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Cellulite zapper gets $7 million
Not everyone hates cellulite. Venture capitalists and medical device entrepreneurs like it.
Cellutions has raised $7 million from Versant Ventures, SV Life Sciences, Accuitive Medical Ventures and Carlyle Venture Partners to help it fund human testing for a medical device that smoothes out that lumpy cellulite skin texture that some people get, according to VentureWire.
The machine produced by Cellutions costs $69,000. Doctors buy it, and patients generally have to pay for this kind of aesthetic treatment out of pocket. Paying for treatment yourself, of course, means that if a doctor says "I have a Cellu-tion for you&… Read more
A pain-relieving gadget (we're told)
If LED bulbs can improve health and fight depression, then why can't the "LifeMax TENS Machine" relieve pain and tone the body?
That's the claim of this handy device from U.K. company Maplin Electronics, which says the wonder gadget is "fully approved and certificated" (though by whom, we don't know). Whatever it does, it can be adjusted in "12 pre-set programs" and "2-channel user-defined programs for individual needs." We're sold!
And in case you were wondering: Red Ferret informs us that TENS stands for "Transcutaneous Electrical … Read more
'Body Watch' delivers the ugly truth
Sometimes, a gadget can be too smart for its own good. That's our opinion, anyway, about an unforgiving fitness device called the "Body Watch."
Why? Because this little sadist will unflinchingly deliver unwelcome news about the state of your physical condition--complete with body fat, body water and body mass--all in real time . And if you try to blame the results on mechanical error, be aware that the watch uses "bio-electrical impedance analysis" and "strain gauge precision technology" to determine the effects of all those Krispy Kremes, according to OhGizmo.
On the flip side, … Read more
Abes of Maine has the Pentax K100D (body only) for $424.89, after a $50 mail-in rebate, plus free shipping.
Robot bloggers on way--Crave frets
Crave constantly begs for more resources, like any self-respecting blog, but a robot helper isn't exactly what we had in mind.
NEC's "PaPeRo" is designed to automatically assemble multimedia features for blogs, finding relevant material online based on conversations you have with it. (We're not kidding.) Just talk to the bot, Fareastgizmos says, and it will analyze the one-way discussion and find related photos, graphics, music and other accompaniments to post along with a video recording of the conversation.
Now we don't think that bloggers are in imminent danger of being replaced by a … Read more
Smart scale tells how buffed you are
We generally try very hard not to think about exercise equipment when not at the gym (or even when we are at the gym, actually). But this is one fitness item that may be impossible for us to ignore.
If you've ever wondered what, exactly, your workout routine was doing for specific parts of your body, this intelligent scale from Tanita might interest you too. Far more than just indicate poundage, the new BC-545 model delivers "individual body composition readings for five body segments (each arm, each leg and the trunk area)," according to Gizmag. To get … Read more
The human body as sound machine
This whole wireless thing has had a good run, but it's getting old. The really hot networking trend of the future is the human body.
We've already seen how Korean researchers are turning flesh and bones into a "body area network." Now, New Scientist reports that Sony researchers can send audio signals from headphones or media players directly through the body of the listener, essentially using it as a living capacitator.
"A music or video player sends a fluctuating signal to a conductive cloth pad--such as a wrist band--and this slightly charges the wearer's … Read more
Turn your body into a human router
Great, just what the world needs: Another networking acronym. We finally figured out LAN and WAN, and now we have BAN--for "body area network."
South Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, or ETRI, is developing a technology that could turn your body into a human router with a control strapped to your wrist. "For example, if you have a document file to print in a wrist information device, you just wear the device and touch a printer with the hand, then you would get the printed paper," Aving.Net reports.
We think we'll stick … Read more
