Medgadget

New Intel Device Helps Overcome Problems With Reading, Learning

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:03 -0800

Intel has released a new gadget for people with vision problems, autism, dyslexia, and other conditions that can make reading difficult. With the Intel Reader you can take pictures of book pages, letters, and product labels and the device will read out the text back while showing magnified print on the screen. While designed to be used by people with certain disabilities, we can also see using this device to learn how to read a new language.

The Intel Reader, about the size of a paperback book, converts printed text to digital text, and then reads it aloud to the user. Its unique design combines a high-resolution camera with the power of an Intel® Atom™ processor, allowing users to point, shoot and listen to printed text.

When the Intel Reader is used together with the Intel® Portable Capture Station, large amounts of text, such as a chapter or an entire book, can be easily captured for reading later. Users will have convenient and flexible access to a variety of printed materials, helping to not only increase their freedom, but improve their productivity and efficiency at school, work and home. The Intel Reader has been endorsed by the International Dyslexia Association as an important advance in assistive technology. Additionally, Intel is working with the Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs, the Council for Exceptional Children, Lighthouse International, the National Center for Learning Disabilities and the National Federation of the Blind to help reach and address the needs of people who have difficulty reading print.

Press release: Ready, Set, Read: Intel® Reader Transforms Printed Text to Spoken Word ...

Product page: Intel Reader ...

Philips DirectLife Activity Monitor at TEDMED

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:30:52 -0800

Last week at TEDMED, Philips was giving away their DirectLife devices that monitor person's daily activity using a built-in accelerometer. In a crowded room at the conference, we spoke to one of the representatives of Philips to find out what the product is all about:

To learn more about the product, here's a link: Philips DirectLife...

A New Design for a High Tech Rescue Buoy

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:28:08 -0800

Not a medical device per se, but... Designers Sheng Zhe Feng and Yu Chi Huang are suggesting a new type of flotation device that would pack multiple technologies like salt water activated heating, GPS, and storage compartments for food and other items. Let's hope that the flotation qualities of the rescue ring are not diminished by all the gear on board.

Link: Yanko Design...

Pureray Ultraviolet Baby Bottle Design Idea

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:35:44 -0800

Ultraviolet light has the capacity to inactivate all kinds of pathogens, and now designers Hwa-yong Shin and Hannah Kim think they have a design for a water bottle that can takes advantage of this killing power.

Link: Pureray ultraviolet baby bottle...

LipGloss Detects Date Rape Drugs in a Drink

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:01 -0800

Il Palazzo, a Liverpool, England company, has released a line of lip gloss that features litmus test-like strips in the package to detect drinks spiked with gamma-hydroxybutyric acid or ketamine. The firm believes that the inconspicuous package will help women to check discreetly their drinks for "date rape" drugs.

More at product page: 2 Love My Lips...

(hat tip: Gizmodo)

Dazor Introduces speckFINDER HD Compact Tabletop Digital Microscope

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:53:46 -0800

Dazor Manufacturing Corp., a St. Louis, MO company, has announced the release of a new optical digital microscope, the speckFINDER HD®. While specifically not being marketed as a medical device, the microscope could be used for biological research, microphotography, and other bio applications. The company specifically touts the microscope's ergonomics designed "to reduce the stress placed upon the body."

speckFINDER HD® technology completely integrates the technologies of high quality optics, digital cameras, LED lighting, glass displays, personal computing electronics, and mechanics, to produce a workstation- friendly computer video microscope. Unlike conventional microscopes or stereoscopes with which a user must conform their body to a machine, speckFINDER HD® technology allows the user to obtain a comfortable posture and then adjust the machine to their individual comfort needs. Single or multiple workers can view magnified images simultaneously and effortlessly.

Because speckFINDER HD® combines multiple optical and digital technologies, images can also be stored in multiple digital formats, networked, and software enhanced as needed. Measurement, drawing, call-outs, and overlays are all conveniently available within speckFINDER HD®’s standard technology package. Live or stored speckFINDER HD® images can be viewed on another display or projected onto an overhead screen for training, instructing, or supervising.

