By Staff
Wednesday, August 1, 2018 12:24 AM
CHICAGO—
Opternative Inc., a healthcare technology and online vision testing company, has named Lori McInerney as chief marketing officer. She will lead the marketing team in “driving brand awareness globally, growing partner marketing and bringing in new business,” according to an announcement Tuesday. Prior to joining Opternative, McInerney was vice president of marketing at
Shiftgig, where she and her team were responsible for driving new business via targeted content and thought leadership, increasing brand awareness and public relations, and recruiting on-demand talent, Opternative said in its announcement. She also spent more than 10 years at CareerBuilder in various marketing and sales leadership roles.
By Staff
Thursday, May 10, 2018 12:15 AM
SARASOTA, Fla.—
E-Vision, an optical technology company based here that is developing an autofocusing contact lens, recently announced that it has successfully completed an electronic contact lens platform device to demonstrate the ability to its lens to electronically change diopters in real time. The device electronically shifts focus on demand utilizing e-Vision Smart Optics patented technology, the company said in a press release. “People are amazed as they see the lens in action, realizing how this technology can impact our industry by offering electronic diopter control. Our first-in-category electronically controlled features must be seen to believe,” said Joel D. Zychick, E-Vision’s president and CEO.
By Staff
Friday, April 27, 2018 12:15 AM
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—Wearable tech company
PogoTec has offered the first glimpse of a prototype of its Augmented Reality system, PogoAR. On Tuesday, the company released photos that show sunglasses both with and without PogoAR, which it described in a press release as “a first-of-its-kind binocular augmented reality system that works seamlessly with most existing eyewear styles to provide a convenient, fashionable and easily portable AR platform.” New or old eyeglasses can be equipped with the propriety system, which attaches to the top of an eyeglass frame, as shown here. With PogoAR, one or two SKUs can attach to the majority of eyeglass frame styles, PogoTec said. PogoTec has not announced a release date for PogoAR.
By Staff
Wednesday, April 25, 2018 12:15 AM
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Intel confirmed last week that it has shut down development of Vaunt, a stylish smartglass that beamed information onto the wearer’s retina. The news was first reported in
TheInformation.com. The company confirmed the end of Vaunt (codenamed Superlight) in a statement offered to
TechCrunch : “Intel is continuously working on new technologies and experiences. Not all of these develop into a product we choose to take to market,” Intel writes. “The Superlight project is a great example where Intel developed truly differentiated, consumer augmented reality glasses. We are going to take a disciplined approach as we keep inventing and exploring new technologies, which will sometimes require tough choices when market dynamics don’t support further investment.”
By Staff
Friday, April 13, 2018 12:18 AM
CORALVILLE, Iowa—
IDx, a privately-held artificial intelligence (AI) diagnostics company based here, reported this week that the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the company’s AI-based diagnostic system for the autonomous detection of diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness. The IDx-DR system is the first autonomous, AI-based diagnostic system authorized for commercialization by the FDA, according to the company’s announcement. As an autonomous, AI-based system, IDx-DR is unique in that it makes an assessment without the need for a clinician to also interpret the image or results, making it usable by health care providers who may not normally be involved in eyecare, the announcement noted.
By Staff
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 12:21 AM
PARIS—
Valeo, an automotive supplier and tech company, has signed an agreement with start-up
Ellcie Healthy, with the aim of accelerating the development of smart connected eyeglasses for driving.
By Staff
Friday, March 9, 2018 12:18 AM
ROANOKE, Va.—Wearable device maker
PogoTec has named Svetlana Samoilova as vice president of Augmented Reality (AR), effective immediately. Samoilova brings more than 20 years of software and hardware development and engineering experience to PogoTec, and will lead the AR team in the development of an augmented reality system attachable to eyewear and designed specifically for the consumer market. This AR system, believed to be the first of its type, will utilize the proprietary platform that PogoTec has developed that enables wearables to attach and detach magnetically to virtually all glasses.
