Hasta La Gadget!

That’s all we know for now, folks. Apple’s CEO is taking a medical leave from work, his second in as many years, with Tim Cook filling his role during that time. In an email to the Apple team, Steve Jobs says he’ll be on leave to “focus on [his] health,” though he will retain the position of CEO and will remain involved in the major strategic decisions — Tim Cook will be picking up the slack on day-to-day operations. No further details have been provided, save for Steve expressing his love for Apple and wish to return to his duties as soon as he can. See his email missive in full after the break.

Continue reading Steve Jobs takes medical leave from Apple, Tim Cook taking over daily operations in his absence

Steve Jobs takes medical leave from Apple, Tim Cook taking over daily operations in his absence originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 08:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pill poppers rejoice! AT&T-connected Vitality GlowCaps are finally available on Amazon. The intelligent pill caps, which use flashing lights and audio reminders, as well as phone calls and SMS, to remind forgetful patients that it’s down-the-hatch time, retail between $10 and $15 a month through a Vitality connectivity service plan. Details of GlowCap’s functionality were still up in the air when we got our hands on one back in March, but it looks like AT&T and Vitality have ironed out all the smart Rx kinks. Basically, your pill bottle lights up and chimes when it’s time for your meds. As soon as you open the bottle, adherence data is then sent via AT&T to Vitality, who then passes that data on to you, your doctor, and any other approved party, in the form of progress reports. They’re also equipped to automatically refill your prescription when the bottle gets low. Considering you still remember what that little light means when it appears (and you don’t have a penchant for over-medicating), GlowCap might just save your life. We’ve been using ours for about a month now, and still haven’t kicked the bucket — review coming soon.

Filed under: Wireless

Vitality GlowCaps smart pill bottle toppers now available on Amazon originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Owning the Zap Cane is about as close as you’ll ever get to being Yoda, combining walking-stick and Lightsaber into one ugly but effective package. The cane is adjustable between 32 and 36-inches (still too high for Dagobah’s favorite Jedi master) for when you’re hobbling around, trying to teach that lazy, whining Skywalker kid to do some work, and it has a flashlight built in to cut through swampy mists.

But what if you need to battle Count Dooku (or, more likely, that hoodie-wearing ne’er-do-well) following down a dark street)? Then you brandish your Zap Cane, jab the mugger with the tip and fire. A one-million volt charge will be dumped into his surprised body, dropping him like Darth dropped Ben in the first movie. As the product blurb joyously says, “They’ll think it is just a cane until it is too late!”

The Zap Cane isn’t available everywhere, If you live in HI, MA, MI, NJ, NY, RI, WI or PA you’ll be glad to know that the grumpy old man harassing you in the line at the store can’t suddenly turn nasty. For everyone else, the cane will cost around $103.

ZAP Cane With Flashlight [Budk via Oh Gizmo]

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Ah, those zany Keio University researchers trying to recreate Smell-O-Vision, do you want to know what they’re up to these days? They’re still trying, of course, but now they’ve taken the opportunity to demonstrate their hardware — which uses basic inkjet printer tech to fire off very short bursts of fragrance — to tech lovers in Japan while still tweaking and refining it. Primarily aimed at helping healthcare professionals in assessing a patient’s sense of smell, the Fragrance Jet II has a high degree of control granularity, permitting the varying of both intensity and duration of a scent, which in turn can provide a very accurate measurement of a given person’s olfactory acuity. A mobile prototype has also been trotted out (pictured above), hinting at the possibility of eventually shrinking these modules to fit inside cellphones and thus leading us to an awesome future of customizable “incoming call fragrances.” Awesome indeed. Video after the break.

Continue reading Fragrance Jet II receives video demonstration, still looks like a terrible idea (video)

Fragrance Jet II receives video demonstration, still looks like a terrible idea (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s only been a week since we heard about age reversal in mice, yet already we’ve got another big advancement in rodent medical care: a solution for ameliorating the devastating effects of spinal cord injuries. A UCLA research team has shown off a new system that can restore walking motion to a mouse’s hind legs, but not only that, it also grants control to the little fella by responding to its front legs’ actions. Electromyography sensors detect when a mouse starts to walk up front, triggering electronic signals to be sent to the functional lower portion of its spine, which in turn starts up the rear muscles for a steady walking gait. It’s only been tested on a treadmill so far, but the result seems to be a seamless restoration of walking capacity in rodents that doesn’t require any outside assistance. The same will be pretty hard to replicate in humans, bipeds that they are, but that’s why it’s called research and not reobvious.

Electronic neural bridge helps paralyzed mice walk again, human application might prove tricky originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 07:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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