Alan Wirzbicki Passport Today’s passport is museum-bound. The next travel document will look like a credit card but be smart enough to put identity thieves out of business. Picture this: after you get off a plane at JFK, you pull out a card from your pocket as you approach Immigration, you swipe it through a machine while a camera scans the iris of your eye, and in three seconds a sliding door lets you through (if the camera-recorded iris matches the one in your passport photo). The United States and other countries in the International Civil Aviation Organization are studying other biometrics technology, but the new passport is expected to debut in 2008.
Fe Conway Business Trip We can’t guarantee that you’ll close the deal, but we can pretty much promise that you’ll enjoy the trip. The double-decker megajumbo A380 Airbus, which will be the world’s largest passenger plane (with 555 seats) when it debuts in 2006, will be roomy enough for you to stretch out while flying to Tokyo for that a.m. meeting. You’ll have time to get in some quality, high-altitude R&R–go to the gym, take a dip in the Jacuzzi and have a drink at the bar–before retiring to your airborne bedroom. You’ll arrive in Tokyo well rested. Don’t speak the language? No problem: you can put on your sunglasses equipped with embedded technology that instantly translates Japanese words into English. Now you’ll be able to read street signs and newspapers. Ready to work again? In your hotel room you’ll find a large, flat display panel–a prototype called a blueboard is currently in use at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif.–that lets you enter a code and securely connect to your computer back home.
Karen Yourish Credit Card Credit cards are great for everything from movie tickets at Moviefone.com ($10 in Manhattan) to a pair of Daphne shoes by Jimmy Choo on Luxuryfinder.com ($415). But since merchants pay a fee for each transaction, plastic isn’t cost-effective for smaller purchases like an MP3 single on emusic (99 cents). Now a Manhattan-based start-up called DuoCash hopes the time for electronic money has come. It uses prepaid telephone long-distance cards for secure, anonymous transactions via the Net. When users go to an e-commerce site that uses DuoCash, they enter the access code on their phone card, and DuoCash bills the calling-card company. The first company to sign on was Entertainment Network Inc., best known for porn sites like Voyeur Dorm ($134 for a one-year subscription). It’s too early to tell if DuoCash will have any better luck than its forebears. But even if they fail, those phone cards can still be used to call Mom (priceless).
N’Gai Croal E-ZPass In the six years since the E-ZPass system was introduced, the company that makes the tags has sold some 9 million (at $22 a pop) and enabled commuters to save 40 hours each year (by avoiding toll lines). But the E-ZPassification of America is just beginning. Several firms, including Mark IV, the company that makes E-ZPass tags, are promoting technology that would let customers use their E-ZPasses to pay for everything from Starbucks Frappuccinos to airline tickets. In a year or so, E-ZPass’s manufacturer hopes to roll out a credit-card-size device that can be customized by downloading applications from the Internet (card cost: about $60). You could download the McDonald’s application, for example, then drive through the restaurant without ever forking over cash. The “smart card” technology already exists. The challenge: to convince customers who are comfortable with their credit cards and ATMs that buying with the E-ZPass will be as relaxing as a Sunday drive.
Kevin Peraino Business Card The charmed badge will use infrared technology to enable “affinity matching.” Don a badge in the form of a business card and as you walk conference halls it will signal the presence of others who have programmed theirs to look for people with similar concerns. This smart business card can also be a filter. A venture capitalist tired of being hit up for cash? Just program your badge to block out pesky pitchmen.
Suzanne Smalley Secretary Have your virtual people call my virtual people. AT&T Labs could soon offer every middle manager (or mailroom clerk) a highly trained, ultra-efficient executive assistant. The in-development Intelligent Secretary files, schedules, reminds and cajoles–just don’t get it wet. Running late? Your voice-controlled virtual assistant calls your appointment to reschedule, even if it has to talk to a low-tech human. On a trip but forgot to pack your presentation? Your machine musters its artificial intelligence to e-mail, fax or read it to you. On the golf course while your boss is on a rampage? The loyal “secretary” calls your mobile phone to warn you.
title: “Your Next…” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-30” author: “Dick White”
Pacemakers and defibrillators, or implants like Dick Cheney’s that shock patients out of sudden changes in heartbeat, have been around since 1959–but the old devices have always kept learning new tricks. The latest generation can communicate via phone and Internet with doctors, which should delight patients who otherwise would have to go in for checkups every three months. “This empowers the patient,” says Dr. Mark Schoenfeld, who helped design one that comes with what is essentially a magic wand. Here’s how it works: wave the wand over your chest to pick up signals from the generator, plug the wand into the phone line and wire your doctor a full report on how your device (and your heart) is doing. The easy-to-use, FDA-approved devices should be especially helpful for defibrillator patients who sometimes get sudden shocks that could be either lifesaving or a sign of malfunction. With one wave of the wand, the doctor can be notified–and can call to reassure or diagnose the patient as soon as the phone line is free. The wand doesn’t work with the devices already in the chests of 750,000 Americans. But the new wand-compatible pacemakers should be able to help thousands more.
