Boomers’ failing eyesight brings forth cell-phone magnifiers
No one likes to admit they’re getting older and can’t see as well as they used to. –Joanie Taylor, CEO , Magnifics Inc.
Take Joanie Taylor, for example. In 2002, the former ophthalmology nurse began to notice that patients and friends of a certain age were constantly complaining that they couldn’t make out the numbers on their cellphones.
She and a partner created the Phone Monocle, a soft plastic device with a magnifying lens that slips over cellphone screens. The gadget, available in seven colors and selling for $9.95, was named one of the top 100 inventions of 2004 by Popular Mechanics magazine.
“It works on cellphones, cordless phones, iPods, insulin pumps, global positioning systems, any small electronic device with a hard-to-read screen,” says Taylor, CEO of Magnifics Inc., Phone Monocle’s parent company. “The great thing is that you can match it to the color of your phone and it’s not really noticeable.”
Go to original by Korky Vann in the Arizona Republic
