Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

A company called Xhale has developed a sensor for hospitals and other medical facilities that could help reduce the number of patients that get life-threatening infections while receiving medical care. The HyGreen features sensors that are capable of detecting drugs via someone’s breath, but they’re instead used to detect sanitizer or soap fumes given off by someone’s hands. And instead of serving as a tattle-tale as to who hasn’t washed up, the HyGreen system is designed to serve as a friendly reminder to hospital and medical staff that it might be time to wash or sanitize their hands again. Here’s the ‘how it works’ blurb from the company’s press release:

The health-care worker squirts sanitizer gel or soap into his or her hand before passing it under a wall-mounted sensor. A wireless signal from a badge worn by the worker activates a green light on the hand-washing sensor. When the worker enters a patient room, a monitor near the bed detects the status of the badge, and flashes green if the person has clean hands. If the person has not washed, or too much time has passed between washing and approaching the patient, the badge will give a gentle “reminder” vibration.

At the moment the HyGreen system is being tested at the Neuro Intensive Care Unit at the University of Florida Shands medical center, and if things go well the system could be installed elsewhere to help reduce the nearly 2 million hospital-acquired infections that occur each year in the U.S. alone.

[ Xhale HyGreen ] VIA [ Medgadget ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I suffer from some mild seasonal allergies, but it’s nothing that prevents me from getting a good night’s sleep. However, if itchy eyes and a runny nose leaves you tossing and turning all night, this crazy contraption might just be the solution to your problems. The Pure Air Sleep System Air Purifier features a HEPA filtration system hidden under the bed that works in conjunction with a directed vent to create a ’sleep zone’ of purified air that’s 99% free of dust mite particles, pet dander and pollens in just 12 seconds. ($349 from AllergyBuyersClub.com.)

Of course it’s only an effective solution for allergies when you’re laying in bed, so I’d like to see someone modify the system so it could be worn as a backpack and used to create a clean curtain of air no matter where you are.

[ Pure Air Sleep System Air Purifier ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

There’s an endless number of pill containers and organizers on the market designed to help you remember when it’s time to take your medication, but I think the simplicity of the Dose Alert gives it a distinct advantage. It’s a basic one-button timer with an LCD display that simply sticks to the top of your pill container thanks to an adhesive backing. Pressing the button sets the timer from 1 to 24 hours, and when it’s time to take your pill(s) the Dose Alert beeps loudly and flashes to get your attention. Now I’m not sure if it’s re-usable when you get a refill (hopefully you can just swap the cap to the new container) but at just $8.98 it’s not terribly expensive to replace if needed.

[ Dose Alert ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Now here’s a serious piece of baby monitoring kit. The Avent DECT from Philips sheds the Fisher-Price-esque appearance of most baby monitors in favor of a more high-tech looking monitor and remote. But it doesn’t just look high-tech, besides the guarantee of zero interference from other wireless devices and privacy thanks to an encrypted connection, the Avent DECT also includes a humidity sensor alerting you to dry conditions that could irritate your child’s throat as well as a temperature sensor to monitor baby’s room for optimal comfort.

The base unit also has a night light and “specially selected lullabies” to help your child fall asleep if restless, and the remote monitoring unit’s rechargeable batteries are good for 24 hours and a range of about 900 feet. But what does this kind of peace of mind run these days? About $150-$200 at various online retailers.

[ Philips Avent DECT Baby Monitor ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Signostics, a self-described “pioneering medical device company” has just announced that their Signos Portable Ultrasound device has been approved by the FDA in the United States. Weighing in at just half a pound, the Signos not only makes it easy for smaller clinics and medical facilities to have access to an ultrasound machine, but it will also apparently retail “at a fraction of the cost of larger machines”, though specific pricing details have not been released just yet.

In addition to the handheld monitor with its touchscreen LCD display, the Signos also features a tethered sensor that can be switched between 3.5MHz or 7.5MHz for different applications simply by swapping out the screw on/off transducers on the tip. It also comes with a microSD card capable of storing somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 images which can be easily synced to a PC and further analyzed in the included SigViewer software.

[ Signos Personal Ultrasound ] VIA [ Medgadget ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Heart rate monitoring is an important part of training for any athlete, and while there are plenty of compact devices for those who stay dry during a workout, the Aqua Pulse is the first heart rate monitor designed specifically for swimmers. Besides being waterproof, the Aqua Pulse also features an infrared sensor that clips to the earlobe and measures the light pulses from the capillary blood flow in the skin, which can then be used to calculate the heart’s beats per minute. But it’s also important for a swimmer to be aware of their heart rate while training, so that they can stay in their ideal heart-rate-zone. So the Aqua Pulse cleverly uses bone-conduction technology allowing the swimmer to ‘hear’ their hear rate even while they’re under water.

The Aqua Pulse will supposedly be available sometime in May of this year for $139.99 from the FINIS website.

[ FINIS Aqua Pulse ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I don’t remember the last time I’ve had a mosquito bite, but I do remember them being extremely annoying, though somewhat satisfying to scratch. But it turns out scratching could lead to infections, so the only options are to grin and bear it, or carry around this Heated Itch Relief device whenever you head outside.

You’re supposed to press the head of the device onto the bite and hold it for a few seconds, during which a heating element “helps neutralize the insect-injected proteins that cause itching and swelling.” The Heated itch Relief is also described as pocket-sized, though looking at that pic it seems a bit on the large side for something you’d actually want sitting in your pocket all day. But for just $16.99 if you live in a swamp, bayou, bog or near a large pool of standing water, it might just replace sliced bread as being the greatest thing.

[ Heated Itch Relief ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If your jogging or running pedometer was a cereal premium, or came as part of a happy meal, there’s a good chance it may not be as accurate as the Radar Tacho RDS II. In fact, there’s a good chance that even the high-end models available at your local sporting goods store aren’t as accurate as the RDS II which uses radar just like your local meteorologists, cops and major league baseball scouts.

Made by Siemens and originally developed at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, the Radar Tacho emits microwaves and measures the echos bouncing back from every surface around you to gauge your current, maximum and average speeds as well as your daily mileage. And because it does rely on radar, the Pro-Idee website recommends against using it on mirrored or reflecting surfaces, like jogging across a lake. And I have to assume that running on top of an SR-71 or F-117 would also produce inaccurate results, which is unfortunate because with a price tag of about $205 you’d expect to be getting a pedometer that couldn’t be foiled by 30-40 year old stealth technologies.

[ Pro-Idee - Radar Tacho RDS II ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m not quite convinced that video games will be the downfall of society, but at the same time, sitting on a couch all day with a controller in their hand isn’t the best way to foster a child’s mind. So the GameDr is another device designed to limit just how much time your kids can spend playing video games every day.

It locks onto the power cord of any video game console, or really any electronic device that plugs in by the looks of it, and features an easy to set countdown timer that will essentially ‘pull the plug’ when the time runs out. It also has a set of warnings at the 10 minute and 1 minute intervals so your kids have plenty of time to save their progress. The maker claims the GameDr is “tamper-proof” though they’ve apparently never heard of a little device I like to call a hammer. But if your kids are resorting to random acts of destruction to fulfill their gaming lust, you’ve got bigger problems than the GameDr can deal with.

The GameDr will be available sometime in June from DigitalInnovations.com for $29.99.

[ PR - Maintain Healthy Limits on Children’s Video Game Time with the GameDr® Video Game Timer ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]