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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.
--
Poliglut
(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.
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."
Ok... you try swallowing a Logitech QuickCam, wireless Ethernet card, and battery, and then tell me why the thing shouldn't be proprietary.
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"
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.
Give it to Mikey... he'll eat anything! I guess it beats sifting to make sure that quarter you swallowed came out.
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.
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?
"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...