Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

Researchers at the MIT Media Lab have created a smartphone-based eye exam system for people in developing countries. For just $1, the plastic lens attachment will provide a service that was once unaffordable.

To use NETRA, a patient simply peers into a small lens attached to a smartphone, loaded with the testing app. On screen, they seen parallel red and green lines; then, they use arrow keys on the phone to adjust those lines until they overlap. After just two minutes of testing, the app spits out an eyeglass prescription.

Mobile technology is an enabler for many. Like IDEO's Robert Suarez told us before, "people in emerging markets rely on their mobile phones to rise above the often-dysfunctional infrastructure of the place where they live."

[via fastcompany]