Monthly Archives: October 2011

Doc, What Do Floaters Look Like

Today was floater day in the office. The most common questions today were all about floaters. The questions were centered around what do they look like, how do they start and what causes them. Not long ago I published in The Eye Doc blog an article about floaters but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. While researching for a future article I came across a very realistic video that does a good job simulating what floaters look like. By the way, most people have some floaters but not everyone has seen their floaters (and some people wish they had never seen their floaters).

If you want to see your floaters look up at the sky on an overcast day or at an evenly illuminated wall and you will most likely see those wispy cobwebs float by your vision. Check out the video below for a good representation of what a floater looks like. Most people don’t have as many floaters as is shown in the video but you’ll get the idea. If you want to learn more about floaters check out these articles I’ve written about them.

Aspirin May be Tied to Vision Loss

A new study just out showed that took a baby aspirin were twice as likely to have wet age related macular degeneration. The study did not show that the aspirin caused the macular degeneration and the authors did not recommend that patients stop aspirin therapy. Here is a good video discussing the study.  Aspirin may be tied to vision loss

Great Video of The Last Shuttle Flight STS-135 Put to the Music of “What Kind of a World do You Want”

Love the video and love this song. Check it out and make sure you watch it in HD, full screen………. enjoy

Amazon Fire a New Generation e-Reader is it the iPad Killer

I’m really excited to try out Amazon’s newest tablet computer the Amazon Fire. I love my Kindle Keyboard however it is not yet the perfect e-reader. In looking at the new specs for the Amazon Fire this new offering may come pretty close. Amazon has also updated it’s entire e-reader line with three other e-readers at much lower price points. The Kindle, the Kindle Touch and the Kindle Touch 3G all of which have no keyboard. The Kindle Fire incorporates a multi touch screen like the iPad, however it is the same overall size as the Kindle Keyboard , albeit slightly thicker with a color screen.

I dont’ really see the Kindle Fire as an iPad2 competitor. This model is really more of a Barnes and Noble Nook killer. The Fire will allow users to access basically everything Amazon has to offer in their store plus Android Apps, streaming music and movies, email and the Web. I do see Amazon coming out with a version that will directly compete with Apple’s iPad, possibly by Christmas 2012. In order to compete with the iPad, Amazon will have to add a few more capabilities such as 3G connectivity, front and rear facing cameras, more internal storage and a microphone. Some people don’t like the size of the iPad and adding those capabilities in both the 7″ and 10″ inch screen sizes will be a great combination.

Not everyone wants an iPad to read books on, frankly I find the iPad much to heavy and large to easily read a book. It would be nice however to be able  to read magazines in color and to easily visit a link in a blog or PDF, the Amazon Fire will allow us to do this very well.

So as soon as I get my hands on an Amazon Fire in November I’ll give a more complete review along with how it may or may not help patients with low vision. The Amazon Fire and the other new Kindle’s will ship on November 15. You can pre-order yours here.