Getting their hands on a Star Trek gadget remains to be fantasy among many people. But with the latest developments in technology, this fantasy can soon turn into reality. Read this article from Entrepreneur.com to learn more.
It seems like every other day we read about some far-out, new technology that makes us scratch our heads and say, "What the heck?" In this series, we'll take a look at all types of crazy new gadgets, apps and other technologies -- and the entrepreneurs dreaming them up.
Mr. Spock, Dr. Bones, prepare yourselves for gadget lust. And the rest of us, too. A new gadget promises to act as a handheld scanner that can read a person's vital health signs in virtually an instant. For all of you Star Trek geeks, it's sort of like the tricorder scanner used by the crew of the Starship Enterprise.
The new tool is called Scanadu Scout. It can measure your temperature, heart rate, and other vital signs just by touching your forehead. Yes, a simple touch to your head is all it needs. The device then connects wirelessly to an app on your smartphone to provide you with analysis of the data it collected.
"Learn ways that different people, locations, activities, foods, beverages, and medicines affect your body," the California-based company says on its website. "Sick or well. Discover connections. Watch trends. Spot side effects. Catch problems early. And track them."
The idea is to provide users with basic yet important health information that can be used to better inform doctors about any conditions you may have. This potentially could be useful for people who suffer from chronic illnesses. Or for anyone else who wants to avoid a needless trip to the doctor or the emergency room if your symptoms can easily be diagnosed.
Another device, called Scanadu Scanaflo, is a urine test kit that the company says can test for levels of glucose, protein, leukocytes, nitrates, blood, bilirubin, urobilinogen, specific gravity, and pH in urine. It will also test for pregnancy. All from a person's home, or wherever it is used.
Being able to access information about your own health seems like a logical next step in our always-connected, mobile-obsessed culture. But, to me, there seem to be at least a couple important flaws -- at least initially. First, I understand that this device could save time in the doctor's office since it essentially eliminates the need for anyone to take and read your vitals. But, realistically, I don't know any doctors who would trust the self-administered findings from an outside device without checking a person's vitals themselves anyway.
Second, the Scanadu Scout makes your health information portable over your smartphone, so it's easy to share with your doctor or other health-care workers. But doesn't this also pose a privacy issue? What if your phone is lost? Can someone have access to even some of your health information? Does Scanadu harvest the information it collects about you?
Unfortunately, not much is officially known still about the technology behind the Scanadu Scout. The "Tech Specs" section of the website is still listed as "Coming Soon."
But there seems to be a swell of enthusiasm for the device in the market. The Scanadu Scout recently raised $1.66 million on crowdfunding site Indiegogo from more than 8,500 funders in 110 countries, AllThingsD reported. Not bad for a little device inspired by Star Trek, eh?
David Bergen’s career milestone was when he served as Levi Strauss’ CIO and made improvements on the brand’s supply chain. Visit this Twitter page to learn more about his achievements.
The Bangladesh factory tragedy has placed a spotlight on labor rights violations and unsafe practices of sub-contracted clothing production in other parts of the world. This article at qz.com talks about one of Levi Strauss & Co.’s efforts to ban sandblasting, a hazardous jeans production process in China after discovering it exposes workers to the risk of lung cancer.
Demand for ripped, distressed jeans is causing real distress in the garment industry. At least five factories in southern China are still using a widely banned practice of sandblasting—linked to an incurable form of lung disease—to wear out jeans, according to a new report by a consortium of workers’ rights groups.
Sandblasting—a way of speeding up the process of wear and tear—took off among apparel makers when worn-out, pre-torn jeans became trendy in the 1990s and early 2000s. Many brands, including Armani, Levi Strauss, Benetton, Mango and Burberry, banned the use of sandblasting in 2004, after a Turkish doctor evaluating former denim plant workers for military service established a link between sandblasting and silicosis—a fatal lung disease caused by inhaling tiny bits of silica, a mineral found in sand. In 2009, Turkey—a major clothing manufacturing country—banned the practice, but activists believe garment makers have moved to other countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan or China and parts of North Africa. Alternatives exist like sanding jeans by hand with sandpaper, but they tend to be more expensive. A relatively new method called “surface activation” involves washing down the jeans before they are dyed.
Today’s report, commissioned by labor rights groups Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour, the Clean Clothes Campaign, War on Want, and the IHLO, a Hong Kong-based trade union and workers’ rights group, was based on roughly 170 interviews in 2011 and 2012 with Chinese workers at six clothing plants in Guangzhou—the base for most of the country’s denim manufacturing. Workers said they manually blasted jeans with air guns loaded with abrasive sand, often worked 12-hour days and earned, on average, between 2,000 renminbi and 7,000 yuan monthly ($330 to $1,140) (pdf, p. 18) to sandblast between 500 and 600 pairs of jeans.
According to the report, some of the factories supply to major Western clothing brands. The report says that a worker from a Zhongshan Yida Apparel plant claimed in November last year that sandblasting continued, despite the firm’s earlier pledge to stop the practice. Zhongshan says it provides 4% of jeans sold in the US and supplies to Levi, according to Levi’s most recent supplier list and H&M. (Levi and H&M banned the use of sandblasting for any of their products in 2010.) Yida did not return request for comment, but a Levi spokesperson told Quartz that the company had verified that Yida stopped the practice in 2009 and disposed of its sandblasting machines in February 2012.
The company also said managers at another Levi supplier mentioned in the report had sent photos in January of last year proving that all sandblasting equipment had been removed. The report said the factory, Golden City, had told workers to hide sandblasting machines when audits or inspections took place. H&M confirmed to Quartz that it works with Yida but that it hasn’t ordered sandblasted (pdf, p. 33) clothing from any suppliers since 2010. H&M said that Yida hand scrapes denim supplied to the retailer.
Read more about David Bergen’s work with Levi Strauss & Co. as the company’s former CIO by visiting this website.
