She offered to post them, but Royal Mail tends to be difficult about leaving parcels on the porch. So I brought them home with me. I’m very grateful—they’ll come in handy.

On my way home, I went through Pwllheli and stopped in at the optometrist. They stock the smart glasses too, but as luck would have it, the optician wasn’t in. I was told to ring the next day. I did get a phone call on the bus, though—apparently the optometrist is planning to visit my house to show me the glasses, even though I mentioned I’d already had a demo. Still, I’m not going to turn down another perspective. It might help me decide whether to buy them.

The demo was much the same and I do like the glasses—I think I’ll eventually get a pair. The only real decision now is what kind of lenses to go for: transitions or plain sunglasses. I’ll have to make up my mind. Honestly, I can’t really afford them right now with the upcoming welfare cuts. I’ll ring the shop about ordering them though—I need the prescription sorted, and it’s probably safer they do it rather than me risking it on the website.

This morning I got a phone call about an organised walk—there’s been a change of plan due to the warm weather. They’re switching to a shorter route, but it’s a nice day, so I might as well go with them. They’re good company, and it gets me out of the house for a bit.

I have just got back from the walk with organised group, it was very pleasent but it seems that they have been primed within an inch of their lives when it comes to health and safety, which I guess was a bit sad as it spoilt the walk for them, I think people need to be less paranoid about it, I guess the blame culture which has triggered this nervousness around things, but health and safety just kills the moment so to speak The walk included a walk round two lakes which are local

After the walk I went tot he pub there is a new manager there and I got talking to a gu from lithuana, a young chap wiht aa very stron accent, which got easier to to unxerstand as things went along.