Serious thread - requesting Anandtecher's with Tech Know-How (for my Mom).

[DigDug]

My mother is slowly going blind and nearly so. Recently on Television, we saw an advertisement for VideoEye, which is a company that make a magnifying type device that projects on to a LCD monitor. Their asking price is 2k+ which, to me, seems ridiculous considering that monitors cost about $500. Now, it may be a justifiyable price and something I'll pay for, if the price is right, that is, there is no alternative but to buy the magnifying component they are selling - otherwise, there could be no other reason to skyrocket that price.

I'm asking the ATOT population here - is there ANY WAY to make this for my mom in a cheaper way?

would the mods consider making this a sticky for a, hopefully respected member?

Sincerely,
Digdug, formerly, Blipblop

 

[Sluggo]

Search google for a fresnel lens

 

[DigDug]

A fresnel lens is extremely blurry. It magnifies, but not in the way anyone could live with.

 

[arcenite]

:camera:'s

 

[DaveSimmons]

Have you tried the Magnifier application that ships with Windows? It turns the top part of the screen into a magnifier that shows a zoomed area around the mouse.

Free! (aside from the jacked-up monopoly price of Windows itself)

Edit: sorry, I was only thinking about computer use -- wasn't thinking about general magnifying. How about a magnifying glass? Seriously, my parents had a tiny-print edition of the Oxford English Dictionary that included a large, rectangular magnifying glass meant for reading the 4-point type.

Also, has she gone to a real opthamalogist (not optometrist) and asked them for recommendations?

 

[Sluggo]

Is it for reading or computer use?

Anyway you could maybe modify an overhead projector? You can pick those up cheap at school auctions.