Radiation Cancer Treatment
It’s the classic oncologist’s dilemma: how do you attack a tumor while protecting the rest of the body from your onslaught? The problem grows when tumors wrap themselves around organs. Until now, radiation therapy could use only one beam of a single intensity that would wipe out the tumor–and lots of surrounding healthy cells in the process. But IMRT (intensity-modulated radiation therapy), a radiation gun that focuses thousands of pinpoint, varying-intensity beams on a tumor, may finally solve the dilemma. Before treatment, a CT scan or ultrasound shows the tumor’s location, shape and size, giving doctors directions to program into the gun as the patient lies on the table. The gun then shoots directly at the tumor, conforming as closely as possible to its outline. Because it targets a narrow area and uses different kinds of beams, it minimizes the impact of radiation on the surrounding organs, reducing side effects, and can treat tumors that previously wouldn’t have been good candidates for radiation therapy.
At the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the leading hospital for the procedure, about 80 out of 400 patients a day are already receiving IMRT. Primarily used for prostate and nasal-pharynx cancers and, in some cases, cancers in the abdomen, the treatment is too intense for more delicate organs like the lungs. But ongoing research may turn up a way to make a more specific gun with protons instead of X-rays. Next month M.D. Anderson will start building the country’s largest proton-treatment facility.
Blood-Vessel Surgery
If you’ve got heart trouble that today’s medicine can’t fix, clinical trials starting this month may give you a glimpse of tomorrow. The tests–scheduled to take place at Oklahoma University Medical Center, Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s in Chicago–are exploring an innovative arrhythmia treatment using computer-controlled magnetic fields to steer catheters deeper than ever before into the still-beating chambers of the heart. Because they’re moved magnetically instead of manually, the catheters have a wider range of motion, allowing doctors greater precision in where to place them. Once positioned, they burn away small, malfunctioning areas of cardiac tissue, restoring a normal heartbeat.
If the trials go well, the approach could replace the current six- to eight-hour procedure used to treat simple arrhythmia–and could cut the operation time in half. The new surgery could also help patients with other types of irregular rhythms, like atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia, that don’t respond to traditional treatments. And it will help doctors, too. Instead of standing bedside and being exposed to X-rays for hours, they’ll join the growing number of “Nintendo surgeons” who perform entire procedures from a protected control room, using a computer interface to see where to put the catheters.
Stereotaxis, the St. Louis-based company that developed the new system, is also venturing into surgery for neurovascular problems like strokes and aneurysms and progressive brain diseases like Parkinson’s. Many surgical treatments for those diseases require catheters; all require near-perfect precision. Here’s hoping the new catheters work as well in the brain as they do in the heart.
Life Jacket
Worried about sleep apnea? Those temporary stops in breathing during sleep can cause daytime drowsiness and other symptoms. Vivometrics’ LifeShirt, a vest that doubles as a cardiopulmonary recorder, tracks heartbeat, breathing and 28 other vital signs, creating a “physiologic movie” of health. Working with doctors, Vivometrics uses the data to diagnose sleep apnea and other problems. “Smart shirts” have been ballyhooed for years, so NEWSWEEK decided to try one out. Our diagnosis: setting it up is harder than programming a VCR, and it ain’t comfy, but at $500 a pop, it’s a reasonable alternative to inconvenient and expensive lab assessments.
Cigarette Filter
It’s easy to quit smoking, said mark Twain–he’d done it hundreds of times. He’d have loved the new cigarettes scheduled to hit the market in 2004. Think of them as ultra-ultra-lights for people who can’t quit: smokes with filters made partially of antioxidants that neutralize cancer-causing free radicals, drastically reducing toxicity while leaving the draw and taste intact. The price will be about the same as that of regular cigarettes, too, since the process for making the safer smokes is identical. “I’m not a smoker myself–none of us are really pro-smoking,” says Dan McNamara, CEO of Thione International, which developed the antioxidant complex. “And no one is pretending we can create a completely safe cigarette. But a lot of people just aren’t going to quit.” They aren’t going to quit buying their favorite brands, either, which is why some tobacco companies are planning to put the filters in their own products. (Look for an announcement from a major firm in the fall.) Meanwhile, Thione hopes to put its antioxidants in the tobacco itself, bringing the benefits to pipe smokers–and secondhand smokers, too.
