Acid-Detecting Biomedical Transmitter Available
SEWilco writes: "This Medtronic press release announces a wireless stomach monitor. Actually, it's fastened internally ( and is less unpleasant than the older testing method) just above the stomach to detect acid getting to the wrong place. Results are sent to an external device, later uploaded for analysis. It's not as elaborate as the swallowable camera we've discussed, but this has been commercially introduced so there will be people walking around with these...for the few days that they last. It's available in the trendy translucent case design, but by prescription only. I suspect the over-the-counter market is rather small."
Like seemingly most /. readers I have had my share of debiliating and/or unpleasant medical or emotional problems. Thus I had to wear one of the 24-hour nasal catheters that this technology will replace, on several occasions. The way it works is they stick a tube up your nose, down your throat, and attach it to a walkman sized gizmo that's recording the output. Then they say "go home, and have a regular day at junior high". Then they monitor the acid levels throughout this "normal" day. It's not really all that unpleasant, in terms of medical procedure, but socially the "normal day" was no walk in the park.
I'm just thankful that my gastrointestinal problems were all upper GI. Talk about unpleasant medical procedures!
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
iBelly.
(AP - Cupertino, CA) Apple Computers has announced the release of the iBelly. An AirPort enabled device which will allow computer-users to monitor their stomach acid.
Through a Menubar Icon of a pulsating stomach, users can tell if their stomach is normal (a pepto-bismol pink) or overly-acidic (pulsing red).
Apple CEO Steven Jobs presented the iBelly in front of the O'Reilly and Associates Conference for Bioinformatics at Pepperdine University.
As he stood in front of the group he proudly claimed, "I put a iBelly in one of the free boxes of Smints we were giving out at the door. Then he proceeded to monitor the belly of one of the attendees.
The iBelly performed flawlessly. Jobs was able to identify the iBelly-equipped attendee by matching her coffee-sipping with the stomach acid.
My father is a blogger.
Hippies were rounded up by the thousands