These Super-Spy Sunglasses Will Make Your iPhone Screen Invisible to Onlookers

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Celal Göger, a smartphone repair specialist in Turkey, has invented a very impressive gadget in his free time. It’s a pair of sunglasses that allows the wearer to see what’s on their iPhone screen, while simultaneously masking that screen from anyone else’s eyes.

Media outlets have dubbed the technology “Ghost Phone,” probably because the iPhone appears to have a blank white screen when viewed by onlookers. Here’s how it works: Göger modified the iPhone so that it has a chip in it, which also corresponds with a second chip inside of the sunglasses.

As soon as I heard about this invention, I instantly thought of the times when I’ve taken public transportation or been on an airplane with a nosy seat-mate. Wearing sunglasses and looking at a white screen would probably make me look even more eye-catching and mysterious than just looking at emails on my phone, but it would still be nice to be able to have some privacy. It turns out that Göger’s motivation for the invention was exactly that: he told TechWorm that he came up with the idea when he was on public transit and reading business messages on his smartphone.

He created his invention in just four months, and although he completed it over a month ago, he’s had some trouble getting media attention on this idea. He elaborated to TechWorm,

On the off chance that I had been conceived in the UK, I think I would have gotten significantly more backing to advance this anticipate and begin large scale manufacturing of my development. Somebody’s telephone is an exceptionally individual thing, and I believe it’s amazingly discourteous when other individuals gaze at it.

When I completed my innovation, I began educating individuals concerning it, however no one trusted me. They thought it must be some sort of enchantment trap, until they saw my development, which left them totally gobsmacked.

Göger hopes to receive financing for the project so that he can include further developments, such as an on/off switch on the iPhone that will allow the owner to decide when to implement the sunglasses functionality. Personally, I would also vote for Göger to include the option for a black screen instead of a white screen since it’s less visually noticeable. Also, it appears from this YouTube video about the invention (which is not in English and does not have subtitles, unfortunately) that the glasses don’t necessarily have to be tinted in order for the invention to work, since Göger appears to have applied the chip to lots of different styles of glasses.

I hope that some tech industry big-shot sees this media coverage and decides to invest in Göger’s idea, since it seems to me like he deserves his big break!

(via Engadget, image via YouTube)

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Maddy Myers
Maddy Myers, journalist and arts critic, has written for the Boston Phoenix, Paste Magazine, MIT Technology Review, and tons more. She is a host on a videogame podcast called Isometric (relay.fm/isometric), and she plays the keytar in a band called the Robot Knights (robotknights.com).