New gadgets give a glimpse of future wireless health technology

Ready for some eye candy? We know you are, if the traffic to our recent slideshow of healthcare apps for the BlackBerry is a reliable indicator. This time, the pretty pictures come Cambridge Consultants, a design firm in Cambridge, Mass., which shared some of its recent innovations in gadgetry with Wired. Not all are related to healthcare, but the ones that are certainly deserve a look.

First off, there's the implantable antenna, a low-power transmitter that uses the Medical Implant Communications Service (MICS) frequency band at 402-405 MHz to assure the signal will penetrate body fat, muscle and skin. Possible applications include pacemakers, brain stimulators and swallowable imaging and diagnostic tools.

Mind control soon will no longer be the exclusive domain of the mad scientist or Stewie Griffin. A new prototype device uses a sensor cap to turn brain waves into computer commands, potentially giving the gift of communication to paraplegics without the need for invasive surgery. And the gadget round-up also includes wirelessly connected health and fitness equipment, such as Bluetooth-enabled scales and cardiac and blood-pressure monitors that network with each other and present information on a single screen.

To see for yourself:
- check out this Wired Gadget Lab feature
- read more about the Bluetooth devices in this Electronics Engineering Herald piece, sans photos

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