If you have $15,000 to spare for a new gadget, this might be of interest to you: JVC Japan today announced [press release in English] the DLA-SH7NL, a video projector that features a resolution of almost 10 megapixels (4,096×2,400, to be exact). That’s more than four times full HD.

Add to that a native contrast ratio of 10,000:1 and a 330W lamp that produces 5,000 lumens and you have a pretty powerful projector to play with. JVC says its D-ILA (Digital Direct Drive Image Light Amplifier) technology makes it possible to display two or four screens in WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200) and full HD resolution at the same time.

Buyers get a USB port, four DVI-D interfaces and LAN, but the projection lens isn’t included in the final price (which, in Japan, will be around $15,000).

JVC plans to start selling the DLA-SH7NL in Japan at the beginning of next month, mainly targeting places like museums or medical institutions. The company hasn’t said yet whether the device will ever be available outside Japan as well.

Remote monitoring systems for the elderly are nothing new, but Japanese conglomerate Marubeni’s technology seems to be particularly advanced. And unlike you might think, it’s not based on robotics, but on a sensor system. It enables families and medical institutions to remotely check the health of older people around the clock – as long as the person in question keeps wearing a small sensor on the chest.

Developed by the Advanced Institute of Wearable Environmental Information Networks (yes, we have organizations like this over here), the sensor measures just 3×3cm and is 5mm thick. Operators are able to check vital signs like a person’s body temperature or heart rate at all times. The data collected is sent to a computer that has to be located near the person who’s being monitored and analyzed constantly using special software.

Marubeni says the main merit of their technology, when compared to similar remote monitoring systems, is that the individuals using it aren’t required to do anything, i.e. push buttons to indicate to others they are alright.

The technology is already being marketed in Japan. Sensors cost around $350 each, while Marubeni charges $110 monthly for using the software. The company aims at generating $11 million in sales in the first year with the system.

Via The Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]

The evolution of medicine could not have been accomplished without the tools that has assisted it progress. Technologies like the X-Ray and MRI have assisted medical professionals improved measure a patients state. The progress of medical machinery is unequivocally connected to the progression of tools. In essence, as microchips grow to be smaller and more powerful, and memory chips are capable to contain extra information in a smaller plot, the aptitude to evolve medical tools  in turn becomes a actuality. 

Medical products have been created to satisfy a necessity inside and outside medical institutions. Medical Electronics support medical health professionals build enhanced choices in aiding people with their medical needs. Seeing as they are always advancing, with new breakthroughs formed each and every year, the results are that more people can be assisted. This capability to assist more patients because of the evolving of medical tools also means that physicians might do more in a restricted time framework, and that means that they are capable to assist more patients with no sacrificing excellence of service. Medical electronics make it viable to make better decisions based upon real time feedback from these medical technologies. enhanced educated decisions means that the patient will be getting the best probable medication, and may also help save his or her life.

An added reason why medical technology breakthroughs is critical is that it is significant to the requirements of an increasing global populace. With the number of medical professionals who are graduating each year, there are just not sufficient to fully meet the needs of this increasing international population, there has never been a more vital time than now to increase the effectiveness of current medical practices. This entails that we need to be aware that medical physicians are incapable to take on the load of providing medical treatment alone. The requisite to allocate this task, both in the developed and developing world is a requirement. This requires that medical professionals at several distinct levels take on tasks that were in the past the singular realm of the general practitioner. Medical electronic technology helps to ease this assigning of errands without diminishing excellence.

The prospect of medicine is an electronic one, that relies on a quantity of variables in order to give patients with the greatest medical attention and after-care supervision, into which medical devices issue in strongly. Although not intended to supplant the medical physician, medical electronic devices are a harmonizing device that is designed to assist medical professionals at every stage, which results in superior medical supervision for every person in a time where medical physicians are a short supply.

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AlterG's new M300 series is smaller than the original and lower in price.

(Credit:
AlterG)

We got our first close look at the AlterG antigravity treadmill at a health expo in San Francisco earlier this year, and at the time, the price was floating up there somewhere near the space station.

