Archive for Health

GE Vscan pocket Ultrasound device

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on October 22nd, 2009

GE Vscan pocket Ultrasound deviceGetting an Ultrasound is the only way to spy on babies in the womb, but it involves yet another trip to the doctor’s office and you have enough on your mind preparing for this new life. That’s where this new gadget comes in handy.

The GE Vscan is an ultrasound device that can comfortably fit in your pocket when you aren’t using it to open a window into your wife’s womb. It looks like a cheap clamshell pone and has a little display that will show you your baby.

Breathalyzer detects lung cancer

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on August 31st, 2009

Breathalyzer detects lung cancerBreathalyzers have done a lot of good ever since they were invented. They have taken many drunk drivers off the roads for one thing. Well, now they are ready to help out in a whole new way thanks to some scientists in Israel, who are working on a breathalyzer that they think can detect lung cancer.

Similar tests already exist, but require a pretreatment of the breath, which adds time to the procedure and money. The Israeli breathalyzer doesn’t need any pretreatments. The team conducted a study, with 56 healthy volunteers and 40 people who were known to have lung cancer. They were tested by the breathalyzer, using a sensor that consists of nine gold nanoparticle chemiresistors.

Panasonic “Nano Care” webcam-styled beauty gadget

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on July 30th, 2009

Panasonic "Nano Care" webcam-styled beauty gadgetLook at that gargantuan webcam. It’s not a webcam at all. It’s Panasonic’s Nano Care beauty appliance. Model numbers EH-SA42 and EH-SA41. Both devices will keep your area moist throughout the day so that your skin will be moist, not dry.

The EH-SA42 doesn’t even need any water to do it. So yes, what we have here are a pair of simple humidifiers. Who knows if it will help your skin, but at least you’ll have a honking huge webcam looking thing on your desk. Both models will arrive in Japan this November, where moistness will reign.

Wink Glasses will keep you awake

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on July 30th, 2009

Wink Glasses will keep you awakeWink Glasses are a clip-on device that monitors your alertness. How does it do this? By counting how often you blink. Your blink rate will tell it if you are getting tired. If it senses that you are dozing, the glass will turn opaque and supposedly, that will wake you up.

I don’t wear glasses, but if I did and I got tired, I doubt this would wake me up. Maybe the first few times. But I’m sure you get used to it and it wears off.

Baylis Slikstik led folding walking stick

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on July 21st, 2009

Baylis Slikstik led folding walking stickYesterday we told you about the Pedomostick, a device that puts a pedometer in a cane, giving those who use a cane some much needed functionality. Well, the Baylis “Slik-Stik” LED Folding Walking Stick is a similar device, updating the walking stick with some useful features.

The Slikstik can wind up to light your way, so that you can be seen in the dark and stay safe. If that isn’t enough, it also makes noise. This one is a great idea. We aren’t sure why the walking stick is getting all kinds of upgrades, but we’re just glad it is. Walking stick users have never had so many options.

ZZZ Checker monitors your sleeping behavior

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on July 12th, 2009

ZZZ Checker monitors your sleeping behaviorSpec Computer wants to help you sleep better, so they are offering the ZZZ Checker, which will help you analyze your sleep patterns. Lucky for you it doesn’t require you to wear anything dorky on your wrist or your head while you snooze.

It uses both audio and visual sensors to figure out when you’re tossing and turning, snoring or grinding your teeth. It will let you know if your sleep level is light, medium or deep and show you the number of hours and minutes you’ve spent in each level.

Virtual personal trainer texts obese kids

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on June 29th, 2009

Virtual personal trainer texts obese kidsResearchers from the University of Southern California want to use cellphones to help the obese shed weight. The idea is to hook up obese kids to a “mobile body network,” consisting of a device to measure the skin’s electrical conductivity along with a heart-rate monitor, accelerometer, blood glucose reader and GPS for location, and connecting it with a battery sensor on the child’s body.

The system uses a Smartphone to send the collected behavioral data to the university’s computers, where it is then figures out what the information means. If your kid is laying around, text messages will be shot his way to get him to do get off his ass and do something.

Grossan HydroPulse Nasal Irrigator

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on April 30th, 2009

Grossan HydroPulse Nasal IrrigatorSwine Flu got you down? This gadget may help clean your nose from harmful bacteria and other nasty stuff. The Grossan HydroPulse Nasal Irrigator shoots warm saline through your nasal cavities to flush out all the stuff which can cause problems.

