Embedded Telescope
From: NASA Tech Briefs Insider - 07/29/2008

Tiny telescopes have long been mounted on glasses to help visually impaired
people perform tasks, such as driving. But many potential users have resisted
using them due to their appearance, whereby the lens is mounted atop the
regular lens or above the frame. Moreover, the magnified view through the
telescope is narrow.  

Now, scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have redesigned the tiny
telescopes, by embedding a wide-field telescope made of straight and curved
mirrors within the glasses' spectacle lens. "This new design has several
advantages," said Dr. Eli Peli, a senior scientist at Schepens Eye Research
Institute and professor at Harvard Medical School, who invented the glasses. 
"One major advantage is the appearance of the glasses. Because they look
almost like normal everyday spectacles, it is more likely that visually
impaired people will use them," he added.  

Most important, shifting the magnified view up leaves the unmagnified view of
the road unobstructed, which is important for safety and facilitates
navigation. The in-the-lens design will also make it possible to mass-produce
the telescopic magnifier as a standard spectacle lens blank, thus allowing an
individual's prescription to be added using the standard procedure for
grinding regular spectacle lenses. 

Read the entire article at:
Telescope embedded in spectacle  lens promises to make driving easier for
  visually impaired 
http://www.schepens.harvard.edu/press_releases/july_24_2008.html

Links:
Schepens Eye Research Institute
http://www.schepens.harvard.edu/index.php

Eli Peli
http://www.schepens.harvard.edu/peli/profile.html

Photo of the glasses and a comparison of the views from new and old versions
http://www.eri.harvard.edu/faculty/peli/papers/JBO034027.pdf