Wednesday, January 01, 2003

Pill-camera is space-age medical technology. Today, both the San Jose Mercury News and the Washington Post are talking about the M2A disposable diagnostic capsule, a camera small enough that you can swallow it. At one inch long and a third of an inch across -- not much bigger than a jumbo-sized multivitamin -- it's small enough to be swallowed. But unlike other pills, this one from the publicly traded Israeli company Given Imaging has a flash camera inside. Propelled along like an undigested morsel of food, the Given capsule takes two flash pictures a second for up to eight hours. That's more than 50,000 digitalized color images sent from a miniature transmitter to probes on the patient's body and recorded on a belt-mounted receiver before the disposable pill passes harmlessly out of the intestine. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year, it's now been used to search the small intestines of 21,000 patients worldwide -- half in the United States. The company charges $450 for each disposable pill-camera and $24,000 for the dedicated system that a clinic or doctor's office must have to view and interpret the images. The procedure costs about $1,000 per exam. In "Patients Find Technology Easy to Swallow," The Washington Post gives additional details. The M2A was approved by the FDA last year to give doctors their first good way to explore a part of the body that had been virtually inaccessible -- the small intestine. The 22-foot-long passageway, coiled tightly with deep recesses, can hide the sources of a host of unexplained abdominal ailments, such as bleeding, Crohn's disease and irritable bowel disease. To use the M2A -- short for "mouth to anus" -- system, patients must eat nothing after midnight the morning of the test and wear a recorder about the size of a Walkman on a belt for eight hours. The capsule snaps two pictures a second, and the recorder usually collects about 57,000 images through the sensors on the patient's abdomen as the "pill" moves painlessly through the body before being excreted and flushed down the toilet. This is the end of 2002. So I wish all of you a Happy New Year. Sources: Paul Jacobs, San Jose Mercury News, December 30, 2002; Rob Stein, The Washington Post, December 30, 2002 [Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends] 6:24:25 PM    comment []

Fannish idea-virus crosses into NYC literary society. Mafia is this fiendish game that has completely eaten fandom, turning science fiction conventions into all-night gaming sessions. In the game, players compete to lie effectively to one another and collude to carry out the sham. It's a game of alliances, betrayal, and dissembling, and I've stayed the hell away from it on the sensible grounds that it appears to be a black hole whence I shall never return. Jonathan Lethem is a genre writer who has crossed over, more or less, into NYC literary society, and he's brought Mafia with him, with predictable results: These days, if you’re looking for a bunch of New York writers, magazine editors and publishing types on a Friday night, track down Mr. Lethem, who has become a kind of mob boss among an ever-growing salon of poker-faced literati obsessed by the spiky parlor game they call Mafia. There’s no money involved, everyone stays clothed, and the alcohol intake is surprisingly moderate—but to witness Mr. Lethem’s disciples in the throes of their favorite game is to know that the stakes run high. "People got so upset," said Ms. Schappell, "stalking around and screaming: ‘I can’t believe you don’t believe me! How come you don’t believe me?’" On that evening, Ms. Jackson ended up trusting Mr. Lethem, but she shouldn’t have: He was lying his face off, and everyone knew it. But Ms. Jackson was swayed. "He gets excited about pleading his case," she said, explaining why she trusted him. "My knowledge of his character worked against me, because I had too many ways to interpret his signs. And it confused me." Link Discuss (via Gawker) [Boing Boing Blog] 6:21:15 PM    comment []

The Web is a key source of household information The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 40 percent of households have now been online more than three years, with the Web playing an increasing role in their daily lives and decision-making. Here is how Americans line up when probed about specific topics and whether they think the Internet will satisfy their information needs: For information or services from a government agency, 65% of all Americans expect the Web to have that information; 82% of Internet users say this and 39% of non-users say this. In the realm of electronic commerce, 63% of all Americans expect that a business will have a Web site that gives them information about a product they are considering buying. Four out of five (79%) of Internet users say this and 38% of non-users say this. For news, 69% of Americans expect to be able to find reliable, up-to-date news online; 85% of Internet users say this, compared with 43% of non-Internet users. For health care information, 67% of Americans expect that they can find reliable information about health or medical conditions online; 81% of Internet users say this versus 45% of non-Internet users. Overall, 84% of all Americans have an expectation of finding information online in at least one of these four topical areas. That translates into nearly all Internet users (97%) and most non-Internet users (64%). When it comes to personal information, the story is different. Only 31% of Americans expect to be able to find reliable information about someone online; 35% of Internet users say this and 25% of non-users say this. However, 58% of Internet users say they expect to be able to reach someone via email. [RatcliffeBlog: Business, Technology & Investing] 6:17:49 PM    comment []

Left hand won't tell right hand you're speeding. The Finnish Road Administration announced it is going to use cellphone location data to find out about traffic jams. They say they are using the location data available from the GSM base stations to determine the locations and speeds of vehicles carrying mobile phones. The information will be used to inform people about traffic jams and peaks in traffic trough public FM radio stations. [ ... ] A spokesperson of FRA, interviewed in the evening news of MTV3 Finland, seemed very pleased they can monitor cell phones even when no calls are made, it is enough the phone has power on. They said they are about to use the information anonymously and thought people approve it as long as it is done in an anonymous and "everyone-wins" way. It was told they do not currently tell the police about the data they discover as the current law forbids this. So, it is not, at least yet, possible to fine people carrying mobile phones in their cars too fast on public roads (exceeding the speed limit of the road). [Smart Mobs] 9:15:56 AM    comment []