Elecom’s Rose-Tinted Glasses Cut Out Evil Blue Light [MWC 2013]

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mwc2013bug-coaBARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – It’s not all announcements of exciting new Android handsets with fractionally faster processors here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Oh no. You’ll also find rose-tinted spectacles. Yes, Elecom – maker of some of the most accessorial iAccessories ever – now makes some specs that will stop your eyes from being ruined – ruined! – by blue light.

Not heard about the perils of the color blue? Don’t worry. Neither had I, and neither had the friendly Elecom PR guy I spoke to. But just as he learned from the company’s boffins, so I too was schooled.

Apparently, blue light is the most energetic wavelength of visible light, and – so the claim goes – it can reach “all the way to the back of the eyes.” I didn’t study physics further than A-Level (the English equivalent of, like, Steven Hawking or something), but I recall that light has to reach the back of the eye to hit the retina, otherwise it won’t be seen.

Anyhow, regardless of the science (or lack thereof), it’s a solid-gold, hard-as-nails FACT that warmer light is more soothing to the eyes. I even have a little app that automatically changes the temperature of the color on my Mac as the Sun drops in the sky, making it much more comfortable to look at in incandescent light.

All this is to say that Elecom’s glasses will chop the blue from your screen’s glow, whether it’s a Mac, a PC, an iPhone or and iPad. I tried a pair out here at the show but as it meant taking off my regular glasses, I couldn’t actually see anything. What I can say is that they didn’t really seem to affect the color of anything enough to notice, which is probably what you want.

Look for them in the coming months.

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