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FDA Approves Swallowable Camera
Pru writes: "Over at MSNBC.. ( yah yah just ignore the first two letters) there is an interesting article about a camera that is swallowable. It transmits its pictures back wirelessly. And with price at only $450 a camera, disposable of course, it can't be too long before cameras this size are well down under $100 -- now then the fun does begin ..." Just imagine the potential for cam sites now. I imagine now in addition to the living room cam, bedroom cam, and bathroom cam, they'll have to have a colon cam.
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Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
The FDA also has broad powers to regulate stuff that goes directly into the body. They are also the people who regulate medical equiptment, including stethescopes, siringes and bot plugs.
:).
In fact I read somewhere ( link please?) that they had rejected a dildo because it had a tendency to short out and cause burns
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
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I liked how I went to this article and the pop under add was from X10. It was for a Wireless Camera. heh.
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What kind of encryption does this thing use? I sure as heck don't want just any script kiddie hax0ring anything inside of me, especially somethign that takes pictures! What about range? I can't be walking around broadacsting my insides to everyone with a TV that can't lock onto channels...
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Poliglut
Underscores are not valid characters in host/domain names (no matter what Microsoft tells you). :P
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(Warning: Very adult content)
This is old news. Stile Project already has had a Colon Cam. We've nicknamed her the Goatse Girl.
(No, it's not goatse.cx, but it's worse.)
This is one of the really really rare occasions where linking to porn is somehow on topic. Scary.
I REALLY dont think im gonna run that bad boy back on through.
All Troll + "offtopic" mods are meta moderated as "Unfair", because you abused the system.
Does this mean lots of really tiny pop-under ads?
You've obviously never dealt with, or forgotten what it's like to deal with a 2 year old ... you could be in the same room, turn your back for just one second ... and BAMMM .. they're outta there ... and fast.
Obviously, you didn't go to the electric-shock-collar school of parenting. The only "BAMMMs" my kids get is when they cross the invisible fence inside the house.
The little suckers are so cute when they twitch.
HI Mom!
Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
At long last, we'll know.
>How come the best thing you can think of for something like this is stupid little web cam sites?
because I've had a cartoon hanging over my desk for over a year about a swallowed webcam, and a domain 'dogstomach.com'...
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
What flavors do they come in?
From the article: "The pill won't replace colonoscopies, the exams that check for colon cancer, because the battery doesn't last long enough to get to the large intestine."
Hey, I haven't seen any of those yet. Maybe it's because I surf with Javascript turned off. And with 99% of the sites, I won't lose anything. The remaining 1% are "corporate" sites such as notes.net that for some odd reason think that you need javascript to implement a plain hyperlink.
Say no to software patents.
AFAIK, even in Lotus Notes itself Javascript is optional (it is more useful for filling out Lotus documents over the Web, but less for static contents). And actually most of the hyperlinks on notes.net are ok, except the download links. Which proves that it's somehow possible to have plain hyperlinks, even in Domino.
Btw, Lotus is not the only site to gratuitously require javascript. There is also http://www.polytechniciens.com/, who for some reason thought it was smart to wrap all their contents of their main page into document.write() statements. Oddly enough, the page still can be viewed (without the Javascript) at http://www.polytechniciens.com/index.html.
And most boorish of all http://www.cordis.lu who just do it with a <NOSCRIPT> tag. This is a government sponsored site, which normally should know better than to wilfully restrict people's access in such a way. Blind people browsing with lynx and a braille line are effectively shut out of the site. While the government spends millions to retrofit their physical buildings with ramps to present easy access for the disabled, cordis's id10t webmaster thinks he's so leet shutting them out in this want-on manner...
Say no to software patents.
X10's New Wireless Camera!
Spy on your girlfriend's digestive tract!
http://www.see_what_my_stupid_mutt_ate_today.info
Stefan
Second, swallow camera.
Third, spin yourself around twenty times real fast.
Fourth, projectile vomit.
Fifth, pass out.
Finally, enjoy the taped recording of your physiological feat! Brush your teeth while your at it.
A camera is all good and well, but wouldn't there be a problem with lighting?
The real question is will the camera be open source for all the GNU/Linux developers out there to be able to modify it's functionality. I mean if you buy a camera like that and use it in an intended manner that's one thing, but what if you want to stick this camera into your ear and use it? What would be the metaphysical and psychological ramifications of being able to view your own ear drum and various membrains?
On the other hand this kind of device could successfuly be used by spies of some sort. The camera can be swallowed and then expelled from the body when normal course of actions takes place... Then it can be reinserted into the spies nose and used as a nose camera to take various secret documents. The implications are countless!!!
You can't handle the truth.
This article (cleaned up from link of previous poster) talks about how white LEDs helped make this possible... I was wondering how they planned to illuminate that without fiberoptics. I wonder how much tumble there is to the thing, if they might miss something interesting because the camera faced the wrong way as it passed through the system.
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VULVA CAM! (..cam....cam...)
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--Act now and get....
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This
"Unnecessary zoom!!! Unnecessary zoom!!!"
Carousel is a lie!
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When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
I dunno... he might actually _want_ the large hand feeling around... :-)
Humorless sig goes here.
Hopefully it's encrypted pretty good or that would be a big invasion of privacy.
Just think of the engineers at work: "Wow, look at what I picked up on the TV guys. Hey Steve, what did your doctor say about that cancerous looking growth in your colon."
Ok... you try swallowing a Logitech QuickCam, wireless Ethernet card, and battery, and then tell me why the thing shouldn't be proprietary.
actually doesnt this make goatse.cx kinda redundant?
