Although not a medical gadget in itself, we can imagine some great use-cases for this little device. The Looxcie is a combined Bluetooth headset and wearable camcorder. Now, where would we like to use this you ask? In the operating room of course! Capturing surgical procedures on video is a tough job, but is often done for documentation, education and better visualization by the surgical team. One option is to use cameras integrated in the handle of the OR light, but this does not give an optimal perspective. Another option is to go for head-mounted cameras, which give a more natural point of view, but the currently available head-mounted cameras can be cumbersome for the surgeon. Moreover, both options are expensive, making them a luxury mainly available in large teaching-hospitals. This small headset, however, is well within the price-range of your everyday surgeon and gives him the opportunity to capture his personal moments of fame in the operating room. The Looxcie weighs less than 28g, captures MP4 video in HVGA resolution (480×320) and features 4 gigabytes of onboard storage. It can be connected to other devices through Bluetooth and micro-USB. When paired with an Android phone, the phone can act as a remote controller, as well as for editing videios, or for sharing clips with others. iPhone support is being worked on, however it will require a newer hardware version of the device. One warning, as you can see below, video will still be as shaky as with other head-mounted solutions.
(Congratulations to fellow blogger Dr. Dalai for predicting the invention of this gadget two years ago)
Product page: Looxcie…