Exmovere shows off Exmobaby biosensor pajamas for babies, coming to retail in 2011

Baby monitors have become quite commonplace over the past 20 years or so, and come in many variations. Exmovere (a company that previously produced the wearable Chariot) has debuted a new type of monitor, however, which are actually part of the baby’s pajamas, and which are said to help monitor heart rate, emotional state and behavior. The outfit — called Exmobaby — uses the Zigbee wireless standard, effectively connecting the baby to the home wireless network, enabling the parents (or you know, whoever’s around) to track the babies various states via icons on their mobile phones. Sound great? Well, it’s heading to limited retail in 2011, though no pricing has been announced yet. Full press release is below.

Continue reading Exmovere shows off Exmobaby biosensor pajamas for babies, coming to retail in 2011

Exmovere shows off Exmobaby biosensor pajamas for babies, coming to retail in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Virtual Autopsy Combines CSI and Tron

The Virtual Autopsy Table from NorrköpingsVisualiseringscenter on Vimeo.

A consortium of Swedish tech and medical interests have banded together to develop a Virtual Autopsy Table. It’s a large touch-screen table that can utilize data from CT and MRI scans to allow doctors investigate all your hidden inside nook and crannies, scalpel-free.

The multi-touch interface allows doctors or researchers to virtually peel away various layers of body tissue as they digitally spelunk into the patient’s body. Of course, “Autopsy” is just one of the potential uses of the technology which will also aid in pre-surgical planning, examination, and educational uses.

Infrared laser shown to quicken heart rate, gives hope for ultra-small pacemakers

Here’s an interesting one. Just years after a researcher in Japan realized that lasers could stimulate nerves, a professor of biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University along with cohorts from Case Western Reserve have found that the same is true with the heart. By using an Infrared laser on an early embryonic heart, tests were able to show that the muscle was “in lockstep with the laser pulse rate.” The crew also found no signs of laser damage after a few hours of experimenting, though obviously more extensive research would be required before any medical agency allowed such a device to be beamed underneath a human chest. The hope here is that this discovery could one day lead to ultra-small, implantable pacemakers, or better still, to “pace an adult heart during surgery.” There’s nary a mention of when this stuff will actually be ready for FDA oversight, but there’s a downright creepy video of it all in the source link. Consider yourself warned.

Infrared laser shown to quicken heart rate, gives hope for ultra-small pacemakers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Drug vending machines start trial in UK, allow awkward videophone conversations with your pharmacist

You’ve got to imagine the Japanese are green with envy right now, as the BBC report not one, but two different drug vending machines are being tested out under Her Majesty’s watchful eye. The first of these experiments is run by supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, which has installed a pair of drug dispenser machines in its stores. They identify users by their fingerprint or a unique number, demand PIN verification too, and then finally accept your prescription. Then — and this is the really silly part — a pharmacist comes along, picks up your prescription, fills it out, and deposits it in the machine for you to pick up. So it’s impersonal and unnecessarily convoluted, great. PharmaTrust seems to have a slightly better idea with its videophone-equipped, ATM-style robo-vendor: it’s intended to allow pharmacists to approve prescriptions off-site and out of usual working hours by letting them speak to you via videophone. It could in fact be a big benefit in more remote areas, depending on how patients take to it — we’ll know more when the trial starts up in participating hospitals this winter.

Continue reading Drug vending machines start trial in UK, allow awkward videophone conversations with your pharmacist

Drug vending machines start trial in UK, allow awkward videophone conversations with your pharmacist originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 07:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yurina health care robot promises to help lift, terrify patients

We already got a look at a robot wheelchair that was on display at the recent Next-Generation Robot Manufacturing Exhibition in Japan, but it wasn’t the only robotic health care device on display at the show — this so-called Yurina robot from Japan Logic Machine was also busy impressing attendees with its patient-lifting abilities. This one offers more than just brute strength, however, as it can also convert itself to a wheelchair that’s nimble enough to navigate narrow hallways and be controlled using either by voice directions, a touchscreen, or a Wii nunchuck-type controller. Head on past the break to check it out in action — and make sure your speakers are turned up.