By Staff
Monday, February 26, 2018 12:18 AM
CHICAGO—
Opternative Inc., a health care technology company offering online refraction, has named Scott Axonovitz as the company’s first chief revenue officer. He previously spent nearly a decade at CareerBuilder, where he headed up the global enterprise key customer business, according to an Opternative announcement last week. “Scott has a great background in sales and is already proving to be a powerful asset at our company,” Opternative chief executive officer Brent Rasmussen said in the announcement. “We are excited to see the growth trajectory of our company under Scott's direction.” (Rasmussen, who, as
VMAIL reported, was named CEO earlier this year, is a former chief operating officer for North America at CareerBuilder).
By Staff
Thursday, February 22, 2018 12:24 AM
COLUMBIA, S.C.—Representatives from the online eye testing company
Opternative and the
Institute for Justice, a Chicago-based advocacy group, announced plans to move forward with an appeal to Judge DeAndrea Benjamin's dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Opternative. In January, 2018 Judge Benjamin
ruled that Opternative lacks legal standing to challenge the law that barred it from doing business in South Carolina. The case, Opternative v. South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners, was filed by the Institute for Justice on behalf of Opternative. Opternative’s services are available in states across the country, but not in South Carolina.
By Staff
Thursday, February 22, 2018 12:18 AM
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif.—
VSP Global is entering the wearable technology category with the launch of Level, a smart glass that features activity-tracking technology embedded inside the temple of an optical frame. The technology tracks activity via an accompanying smartphone app.
By Staff
Wednesday, February 7, 2018 12:21 AM
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—
Intel announced on Monday that it has developed a stylish smartglass called Vaunt that beams information onto the wearer’s retina. The news was first reported on the tech news network,
The Verge, which posted a YouTube
video that explains Vaunt’s features and benefits in detail. Vaunt is a prototype project from Intel’s new devices group. It looks much like conventional eyeglasses, with the electronic components concealed in a lightweight frame that weighs about 50 grams.
By Staff
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 12:21 AM
COLUMBIA, S.C.—A lawsuit brought here in 2016 by
Opternative Inc. challenging the constitutionality of a state law related to telehealth and online refractive eye tests was dismissed by a state court judge late last week. Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin of Common Pleas court found that Opternative had “failed to demonstrate that it had standing to bring this claim,” according to the decision filed by the
court. The judge’s decision also noted that “South Carolina-licensed ophthalmologists can presumably make their own decisions about whether and how to use—or not use—Opternative’s online technology to assist them in their provision of lawful corrective-lens prescriptions to their patients.”
By Staff
Tuesday, January 23, 2018 12:21 AM
CHICAGO—
Opternative has renewed its partnership with
1-800 Contacts to continue its online service that allows patients to update their prescriptions without seeing an eye doctor in-person.
By Staff
Friday, January 12, 2018 12:36 AM
LAS VEGAS—It takes some digging to find ophthalmic products amid the seemingly endless displays of flat panel OLED screens, smart home devices, AI-powered digital assistants and autonomous cars here at CES 2018, the huge, sprawling, annual trade show that has taken over much of this town all week. Yet they are here, and their presence is growing significantly year after year. In fact, CES is becoming a major sight and vision product event. Assistive products for the blind and vision impaired, visual acuity screeners, eye tracking software for diagnosing visual performance and liquid crystal IOLs that can be refocused post-surgically are just some of the products that can be seen and experienced here, both in the health and wellness pavillion and main exhibit halls.
By Staff
Friday, January 12, 2018 12:33 AM
CHICAGO—
Opternative Inc. has partnered with online retailer
FrameGenie to provide access to online prescription renewal technology on the FrameGenie eyewear site, according to an announcement on Thursday. Opternative said its full API integration with FrameGenie “will further the guarantee that patients have access to the most affordable, accurate and convenient glasses renewal options available online.” Opternative was the first company to develop an online refractive eye test. FrameGenie, which lists Palm Springs, Fla., as its operations base, offers eyewear for men, women and children with prices “starting at $6.95,” according to its website.