Electric Bra
They make all kinds of bras these days: furry, demi-cup, million-dollar diamond-studded. But an electric bra? You won’t find it at Victoria’s Secret. The device, invented by British researchers, is a new screening tool for breast cancer that uses a technique called electrical-impedance tomography to detect tiny tumors. The bra emits electrical pulses–don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt–and works on the idea that the differences between healthy cells and denser tumor tissue will affect the way the current passes through the breast. Safer and cheaper than mammograms–and a lot less painful–it creates a 3-D map of the breast showing the signatures of tumors in the electrical patterns. The inventors say it can detect abnormal growths in minutes. Older women with dense breasts who fail to benefit from mammograms may have more luck with the new screen, which can be used in patients of all ages. If trials starting soon in China, involving thousands of women, are successful, the bra could hit British–and possibly American–markets by 2005.
Synthetic Bone Grafts
No bones about it: repairing and building bones is getting easier. More than 2 million Americans need grafts each year after their bones wear down or fail to heal properly after a fracture. Over half of the operations requiring bone grafts are spinal fusions. Traditionally, doctors take a piece of bone from the pelvic area (or, a little less than half the time, a donor’s bone), then patch it onto existing bone in a later operation. That leaves a substantial risk for rejection and infection. But with synthetic bone substitutes, patients need to go under the knife only once. Vitoss, a promising new product by Orthovita, is placed on the site of damage and acts as a scaffold for the blood, marrow and other nutrients that the body uses for natural repair. Since it’s the patient’s own tissue and not from a cadaver, rejection isn’t an issue, and as the new bone grows, the Vitoss dissolves. “The body has basic building materials to create new bone, we provide the scaffolding and that helps speed up the process,” says Dr. Maarten Persenaire, vice president of medical affairs for Orthovita.
Other substitutes mimic natural bone material. One called Pro Osteon, made by Interpore Cross International, starts out as humble, nondecorative coral and gets converted into hydroxyapatite, a kind of calcium phosphate. The porous structure of the coral remains intact, and in the body it provides a matrix where bone cells can cling and grow. A third company, Berkeley Advanced Biomaterials, can shape its graft materials into whole bones, and is working to mix synthetic bones with anti-cancer compounds, antibodies and proteins to facilitate sustained drug release.
Varicose-Vein Treatment
They sure aren’t pretty, and neither is the standard process for getting rid of varicose veins, those unsightly pools of blood caused when valves in the large saphenous vein malfunction and leak. “Vein stripping,” or removing the veins, takes several hours on the surgeon’s table and weeks more for recovery. But with an FDA-approved treatment called Closure, the treatment can be completed in 45 minutes and you walk away from the table. During Closure, a catheter inserted into the vein at the top of the leg uses radio-frequency waves to gently heat up the blood-vessel walls. As the catheter is slowly removed, the vein collapses and seals, and the body automatically reroutes the blood through healthy vessels instead. With a smaller catheter that will be unveiled next month, doctors can get to more veins than before; earlier this year the FDA approved EVLT (endovenous laser treatment), a laser procedure similar to Closure. More than 90 percent of insurance companies now cover Closure treatments.
title: “Your Next…” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-19” author: “Paul Brown”
Karin Carter’s clothes are trashy. We mean that as a compliment. Her “sustainable fashion,” in the form of a leathery, waterproof fabric made from recycled plastic grocery bags, is poised to bring environmentalism to the runway. Carter, who invented the fabric, has already made a line of colorful purses and rain gear and hopes to extend the idea to lampshades, shower curtains and umbrellas. She’s also transformed packing peanuts into insulation for a parka that doubles as a sleeping bag. Eco-conscious campers, take note.
Hi, I’m Your Name Tag
Still stuck on those “Hi! I’m [your name, scrawled with a Sharpie]” name tags? The creators of N-Tag have a different idea: “smart” name tags. Based on MIT Media Lab technology, the clip-ons store info about the wearer’s interests (“I’m looking for a zillionaire to invest in a hot company”) and use infrared sensing to read other tags. When two tags discover a matching interest, a small screen displays the info (“I don’t have any money, but the guy I just spoke to is loaded”). N-Tag prototypes are clunky, but the next generation will be sleeker and able to scan all the other cards in the room, using radio frequency. You could be alerted the instant an investor with big money crosses the thresh-old. Unlisted N-Tags, anyone?
