Approximately 50 million people suffer from epilepsy, according to data from the World Health Organization. Because seizures can occur at any moment, the condition can be a cause of constant concern for those with the condition. Patients in the midst of a seizure may be in need medical attention.

To help allay that concern, SmartMonitor (San Jose, CA) has developed the SmartWatch—a wristband device that can detect erratic movements associated with grand mal seizures and send alerts within seconds to family members’ and caregivers’ smartphones. The device, which can be worn continuously, tracks the time, intensity, length, and location of seizures and uses Bluetooth to relay that information to a smartphone app. Inadvertently triggered alerts can be cancelled. 

The device was recently on display at a Bluetooth 4.0 event demonstrating...

Google's Project Glass could be a really big deal if this YouTube video is any indication. Just think: hands-free mobile Google-based functionality layered over the world that you see. While the glasses are not on the market yet, they would enable the user to enter an augmented reality with a seemingly infinite variety of data information embedded into it. 

This development could take the quantified self movement to "a whole new level, says James Beckerman, MD, FACC. "This invites the obvious questions—does quantity mean quality? Does mindfulness become mindnumbing after a while?"  Beckerman is a cardiologist who writes for WebMD and works at the Providence St. Vincent Heart Clinic in Portland. 

Medical electronics were prevalent among the finalists in this year's Medical Design Excellence Awards (MDEA), an annual competition put on by MD+DI to highlight the achievements of medical product manufacturers.

Among the electronic products that stood out were the DermScope, an iPhone app that allows users to capture and share dermatoscopic images; a host of imaging devices, from the BodyTom portable CT scanner to the NOMAD Pro handheld x-ray system; and the King Vision digital video laryngoscope. There...

Body Area Networks Hit the Big Time

These tiny electronic devices, which can be implanted or worn externally, can remotely monitor the heart, glucose, pulse and other vital data via a PC, and, more recently, through a wireless network. For mobile applications, the wireless chips themselves fall into a loosely defined category called body area networks (BANs). BAN has been talked about for years, but the technology is moving into the limelight.
Chip Design

Results of AdvaMed Medical Device Tax Study Challenged

A Bloomberg Government analysis finds the study is not credible. Its assumptions are flawed, in part because it exaggerates the degree to which spending on health is affected by price...