Damn, $450 bucks? Better tie a string to that thing to re-use it.
I'm thinking a string won't be necessary...
"And like that
There aren't enough downward mod points in all of /. to adequately deal with the sheer volume of toilet humor that is about to ensue on this topic.
"Because I love Pat Benatar." -- Britney Spears, when asked why she covered Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll"
Instead of "The Jeff Corwin Experience" we might see "Jeff Cowin's Experience"
Burn Hollywood Burn
So how do they possibly justify asking $20000 just to look at the low-resolution images coming out of this ovoid?
= 1
From their FAQ:
" 10Q. What function does the RAPID(TM) software perform?
10A. After the patient returns the Given® Data Recorder to the physician and the data has been downloaded from the recorder to the RAPID(TM) Workstation, Given's proprietary RAPID(TM) software performs advanced image and data processing on the video and data. It transforms them into a video that may be viewed and reviewed by the physician offline at a rate faster or slower than real-time."
You've got to forgive me for being skeptical. Image sequencing and processing? Here's a link to a screenshot of their software: http://www.givenimaging.com/usa/product.asp?x=4&y
Yup, that's either Win2k or WinME. On x86 hardware. Perhaps there's specialized hardware for downloading the data, but it can't be that complicated. And the total cost of the hardware can't be more than $1000, not to mention that most doctor's offices don't need another Wintel box.
The only reason I can imagine for forcing you to buy an entire Windows workstation just to look at pictures with a pretty front-end is so that they can recoup some of the development costs involved in making the pill and the costs of running clinical trials.
$20000 still seems pretty extravagent.
Although the article clearly states:Don't worry - the camera is, well, disposable. It is excreted eight to 72 hours after being swallowed. Before then, it has beamed its pictures to an external receiver the patient wears on a waistband. I'm sure some enterprising young snot nosed HMO executive will decide that at his company thay'll recycle the cameras, requiring patients to scavenge through their feces to collect the camera, under penalty of non-couverage of the procedure. I wouldn't put it past them.
--CTH
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
Damn, $450 bucks? Better tie a string to that thing to re-use it.
Can't you just imagine it? The opportunity to work for yourself! Create your own hours! Never work for a boss again.
All you have to do is sift through the sludge coming out of the local sewage reclamation facility, fish out these lil' cameras, wipe 'em off, put new batteries in them, and sell them back to the doctors! Who'd balk at such an opportunity?
Kill Smart Tags:
political_news.c: warning: comparison is always true due to limited range of data type
Hmmmm... getting an idea for a reality based TV show... cam races through the small intesting or something... actually getting to watch people digest the bugs after they eat them...
At least it should make those surgery programs on TV even more interesting.
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Developers: We can use your help.
http://www.givenimaging.com/usa/given_news_detail. asp?id=6
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
Give it to Mikey... he'll eat anything! I guess it beats sifting to make sure that quarter you swallowed came out.
I want a doctor
to take your picture
so I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning up
and turning down
and turning in
and turning 'round
I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
- The Vapors - Turning Japanese
What's so funny about this? This looks like a serious leap forward in the medical field, especially for gastroenterolgists (sp?) and the like. How come the best thing you can think of for something like this is stupid little web cam sites?
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Is your company running tools written by ma
"Oh, I'm not feeling too well. Let's see what inside" *swallows camera* "Ok, now I see you, big evil piece of meat!! Where's the photon torpedo launch button on this thing ??!!"
Linux *is* user friendly. It's not idiot-friendly or fool-friendly!
How soon until we get the pop-under ads with attractive models offering to sell me a swallow-cam? See Your Lunch -- Again!
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
Which raises another interesting concept with this camera. Imagine how helpful it would be in dealing with children. I mean, anyone who's had to take their kids for shots can imagine the torture it must be to 'scope' a young child.
As long as they could dress-up the camera like a Flintstone Vitamin, then a swallowable camera is going to be a BIG step towards making EVERYONE more comfortable for an otherwise unpleasant process.
healyourchurchwebsite.com - WWJB?
Here we've spent the past year or so training her so she doesn't put things like rocks, button, the lens cap to my camera, a quarter that fell out of my pocket, a bug crawling along the ground out of fear she might swallow them (that and chewmarks on my lens cap really causes some problems).
Then again, it might be a valuable tool for trying to figure out if my car keys are in her cute little belly. Even more useful if they added a GPS so I could keep track of the little stinker when she decides she's had enough of the back yard.
healyourchurchwebsite.com - WWJB?
It's just a camera, not a computer. They could put seti@home on the workstation, but...why?
USA Intellectual Property Laws: 5 monkeys, 1 hour.
I'm the stranger...posting to
m00.
The hardware implimentation is independant of the protocol by way of which the information is transmitted.
Of course, the question of whether or not the method of transmission should be proprietary depends on your point of view. If you're the developer, and you want to force people to purchase your reception solution as a way of either driving down the price of the disposable unit, or just scamming more money out of a bloated industry, then yeah, making it proprietary is a pretty sharp business move. If you're one of the intended users, and you want to find a cost-efficient way of implimenting the technology, it shouldnt be too hard to do.
"Doctors who wish to use the video pill will have to buy a $20,000 computer workstation; each capsule is $450."
;) They should put Seti@Home on it.
What type of computer would they need for it that costs $20 grand? Sounds like the company is using that to feed it's profits even more.
And what is the computer going to do while it sits there in between uses of the pill? Brain the size of a planet and you have me opening doors...
you buy one of these and implant it in the back of your head? That way you can finally see Them following you everywhere you go. See if They like a dose of Their own medicine!!!
We dance to all the wrong songs.
--Refused.