Only $149.95. A clean nose is a healthy nose. Many people swear by clearing their sinuses in this way. These days with the pig/bacon/bird/swine flu you can’t be too careful.

Stanford students create $20 prosthetic leg

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on April 19th, 2009

Stanford students create $20 prosthetic legThe goal of the JaipurKnee Project was to create a prosthetic leg that was amazingly sturdy as well as amazingly cheap. That’s no easy task. Otherwise it would have been done by now. Somehow they did it and created the leg you see in the above pic. It only costs $20.

Expensive and high-tech prosthetic limbs are nothing new. But what about the majority of the world who can not afford them? Legs like the one above may not make you the bionic man, but they will let you function and walk. For cheap. Pretty awesome.

Breastlight: Home breast exam tool

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on April 14th, 2009

Breastlight: Home breast exam toolIt’s important for a woman to check her breasts regularly. But doing breast exams at home isn’t easy. And I can’t offer my services to everybody. Even if women check their breasts regularly, I’m sure it can be hard to tell if they are doing it correctly.

The Breastlight can help with the home exam, making your breast checks more accurate. It works by shining a bright red beam of light through the breast tissue. The idea is to look for any dark clusters. That’s where blood may be collecting and leading to malignant lumps. If it works as advertised, it should be a huge comfort to women.

Japanese toilet analyzes your droppings, sends results to your cell phone

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on April 2nd, 2009

Japanese toilet analyzes your droppingsNext time you get a call, it might be TMI. See, this here fancy new john wants a word with you. The convo will go something like this, “Hey John. It’s me, your crapper. It’s about your stool…You might want to sit down…Hahaha I slay myself. Just a little toilet humor. But seriously, you gotta lay off the beans buddy… The janitor had to spray twice since you left.”

We’ll it could go down that way. New toilets by Inax will keep an eye on your health and inform you about it via cell phone. It analyzes your stool. Then, a report on your deuce is beamed to a personalized URL or your phone via infrared.

HemAway: The anti-hemorrhoid toilet seat

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on March 16th, 2009


Having never suffered from hemorrhoids myself, I can only take their word for it that this, the latest in toilet seat/hemorrhoid technology will alleviate your discomfort and allow you to do your business like the rest of us. Dr. Maurello has hemorrhoids. He’s the inventor. HemAway is his idea.

HemAway looks like an angry toilet face, but really it’s a specially designed seat for minimizing the pain from prolapsed hemorrhoids. There’s no easy way to explain this, but it requires the person to position their hemorrhoids in a certain way. The video explains it and as a bonus you get to watch some animated rhoids retract nice and slow. May be slightly NSFW if your boss frowns upon cartoon rhoids.

Magic Mirror: See your muscles while you work out, or lack of

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on March 2nd, 2009

Magic Mirror: See your muscles while you work out, or lack ofResearchers at the University of Tokyo have created what they are calling a “magic mirror”. It shows you your muscular activity in real time so you can visually see how hard your muscles are working while you exercise. The system can currently monitor the activity of 30% of the body’s 300-some skeletal muscles.

Sadly the user has to wear all of those little balls etc, to get the readings. At the moment it’s a medical device, so it won’t be showing up at the gym anytime soon or on Wii-Fit. But one day soon you’ll be using your mirror as an actual health device. Not just a surface for your popped zit juice.

Swiss scientists identify PlayStation-induced skin disorder

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on February 24th, 2009

Swiss scientists identify PlayStation-induced skin disorderAh, the Swiss. While Germans have been busy doing useful things with street lighting, the Swiss have been busy treating people who actually still play a Sony console for injuries.

Here’s the story. Swiss scientists have ID’d a new skin disorder that they believe came from prolonged gaming. They’re calling it “PlayStation palmar hidradentitis,”, a condition where painful lumps appear on the palms. The diagnosis came when a 12-year old girl visited a Geneva hospital with hand lesions. Allegedly from a gaming marathon that lasted hours. She fully recovered after a ten-day break from the PlayStation.

Panasonic’s first Blood Pressure Monitor with SD Card

Posted in Health by Conner Flynn on February 16th, 2009

Panasonic’s first Blood Pressure Monitor with SD CardPanasonic recently unveiled it’s first Blood Pressure monitor with an SD card slot. You can save health data on the SD card for up to 5 different people. Tip: If you have 5 people in your house unhealthy enough to need this device, you are in some serious trouble and should probably be in the hospital right now.

The data can be read via your computer or your doctor‘s PC. No word on pricing yet. All I know is that the 5 of you better start exercising pretty darn quick.





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