Opticote Launches ‘My Choice’ Gift Card Promo
Opticote is launching a sales promotion designed to boost multiple-pair sales of mirror-coated sun lenses. For every mirror coating sold, Opticote will provide a Certificate of Authenticity (CA). Six registered CAs will earn a $25 gift certificate from My Choice Gift Cards ( www.quickgifts.com). The cards can be used to obtain rewards from more 100 retailers.

ECPs and optical retailers can register for the promotion at www.opticote.com/ecp/register.asp. Opticote and its authorized lab partners will send another pair of mirror lenses for each order received. The promotion runs through June 30. All CAs must be registered no later than July 31 to be eligible for consideration toward My Choice gift cards.

Corning and its Lens Casters Celebrate SunSensors 10-Year Anniversary

Corning is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of SunSensors monomer, the company’s first photochromic monomer used by its customers to manufacture plastic photochromic lenses. Corning first manufactured the in-mass monomer in its Corning, N.Y.
facility and continues to make it there today.

“Corning has shown dedication to the photochromic market since introducing its first photochromic glass in 1968,” says Pierre-Jean Baron, general manager, Corning Ophthalmic.

“With millions of pairs of SunSensors lenses sold worldwide, Corning has expanded its plastic photochromic lens product line, continuing to push this fast-growing technology forward.”

The SunSensors plastic photochromic in-mass technology provides a light mid-index material with proven photochromic performance. The new SunSensors high-performance photochromic coating technology comes in a high-index lens and is now available for those that need a fast reactive photochromic that can get even darker.

Corning is also offering a new benefit to its SunSensors customers. The company will now support its lens manufacturers by designating them as certified SunSensors casters.

“We celebrate SunSensors 10 years of success with our lens manufacturers, labs and eyecare professionals. With their help, the SunSensors brand continues to be successful in the photochromic market,” adds Baron. 

Intel Introduces Mobile Handheld Reader

Intel Corp. is launching the Intel Reader, a mobile handheld device that reads text to people who have dyslexia or other specific learning disabilities, or have vision problems such as low-vision or blindness. About the size of a paperback book, the Intel Reader converts printed text to digital text and then reads it aloud to the user. It combines a high-resolution camera with an Intel Atom processor, allowing users to point, shoot and listen to printed text. When the Intel Reader is used together with the Intel Portable Capture Station, large amounts of text, such as a chapter or an entire book, can be easily captured for reading later.

The Intel Reader is being marketed through the Intel Digital Health Group. It will be available in the U.S. through select resellers, including CTL, Don Johnston Incorporated, GTSI, Howard Technology Solutions and HumanWare. The device, which been classified by FDA as a medical device, will also be distributed by eyecare professionals, according to Ben Foss, director of access technology at Intel and the originator of the Intel Reader concept.

—Andrew Karp