Continue reading Yurina health care robot promises to help lift, terrify patients

Yurina health care robot promises to help lift, terrify patients originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Implantable blood sugar sensor could eliminate daily finger pricks

Science has been figuring out ways to sidestep those dreaded finger pricks for years now, but it’s not often that we hear of such a permanent solution as this. A crew of researchers from The University of Tokyo and BEANS Research Institute are in the process of developing a newfangled blood sugar sensor that “reacts to glucose and lights up inside the body.” ‘Course, injecting dyes into humans in order to receive interpretable signals ain’t exactly new, but hydrogel is what makes this approach unique. As the story goes, this jelly-esque material can be implanted within the body, enabling blood sugar levels to be monitored and measured externally with no pain or irritation whatsoever. In theory, a monitoring system could trigger an alert as soon as the internal levels dipped or rose beyond a predetermined extreme, giving those with diabetes a maximum amount of time to get things back in balance. There’s nary a mention of when this goo will be green-lit by the FDA, but there’s definitely a video explaining everything just past the break.

Continue reading Implantable blood sugar sensor could eliminate daily finger pricks

Implantable blood sugar sensor could eliminate daily finger pricks originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Aug 2010 06:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Photo-blog Your Life with the Vicon Revue

Vicon RevueA number of people already post photos of their daily activities to their blogs, or have a specific photo blog they upload images to whenever the mood to take a snapshot strikes. With the Vicon Revue, you won’t need to remember to take a photo every time you see something interesting and then upload it to the Web. The Revue comes with a neck strap so you can hang the camera around your neck, and it takes photos passively without the user having to push a button. This means that as long as you’re wearing it, you’re recording every moment of your day without any effort on your part.

The Revue wasn’t designed for blogging: it’s a product of Microsoft’s Research group to help people with memory loss or Alzheimer’s disease see where they’ve been, or give their family or caretakers a way to find out where they’ve been when the individual can’t remember. It uses Microsoft’s SenseCam technology, which takes wide-angle photos instead of flat, narrow ones. It is available now for 500 British Pounds, the equivalent of approximately $793 US Dollars.

[via Gajitz]

Intel and GE form healthcare joint venture, sluggish Atom-powered home servants on the way

Okay, so maybe we’re only half-kidding about the prospective of having home health robots that can barely multitask, but we’re hoping that Intel and GE at least have the heart to equip any domicile servants with a Core i3 or stronger. If you haven’t heard, the two aforesaid companies have joined hands this week to create a 50/50 joint venture, one that’ll result in the creation of a new healthcare company “focused on telehealth and independent living.” Financial terms aren’t being disclosed, but the goal is pretty simple: “to use technology to bring more effective healthcare into millions of homes and to improve the lives of seniors and people with chronic conditions.” It’s a bit unclear at this point what all the duo will be creating, but we wouldn’t be shocked to see medical tablets, Core i7 980X-based “medical monitoring PCs” and Moorestown-powered “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” neck pieces surface in the near future.

Continue reading Intel and GE form healthcare joint venture, sluggish Atom-powered home servants on the way

Intel and GE form healthcare joint venture, sluggish Atom-powered home servants on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ReSound’s Bluetooth-infused Alera hearing aid: finally, you can toss that Loud N’ Clear

It ain’t the first hearing aid to sport Bluetooth, but it’s probably the first one to make you think seriously about tossing that Loud N’ Clear you purchased in a haze at 3:30AM last year. Operating on the 2.4GHz frequency, the ReSound Alera (and the accompanying Unite wireless accessories) actually allow those who are hard of hearing to pipe in audio from TVs, stereos, cellphones and PCs without any funky cables or fancy setup procedures. Better still, there’s no blockage of environmental noise, so folks can continue yelling speaking to their grandkids while Judge Judy tears someone’s soul apart in their left ear canal. There’s nary a mention of price (we’re guessing that doesn’t bode well for bargain shoppers), but there’s certainly a demonstration vid hosted up after the break. Just make sure to jack the volume to 11, cool?

Continue reading ReSound’s Bluetooth-infused Alera hearing aid: finally, you can toss that Loud N’ Clear

ReSound’s Bluetooth-infused Alera hearing aid: finally, you can toss that Loud N’ Clear originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fujitsu’s wireless guidance system promises to free patients from the waiting room

It may not do much to speed up wait times, but Fujitsu is at least doing its part to make the time outpatients spend at hospitals and clinics a bit easier. It’s announced a new wireless outpatient guidance system, which packs an electronic paper display, and accommodates a card that a patient would receive when they arrive for their appointment. When placed in the card reader, the device would automatically register the patient at the hospital or clinic, guide them to their destination, and continually inform them of their wait time and place in line. It’d also, of course, work anywhere there’s a wireless signal, so you’d be able to leave the waiting room without having to worry about missing your appointment. No word on any hospitals that have signed up to use it just yet, but the system will be commercially available in February of next year. Full press release after the break.

Continue reading Fujitsu’s wireless guidance system promises to free patients from the waiting room

Fujitsu’s wireless guidance system promises to free patients from the waiting room originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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