Mist Vista

Glasses for the blind might sound like an odd idea, given the traditional purpose of glasses and the issue of vision impairment. However, eighth-grade student [Akhil Nagori] built these glasses with an alternate purpose in mind. They’re not really for seeing. Instead, they’re outfitted with hardware to capture text and read it aloud.
Yes, we’re talking about real-time text-to-audio transcription, built into a head-worn format. The hardware is pretty straightforward: a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W runs off a battery and is outfitted with the usual first-party camera. The camera is mounted on a set of eyeglass frames so that it points at whatever the wearer might be “looking” at. At the push of a button, the camera captures an image, and then passes it to an API which does the optical character recognition. The text can then be passed to a speech synthesizer so it can be read aloud to the wearer.
It’s funny to think about how advanced this project really is. Jump back to the dawn of the microcomputer era, and such a device would have been a total flight of fancy—something a researcher might make a PhD and career out of. Indeed, OCR and speech synthesis alone were challenge enough. Today, you can stand on the shoulders of giants and include such mighty capability in a homebrewed device that cost less than $50 to assemble. It’s a neat project, too, and one that we’re sure taught [Akhil] many valuable skills along the way.

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Laser microphones have been around since the Cold War. Back in those days, they were a favorite tool of the KGB – allowing spies to listen in on what was being said in a room from a safe distance. This project by [SomethingAbtScience] resurrects that concept with a DIY build that any hacker worth their soldering iron can whip up on a modest budget. And let’s face it, few things are cooler than turning a distant window into a microphone.
At its core this hack shines a laser on a window, detects the reflected light, and picks up subtle vibrations caused by conversations inside the room. [SomethingAbtScience] uses an ordinary red laser (visible, because YouTube rules) and repurposes an amplifier circuit ripped from an old mic, swapping the capsule for a photodiode. The build is elegant in its simplicity, but what really makes it shine is the attention to detail: adding a polarizing filter to cut ambient noise and 3D printing a stabilized sensor mount. The output is still a bit noisy, but with some fine tuning – and perhaps a second sensor for differential analysis – there’s potential for crystal-clear audio reconstruction. Just don’t expect it to pass MI6 quality control.
While you probably won’t be spying on diplomats anytime soon, this project is a fascinating glimpse into a bygone era of physical surveillance. It’s also a reminder of how much can be accomplished with a laser pointer, some ingenuity, and the curiosity to see how far a signal can travel.

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People on the left are absolutely furious that some Democrats, including Senator Chuck Schumer, voted for the continuing resolution bill that keeps the government open.
Many people don’t even know or care what’s in the bill, they just see this as a win for Trump which fills them with rage. They believe everything must be resisted, no matter the outcome.
Schumer went on The View today and was subjected to the ire of the hosts who accused him of caving to Trump.
NewsBusters has details:

On Tuesday, the liberal ladies of ABC’s The View finally got their highly anticipated chance to rage and vent at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for leading nine other Democrats to vote for the Republican Continuing Resolution to avoid a government shutdown. Their reactions ranged from simply asking “why” to questioning his ability to lead and suggesting he should “step aside” as a leader of the party and make way for younger radicals…

Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin, who boasted about voting for Vice President Kamala Harris, came at Schumer from the left and pressed him on leaving Democratic leadership to get out of the way of up and coming radicals. She even cited his behind-the-scenes work to get former President Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
“There seems to be a disconnect between the younger generation and some of the newly elected Democrats and yours,” she prefaced. “Do you believe that the party has confidence in you to continue to serve as its leader, and as somebody who was influential in helping Biden’s decision to step aside, do you think it might be for you too?”
The outrage directed at Schumer from co-host Sunny Hostin took on a more personal tone, especially after she lamented: “And it gives me no pleasure to say this to you because we are friends, but I think you caved.”

Sunny Hostin was particularly accusatory.

LMAO: The View subjected Chuck Schumer to a nationally televised struggle session. pic.twitter.com/3nQveqo589
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 18, 2025

Schumer used taxpayer greed as an excuse.

Dem Senate leader Chuck Schumer mocks Americans who want to keep their hard-earned income and praises the government as a “barrier” to them:”You know what their attitude is, ‘I made my money all by myself. How dare your government take my money from me?’ … They hate… pic.twitter.com/vb4oDxPQ3V
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 18, 2025

This was just pathetic.

Chuck Schumer says that he sometimes wakes up at 3 in the morning to think about Elon Musk pic.twitter.com/0EqMIBVntT
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 18, 2025

The View is so toxic. It’s amazing that ABC News continues to air it. […]