Greenville Business Magazine 2009 September Issue : Page 81
››executive lifestyle gizmos &gadgets BY PHIL YANOV A little bit of walking back and forth to the fridge, or the filing cabinet, keeps us in shape, it just so happens that it’s pear shaped and my doctor doesn’t seem to like that. A modest walking program calls for 10,000 steps a day, and the National Institute of Health says that walking three times a week can help you reduce your blood pressure. If you’re not interested in counting your steps manually (some of us can’t event count that high) why not get a pedometer to do the work. Further, why stop at some ordinary old step counting device when you can get a really cool pedometer that connects to your laptop and lets you keep track of your progress? The Omron HJ-720ITC Pocket Pedometer includes the Advanced Omron Health Management Software package which displays great looking charts to not only track your progress, but keep you motivated as well. While we like the software, it’s the sheer convenience of the pedometer that blows us away. You can wear it as one more gadget on your bat belt, or simply slide it into your pocket or hand bag. The battery lasts six months and is easily replaceable and the large display on the device will show steps, aerobic steps, miles, calories burned, and minutes of aerobic activity for the past seven days. It’s a little bit of encouragement that you can wear on your belt, now if only it would display “good job!” once in a while. Priced less than $40 in most places. While a temporal scanner sounds like something from Star Trek, actually it is a non- invasive, infrared thermometer that was voted 2009’s Most Valuable Product of the year by the hundreds of nurses polled by Therapy Times. Used in half of hospitals and a third of pediatricians’ offices in the U.S, this device reads the temperature of the arterial blood flow of the temporal artery as well as that of the tissues surrounding the artery. You press a button, gently swipe the device across the forehead, and down the temple stopping in front of the ear. This device then determines temperature by precisely measuring the balance between the tissues warming from arterial blood and tissues cooling caused by heat loss to the environment. The timing is something of a trick for first time users, but then comes easily. In hospital tests, the device proves to be just as accurate as other, more invasive, and far less pleasant methods of taking your temperature. Come to think of it, this device is a lot like one of those medical scanners from Star Trek, but has the advantage of now being available for home use for under $40. For the Body 78 GREENVILLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER 2009 Exergen Temporal Thermometer Omron Pedometer
>>executive lifestyle - Gizmos & Gadgets
Phil Yanov
Omron Pedometer
A little bit of walking back and forth to the fridge, or the filing cabinet, keeps us in shape, it just so happens that it’s pear shaped and my doctor doesn’t seem to like that. A modest walking program calls for 10,000 steps a day, and the National Institute of Health says that walking three times a week can help you reduce your blood pressure. If you’re not interested in counting your steps manually (some of us can’t event count that high) why not get a pedometer to do the work. Further, why stop at some ordinary old step counting device when you can get a really cool pedometer that connects to your laptop and lets you keep track of your progress? The Omron HJ-720ITC Pocket Pedometer includes the Advanced Omron Health Management Software package which displays great looking charts to not only track your progress, but keep you motivated as well. While we like the software, it’s the sheer convenience of the pedometer that blows us away. You can wear it as one more gadget on your bat belt, or simply slide it into your pocket or hand bag. The battery lasts six months and is easily replaceable and the large display on the device will show steps, aerobic steps, miles, calories burned, and minutes of aerobic activity for the past seven days. It’s a little bit of encouragement that you can wear on your belt, now if only it would display “good job!” once in a while. Priced less than $40 in most places.
Exergen Temporal Thermometer
While a temporal scanner sounds like something from Star Trek, actually it is a non-invasive, infrared thermometer that was voted 2009’s Most Valuable Product of the year by the hundreds of nurses polled by Therapy Times. Used in half of hospitals and a third of pediatricians’ offices in the U.S, this device reads the temperature of the arterial blood flow of the temporal artery as well as that of the tissues surrounding the artery. You press a button, gently swipe the device across the forehead, and down the temple stopping in front of the ear. This device then determines temperature by precisely measuring the balance between the tissues warming from arterial blood and tissues cooling caused by heat loss to the environment. The timing is something of a trick for first time users, but then comes easily. In hospital tests, the device proves to be just as accurate as other, more invasive, and far less pleasant methods of taking your temperature. Come to think of it, this device is a lot like one of those medical scanners from Star Trek, but has the advantage of now being available for home use for under $40.
DNA Mini Portrait
Want a piece of art that’s absolutely unique and personal? How about cool and techno looking, too? If you get a DNA Mini Portrait from Ottawa, Canada based DNA 11, you can be sure that no one else in the world will have that same piece of art. As you might have guessed, each picture is based on a sample of your DNA which you, of course, supply. The process is simple enough, you buy the kit, choosing the color palette and size of your finished work at the beginning, and in a few days they send you a sampling kit. Even this part is easy, you use the special swab they provide to grab some cells from the inside of your cheek. You send the sample to a secure lab which processes it into your work of art using a process called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to create a visualization. They then destroy your sample so it’s not hanging around anywhere for someone else to pick up. Between lab work, processing, printing, and shipping, the process takes 4 to 6 weeks to complete. Once you have the art in hand, you can also opt to receive, at an additional charge, a digital copy of the image so you can use it as a screen saver, online avatar, or simply send it around to friends and family, probably asking them to guess who it’s an image of. If you decide to have portraits made of your entire family, don’t forget that Fido, Felix, and even your hamster has DNA to be sampled and the DNA 11 labs are ready to accommodate. Prices start at $199.
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