Not really mundane and pointless…
But a genius MIT student invented a new way to manufacture glasses. He estimates the process will reduce the cost of eye wear to about $5 to $10 dollars. It should be ready in about two years.
"Griffith’s advances in low-cost lenses sprung from his interests in rapid prototyping technologies and efficient manufacturing. Using a process dubbed programmable molding, he created a portable device similar to a desktop printer that can produce any prescription lens from a single-mold surface in five to 10 minutes… "
…"Griffith has created a prototype device to test the human eye. Patients need only wear the device, which looks like an oversized pair of goggles, and look at the world around them. An electronic sensor superimposed on the goggles monitors the lens in the wearer’s eye and adjusts the device’s lens to cancel the refractive errors, thus determining the correct prescription. "
He plans on helping poor countries with his invention.
An interview with him was on the Canadian science show Daily Planet. You can see it at exn.ca in a few days.