But we’ve good news for those who like the idea of running like an astronaut: Fremont, Calif.-based AlterG on Monday plans to announce a more affordable model, the AlterG M300. The two treadmills in the M300 series deliver the same antigravity technology as AlterG’s pricey $75,000 P200 series, but at a third of the cost–$24,500 to $27,000.

Yes, we know that hardly puts the AlterG in the range of the Total Gym, but it does move the device beyond the realm of the sports elite into a bracket accessible to more gyms and physical therapy clinics.

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Patty Shives, who runs on the AlterG to aid her rehabilitation from a hemorrhagic stroke, adjusts the settings on the machine.

(Credit:
AlterG)

Medical institutions, college athletic programs, and sports teams around the country (including the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Cowboys, and Arizona Diamondbacks) already use the AlterG, but wider distribution could prove beneficial for Parkinson’s patients, stroke survivors, and others reporting progress as a result of the technology.

AlterG’s antigravity technology was originally developed at NASA and tested at Nike’s Oregon Research Project by America’s top distance runners.

The treadmill works by pumping air into an enclosure that surrounds users from the waist down. They zip themselves in, and an increase in air pressure lifts them so they can run at a fraction of their actual weight (pressing the up/down arrows on the control panel decreases body weight at increments of 1 percent, as much as 80 percent).

The reduction lowers the impact on joints and muscles to improve training and performance or help provide a smooth recovery from injury or surgery. Speed and incline are adjustable as with any treadmill.

“Removing the physical burden of weight bearing has remarkable results,” said Bryan Nadeau of AlterG customer Muir Orthopedic Specialists, located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Paty Shives, 46, is one patient who has seen such results. …

Mix the flip form factor with the classic iPod look and you get what GE CEO Jeff Immelt calls the “stethoscope of the 21st century”. Like it’s emplacement-worthy cousin, the Vscan features an ultrasound scanner connected via cord to the main unit, transmitting what it sees into the display. It’s easy to see why GE’s marketing wants to push Vscan as the stethoscope of the future: while the marketese “roughly the size of a smart phone” is a bit of a stretch, the Vscan is small enough to hold with one hand, with the other operating the scanner. The whole setup is small enough to tuck into the roomy pockets of those doctor coats.

Check out GE CEO Immelt pimping his product below:

Courtesy VentureBeat

GE also announced a new system that promises to provide doctors with quicker access to up-to-date medical information; let’s make the PR snippet earn its keep, shall we?

Real-time clinical data and treatment options to doctors — right at a patient’s side: Developed using three decades of clinical information from the Intermountain Healthcare system of hospitals, it provides doctors faster access to current research. For example, a doctor who is making patient rounds can pull up lab results as needed rather than go to each patient’s records. While checking on one patient, alerts are signaled when a particular reading is out of normal range — and behind the buttons is a flood of information on each patient, including case histories and best care recommendations. Driven by technology that enables collaborations with leading medical institutions, including Intermountain Healthcare and Mayo Clinic, the solution enables even the smallest and most remote healthcare clinics to evaluate their current approach to patient care against constantly evolving standards.

Source

Post from: The Gadget Blog

No pictures for this yet, but Hitachi has reportedly developed a 3D projection system that allows viewers to watch 3D images from any angle, and perhaps more importantly, without the need for eyeglasses. While the first feature makes sure a group of people can see 3D images at the same time on a single screen, I am aware the second one isn’t the first of its kind for a 3D system.

Hitachi says another strong point of its technology is the high resolution of the 3D images produced. The company claims the quality is comparable to analog broadcasts, meaning the resolution is higher than in other eyeglass-free 3D systems developed so far.

The Hitachi system consists of 16 projectors that project images from different angles to a transparent sheet that’s 20 x 23cm in size and consists of 300,000 lenses. 3D images “floating” in front of the sheet are produced by letting the light from the projectors pass through the lenses.

Hitachi says a practical version should be ready by 2012. The company wants to target ad agencies, museums and medical institutions with the system (it could show stereoscopic images of body organs, for example),

Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]