Hasta La Gadget!

The Microsoft Kinect has been hacked to do all sorts of things, and while some of the hacks are for the good of humankind, most are pretty superfluous. But the Microsoft Research Cambridge team has recently put together a Kinect demo which could provide neurosurgeons with interactive 3D visuals which could help them save lives in the operating room.

The prototype system shows how a Kinect could help provide augmented reality visuals which overlay the patient’s MRI or CAT scan data with the real world. This would allow doctors to move around the patients head and visualize problem areas non-invasively, and to help them map out a better action plan before starting surgery.

The system uses a touchscreen tablet with a Kinect duct taped to the back of it, tied to a custom application through the Kinect Fusion API. In the video below shot by IEEE Spectrum, Microsoft Research’s Ben Glocker demonstrates how the system works:

While this particular system isn’t exactly the most portable, it’s still quite impressive, and you could see how combining Kinect tech with some sort of head-mounted display could really change the way surgery is performed. Now if only they could work out a way that you don’t have to lie in that noisy and claustrophobic MRI machine.

If you’re one of those people that are concerned about the quality of the air you breathe when indoors, Thanko has a new USB-powered air purifier to keep things fresh. The air purifier plugs into the USB port on your computer and slurps up the bad air, filters it, and then spits it back out for you to breathe. The purifier also promises to remove odors.

The device uses a six-layer filter element that can trap particles in the air as small as 0.3 micrometers. To remove smells from the area, the gadget has an integrated ionizer. This USB-powered purifier also has a UV light to help kill any germs and bacteria floating in the air around you.

That means it might help you stave off the flu the guy in the cubicle next to you brought to work. UV light has been used in a hospital settings for years to kill airborne germs and bacteria, and it actually works.

The air purifier sells for ¥5,980 (~$64 USD) and I’ll assume if you live in the US and need one of these, shipping will be very expensive since Thanko is located in Japan.

[via EverythingUSB]

All around the world there are a huge number of people who have been injured in automotive, leisure or industrial accidents, or were born with limited control over their bodies. There are a number of medical conditions that can make people unable to control their arms well enough to work the gadgets that many take for granted, such as tablets and laptops. Griffin has announced a new product specifically designed for those with physical challenges, to allow them to use today’s technology more easily. The product is called the Griffin MouthStick Stylus, and is designed to be held in the mouth using a food-grade stainless steel mouthpiece. That mouthpiece has latex free silicone rubber sleeves to protect the teeth. The shaft of the stylus is long and curved like a gooseneck and tipped with a conductive silicone tip. The stylus will operate the capacitive screens of smartphones, tablets, or other touchscreen devices. The stylus can also be used to type on a laptop keyboard and control other devices as well including the Apple Magic trackpad. The stylus will ship in Q2 for $29.99(USD) with replacement mouthpiece sleeves and silicone rubber tips available for a small charge.

While there’s plenty of hype going on about smartwatches these days, most of the watches out there solve fairly superfluous problems – like seeing that you have a phone call because you’re too lazy to get the phone out of your pocket. On the other hand, this smartwatch could really help deaf and hard-of-hearing people.

The Android 4-powered Moneaual Smart Care System (SCS1000) can be used to alert people with hearing difficulties to emergency situations by relaying information to the LCD screen of the watch, as well as an accompanying vibration alert.

The device can detect specific sounds and alert users to them on the watch display. In indoor mode, the watch is smart enough to identify everything from the sound of a doorbell ringing, to a smoke alarm beeping, to a crying baby to a phone ringing or boiling water. In outdoor mode, it can detect car horns and other loud noises to protect wearers from dangerous situations. The watch also offers an emergency mode which can call 911 and request help on your behalf.

There’s no word yet on pricing or a release date for the Moneaual Smart Care System, but it could definitely be a great gadget for those with partial or total hearing loss when it’s ultimately released.

There’s nothing new about robots helping doctors learn their craft, but normally they are satisfied with just a CPR robot or just a robot that simulates a heart attack. However, the Forth Valley Royal Hospital’s high-tech Scottish Clinical Simulation Centre is like a robot house of horrors.

It is there that trainee doctors and nurses in Scotland are perfecting their skills on robot patients. There are robots that breathe, speak and have heartbeats – and robots whose eyes dilate when a doctor shines a light in it. The robots are operated by computers and respond to the treatment in various ways.

That’s all well and good, but have a look at the video and be creeped out by how many of these freaky robots are just laying around on tables like the undead. Skip to about 40 seconds for stuff you’ll see behind your eyelids tonight in bed tonight.

And if the training robots aren’t enough, they have tons of robots working behind the scenes in the facility too. They patrol the corridors, sort the mail and take care of drug orders. These people need to evacuate that building now!

[via BBC]