What will the Internet disrupt next?

[Dan Hintz]

I always chuckle when I see claims of 3D printers on every corner making life so simple. I doubt those same people have ever seen a 3D print actually work. They're not fast. It may take 30-60 minutes to print a single pair of glass frames. And that doesn't include a further smoothing stage to get rid of the lines (assumed fused deposition). It also doesn't include the time (or manpower) to include metal bits (hinges, for example) into the model as it is being printed. And so on and so on.

That "cheap" glass frame printed at the corner drugstore just cost you $200. Photos are done in an hour and at such a cheap cost because they can process many thousands of photos per hour... at one glass frame per 1-2 hours, good luck with that "cheap" price point.

[Phil Thien]

That "cheap" glass frame printed at the corner drugstore just cost you $200. Photos are done in an hour and at such a cheap cost because they can process many thousands of photos per hour... at one glass frame per 1-2 hours, good luck with that "cheap" price point.

Pfft. We're early in the 3D printing cycle. Have you not watched Star Trek? Are you not familiar with a "replicator?"

[Dan Hintz]

Pfft. We're early in the 3D printing cycle. Have you not watched Star Trek? Are you not familiar with a "replicator?"

Sure... it's really good for making Earl Grey tea... hot.

[Randal Stevenson]

Mom works for an Opthomologist and I remember when eyeglass stores were separate things. Then they started making glasses at places, until a few of them had explosions (the machines that kept the dye warm from memory). I haven't tried Zenni, but have heard more good then bad (a few comments about wrong cut). I have seen glasses cut wrong and sent to the eye glass stores, as well (been around it since I was a kid). I did, however, stop buying glasses from mom's boss, about a decade ago, when we had a store that sold closeout glasses, as if they had a frame you liked, you could get complete glasses between $25 and $50, so I picked up multiple pairs, for less then the cost of one.
I do know mom's boss, does not carry prescription safety glasses (I complain about that), so that might be a good trial in the future.

[Phil Thien]

I got my Zenni eyeglasses this last Monday.

Every other time I had ordered new eyeglasses, my prescription had changed. So when I first put those new spectacles on, I could see better, and I'd proclaim "these are the best eyeglasses ever."

This time around, with no change in my prescription, all I could hope for was a better fit, and fewer scratches. In fact, when I first put the new Zenni eyeglasses on my first thought was, "these don't work that great." I put my old glasses on, and then the new ones again, and the old ones again, and the new ones again, and realized that they were pretty much exactly the same as my old eyeglasses. Which, in a way, was a sort of disappointment.

I've had a chance to compare the lenses (the ultra thin 1.67 lenses) to my older Featherweight lenses. At first I didn't think they were much thinner. They are, by quite a bit. The new glasses have bottomless frames, so you can see the full thickness of the lens at the bottom. When I disassembled my old frames and compared the lenses, the old lenses were considerably thicker at the edges (I'd say almost 25%). The lenses are the same height and width, so the comparison is fair, the higher refraction of the 1.67 lenses does make for thinner, lighter lenses.

I still had a bit of an adjustment period, and I think that had a lot to do with a giant scratch in the middle of my left lens on the old glasses. I had learned to accommodate the scratch by changing the position of the glasses on my nose, and using my brain's advanced scratch avoidance technology.

When I put the new glasses on, my brain still wanted to avoid the scratch for about a day. After the first day I found myself wearing them as expected, and looking through the center of the lens.

I'm a little disappointed in my prescription but I blame my eyeballs, and not the optometrist. The optometrist adjusted my prescription to be a good compromise between needing bifocals, and not. So with the resulting prescription, I can see near just okay, and far just okay, but neither great. For kicks, the optometrist set the refractor so it would have my optimum prescription for driving (so I could see things far away fantastically well), and then told me to look at a typed page. I couldn't see the text. So it is what it is. The optometrist warned me that it was just a matter of time before I'd need bifocals. Again, my prescription hasn't changed, the same is true of my old eyeglasses, but getting new eyeglasses allows me to be disappointed in the underlying problem all over again.

The fit of these frames is much better than any frame I've gotten at Lenscrafters. The temples, or "arms" are longer and just feel substantially more comfortable.

I found the receipt for not my last pair of eyeglasses from Lenscrafters, but the previous pair to that. Dated 3/2007, they were $240, which includes a AAA discount of $103 That is for the frames/lenses, and does not include the exam. The glasses from Zenni were $55, including shipping.