Press release: Introducing the speckFINDER HD Digital Computer Microscope

Product page: speckFINDER HD

Fitbit Tracks Your Movement Day and Night

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 00:57:47 -0800

Fitbit, a small device designed to track your every physical move, is now for sale after a year of hype and development. Fitbit clips onto your clothing and, using a 3D motion sensor, passively tracks how many calories you burn, your patterns of physical activity, and even how much sleep you get at night. Every time you're in range of the Fitbit base station, it automatically uploads your data and syncs with your computer. The idea is that you can then log in to Fitbit.com to monitor your data, set activity goals, input food intake, look at your activity trends over time, etc. The battery in Fitbit lasts ten days between charges so you can pretty much keep Fitbit by your side at all times.

Head to the Fitbit blog for more details about the product development, manufacturing, and even an explanation about how the algorithms work that track your movement...

Product Page: Fitbit...

Flashback: Passive Tracking of Physical Activity with Fitbit

(hat tip: TechCrunch)

Nagging Wireless Pillbox Makes Sure You Take Your Pills

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:43:45 -0800

MedMinder Systems out of Newton, Massachusetts has developed a smart pillbox for people who take multiple medications and have a difficult regiment they have to stick to. The Maya pillbox is wirelessly programmed by the user or caretaker for four weeks in advance and can progressively become more persistent at getting the patient to take the pills on time. When time comes to take pills in a specific cup, it lights up prompting compliance from the patient. If the correct cup is not accessed in a few minutes, the unit begins to beep and later sends text messages, makes phone calls, and writes emails to the patient and caretakers if the regiment is not being followed.

Here's Eran Shavelsky, founder of MedMinder demoing the Maya pill compliance system for the Boston Globe:

DIY At-Home ECG System Built On The Cheap

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:01 -0800

Scott Harden, at The Blogging Rotagonist, has tinkered together a dual lead ECG system using a basic PC computer and its sound card as the signal processing system and one cent pennies as the leads. All the minutia of the project is amply documented on his blog for anyone wishing to put together an ECG system.

Although several DIY ECG guides exist on the internet, this one focuses on minimizing the part count and cost by performing noise reduction (normally handled by complicated analog circuitry) digitally with your computer. The device hooks up to your chest (using pennies as electrodes) and outputs to the microphone jack of your computer sound card so it can be recorded with free audio software. In addition to a description of how to build and use the DIY ECG, this guide also provides the code needed to perform complicated long-term heart rate and heart rate variability analysis to assess neurological control over cardiac function!

Here's an overview of the system:

The rest of the details, including schematics and software source code at The Blogging Rotagonist...

Flashback: Get on Board with Open-Source ECG Project

(hat tip: MAKE)

Internet Connected Bottle Caps Help Remember to Take Your Pills

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 02:18:59 -0800

GlowCap, a product of Vitality out of Cambridge, MA, is a bottle cap that reminds patients to take their meds on a regular schedule. We covered the devices in the past (see flashbacks below), but now the firm has released a version of the GlowCaps that use a wireless microchip to communicate with a computer connected device to program the drug regiment.

Product features:

The GlowCap™ is an Internet-connected medication adherence product that helps remind you to take your once-a-day medication or vitamin. It pulses orange when it is time to take your pills, then plays a melody to get your attention if you have not taken your medication within an hour.
The GlowCap comes with a wireless night light that plugs into a kitchen or bathroom outlet and glows a calm blue. The night light pulses orange when it is time to take your pill.

The GlowCap also includes a home health gateway that requires a broadband Internet connection.

To get started, fill up your GlowCap with your pills, plug in the night light in a visible outlet and plug in the home health gateway.

Each week you will receive an email progress report. Contact Vitality to set or change your dose time.

Company video introducing the GlowCaps:

Press release: Connecting Healthcare IT to the Home Intelligent Pill Caps Give Peace of Mind to People Caring for Loved Ones

Product page: GlowCap...

Purchase @ Amazon...

Flashbacks: Glowing Caps Raise Compliance, Send Coupons ; Smarter Pill Bottle Caps

(hat tip: Gizmodo)