E Paper
Newspapers that continually update themselves may sound like sci-fi, but E Ink’s trying to make it happen within five to 10 years. The company’s tinkering with RadioPaper, a flexible display with ink that can be electronically altered, allowing text to change after printing. With this technology, one book could become all books. The displays look like old-fashioned ink on paper, and eventually they’ll be thin enough to roll. The immediate applications range from personal display devices to e-books, both of which could debut within the next two years.
Major Moxi
Moxi is a super-duper set-top box that replaces just about every electronic component in your living room. It’s a CD-DVD player, a wireless Internet broadband transmitter and a digital picture viewer. Plus–Futurama!–it can be used as a videophone, letting couch potatoes make eye contact with fellow spuds. Earlier this year cable-TV mogul Paul Allen, through his Digeo company, bought the Moxi technology. So the first users of the “Moxi menu”–which grants easy access to the device’s powers–will be subscribers to the Allen-controlled Charter Cable.
Robots for the Home Front
Robots might take a curious path into your living room: via the caves of Afghanistan and the battlefields of Iraq. The military is currently the biggest player in mobile robotics, funding projects like the High Mobility Tactical Micro-Robot–HMTM for short. Its maker (Cambridge, Mass.-based Draper Labs) developed missile-guidance systems during the cold war. The company’s newest creation, the camera- and microphone-armed HMTM, is a four-pound kamikaze warrior, designed to be the eyes and ears in dangerous places for soldiers who control it over a PDA from 100 meters away.
But the makers of the HMTM haven’t forgotten “The Jetsons” and the promise of that show’s friendly, useful housekeeper, Rosie. “We all know that’s the ultimate vision of where robots are going to go,” says Draper program manager Rob Larsen. So the researchers sit around talking excitedly about civilian roles for the HMTM. While you’re at work, they say, the robot could be a monitor for the Net-connected home of the future, where appliances e-mail you at work if they’re malfunctioning. For example, if the furnace warns that it’s overheating, you could direct the robot to the basement to check it and transmit photos. When it’s mass-produced, the HMTM’s price tag would fall below $500.
Of course, the robotics industry has promised big things in the past. But now improvements in battery life, wireless technology and computing power have put the goal of affordable home robots in reach. That’s why the researchers at Draper are watching the progress of Roomba, the $200 robotic vacuum developed by fellow Boston-area company iRobot. If the Roomba cleans up in stores, you can bet soldiers won’t be having all the fun.
Wow, Where’d You Get Those Peepers?
In the world of personal communication devices, big is the new small. Everything may be shrinking–portable DVD players, Web-enabled cell phones, personal digital assistants–but as the devices get smaller, so do their displays, making it increasingly difficult to read the screens. MicroOptical’s solution? Grab your glasses. Nope, not your reading ones–think bigger. Through MicroOptical’s glasses you can check your e-mail, surf the Web and watch movies on the go. Not only are the glasses highly portable, but they provide a large display–users see the image floating in space at an adjustable distance of a few feet or more. Right now the glasses are used for industrial purposes, but in the next few years, MicroOptical hopes to do for portable computing, communication and entertainment what Sony did for music with the Walkman. Because, let’s get serious here, straining at little bitty display screens is so 2002.
A Tracker in Your Kid’s Backpack
Want to be sure your kid arrived at school safely? Check out “location-based services” from companies like Westport, Conn.-based POMALS. Your child gets a backpack with a built-in GPS receiver and wireless transmitter. Before sending him off, you log on to the POMALS Web site and create a “bounding box” defining the path from your house to the school, with several check-in points and times along the way. If the path taken by the backpack deviates from the route and check-in times you’ve specified, the POMALS system will notify you by (your choice) phone, e-mail, pager or fax. There’s a panic button for emergencies. Expect to see it on store shelves early next year. Wherify, based in Redwood Shores, Calif., also offers a security system, a $400 GPS Personal Locator for Children that looks like an oversize watch, complete with a lockable, cut-resistant wristband. You manually query your child’s locator through Wherify. Your kids may not appreciate being tagged like animals on “Wild Kingdom,” but hey, that’s why you’re the parent.