I wish Zenni had a better way of search for frame sizes by typing values from my old glasses right into their system.

So I'll rate Zenni an 8.5/10.

I rate my eyeballs 7/10.

[Jason Roehl]

I bit the bullet and had PRK done last year. If I need glasses in the future, it will be reading glasses which I will likely get from the supermarket for $10. My last two pairs of glasses cost me about $850 with the eye exam in 2006, and I eventually had to replace one of the frames, which I did online for about half the price I originally paid for that frame. Glass lenses? No way--had to wear those Coke bottles as a kid--always had sores on my nose from the weight. Now I just have to be more vigilant in wearing safety glasses to "protect the investment".

[Phil Thien]

I bit the bullet and had PRK done last year.

Some day I will do that, too.

[Art Mulder]

If you are having success ordering glasses online I applaud your luck and suggest you play the lottery right away. Having your lenses fitted by anyone other than a good optometrist is a shot in the dark. You may as well just go down to Rite-Aid and pick up a pair of cheaters. Who measured your acuity, dioptral differences, who placed the prescription positioning within the lens, who accounted for the guaranteed difference in height between your two eyes, the shape of your nose, etc.? Without a skilled professional in the mix your odds of getting optimal eyewear is as good as if you tried to order hearing aids off the net and programmed them yourself. Rant off .

+1 or +2 on Glenn's comments.

Full disclosure: I'm not an optician or an optometrist, but one of my good friends was licensed as an Optician here in Ontario just last year. I've heard an earful from her about online retailers. Glenn just about nailed it.

Glasses are a medical device (not sure if that is the best terminology...) and there is definitely something to be said for having that professionally fitted by a fully trained individual.

Lenscrafters uses an autorefractor to get a starting point, but all optometrists determined my prescription using an optical refractor and then pretty much handed me off to assistants to have me select the frames, and fit them. When they eyeglasses were complete, I was sat in the chair and read a line of the chart and I was done.

Perhaps Lenscrafters in the US operates differently. My friend actually works p/t at the local Lenscrafters. The assistants can help you pick out frames and so on, but then they MUST (under Ontario medical regulations) hand them off to a licensed optician for the actual fitting and eye measurements and all that. (Note I said optician, which is not the same as optometrist/opthamologist)

Couple years ago (with my friends blessings) I ordered a cheap $50 pair of prescription cycling glasses through an online retailer (clearlycontacts.ca). They give you this "handy" online tool/guide for determining your PD (Pupillary Distance) which is crucial for completing your prescription. Again, we're talking Ontario Medical regulations here, this number is NOT given out by your eye doctor, they're not allowed, yet it is needed for any eye glass purchase. The Optician measures this in the store with their training and equipment. So I did the DIY measurement of my PD, and then my friend brought out her tools and did it right --- the measurement I got via the online retailer was wrong. Would I notice it? Possibly not, but it could affect my vision long term, since the glasses produced would be just a bit off.

One good thing about the Internet is that it has created a great many jobs and many of those jobs pay quite well. Facebook and Google alone employ thousands of people in jobs that would not exist if not for the Internet.

Brian....
No argument that there are number of good paying Google jobs. But then please also consider all the numbers of jobs that are GONE due to the disruption of the Internet. I have a friend that works at the local (dying) newspaper. I have contacts in the magazine industry also, and it's not they way it used to be. All over the woodworking forums we read about people lamenting the dying of the woodshows that we enjoy going to. What is happening to your local bookstores and used bookstores? And so on.

The big question, which I think your comment misses, is are there MORE well-paying jobs or are their FEWER. Overall.

And more full disclosure: Yes, I buy stuff through Amazon. Yes, I buy stuff from Wal-Mart. No, I don't buy that many books anymore (that's more because we use the library).

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I don't know the answers to your questions, Phil. But I wonder about them also.

[Phil Thien]

The big question, which I think your comment misses, is are there MORE well-paying jobs or are their FEWER. Overall.

That is precisely what I was getting at in the thread to begin with.

There is a deflationary component that comes along with the Internet.

Any attempt to stop or slow this will likely result in what we got with regulation of the airlines (high ticket prices, lack of innovation).

Nonetheless, I suspect some big winners and a lot of little losers, going forward.