Google's new smart sugar-sensing contact lens for diabetics

You've heard and probably worn the miniature internet-connected Google Glass. The spectacle enables wearers to see, take picture of, and live-stream subjects in front of them.

Miniaturisation doesn't seem to stop there. Google is now crafting a contact lens that contains tiny wireless chip that could help diabetics manage blood sugar levels. This is good news for the contact lens fans out there.


Prototype lenses being tested at Google X can generate glucose readings about once a second. Credit: Google

Google making sugar-sensing contact lens for diabetics

According to Google the lens works using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor that are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material.

"We're now testing a smart contact lens that's built to measure glucose levels in tears," project co-founders Brian Otis and Babak Parviz said Thursday in a blog post.

They said prototypes have undergone clinical tests and talks were underway with the US Food and Drug Administration. The project was described as being in its early days, and partners were being sought to make the lenses marketplace reality.

"As you can imagine, tears are hard to collect and study," the Google X lab team members said.

"We wondered if miniaturized electronics -- think chips and sensors so small they look like bits of glitter, and an antenna thinner than a human hair -- might be the way to crack the mystery of tear glucose and measure it with greater accuracy."

Prototype lenses being tested at Google X can generate glucose readings about once a second. Researchers are looking into integrating tiny lights that would warn when blood sugar levels go above or below threshold levels.

Source: AFP


TheGreenMechanics: With diabetes affecting one in every 19 people* on average, this would definitely help in many ways should it become reality. For good or bad, people at Google have came out with many creative innovations in the past.


* - figure cited by Google.

How 'Google Glass' works

Remember Google Glass? I wrote about Google giving away this wonder Glass sometime in February.

So far this piece of equipment have received not just praise but also opposition.

Google Glass: The probing cam and prism display is paired with sunglasses.

The info-graphic here describes how it works.

Courtesy - BGR.com

Every development in the IT and technology advancement in general has a downside to it. It is inevitable, so, it is down to every individual to accept or go against it.

Happy Merdeka Day

Selamat menyambut ulang tahun kemerdekaan daripada penjajahan British. Deklarasi kemerdekaan pada 31 Ogos 1957 merujuk kepada bermulanya pemerintahan sendiri Persekutuan Tanah Melayu (Malaya).

Hari Malaysia pula merujuk kepada terbentuknya federasi Malaysia pada 16 September 1963 bilamana negeri-negeri Sabah, Sarawak dan Singapura bergabung dengan negeri-negeri di Semenanjung Tanah Melayu membentuk sebuah negara berdaulat - MALAYSIA.

Selepas itu negeri-negeri di Semenanjung Malaysia dikenali sebagai Malaysia Barat maakala Sabah dan dan Sarawak yang terletak di Pulau Borneo dikenali dengan pangilan Malaysia Timur.

Secara peribadi saya lebih suka istilah Malaysia sahaja berbanding panggilan-panggilan yang bersifat regionalisation. Tidak perlu beza-membezakan antara satu sama lain, kita kan satu Malaysia.

Many thanks to Uncle Google for putting up a nice banner of "Independence Day" on his landing page for Google Malaysia for a good few days until 31st August 2011. As you hover your mouse/cursor above the banner, you will notice a hyperlink and a click would bring you to search results on 'Malaysian Independence Day' news and updates.

This year's Merdeka Theme is "1 Malaysia, Transformasi Berjaya, Rakyat Sejahtera" (1 Malaysia, Transformation Success, People Peace)

Top: Landing page, Bottom: after a click. Note the double celebrations marked with 'Ketupat' and the 'Jalur Gemilang'


This year's Hari Raya Eid ul-Fitr coincides with the Merdeka Day celebration.

Selamat Hari Raya, selamat merayakannya kepada saudara-mara, sahabat-handai dan taulan Muslim dan keep safe ya.

Tracking Your Electricity Consumption

In a news release by Reuters on 17th March 2009 (Nao Nakanishi), Google Inc is reported to roll out free software which allows consumers to track their home electricity use and improve energy efficiency very soon.

Google is said to be in talks with utility companies in US, Europe and Asia to make the product available shortly to general consumers. Google Inc would use its software skills for the program that will show home energy consumption in real time on a user's computer or a telephone.

It was mentioned that according to the company, studies showed that by having access to home energy information, one can typically saves between 5% and 15% on monthly electricity bills.

As a tech savvy myself and being familiar with several other tools, this is very much a welcomed development. For a typical household monthly bill of RM250 (moderate estimate for a family with air-conditioners, automatic washing machine, fridge, audio-visual electrical appliances, etc.) one can save up to RM300 annually on electricity bills.

This is not including savings from replacing energy-guzzling equipments as a result of information gained from the usage of the software. It would be very interesting to know if the software would include predictive maintenance of equipments and appliances, including giving users some idea on performance curves, energy consumption projection, cost of replacement, and ROI in the case that one should purchase a greener (energy saving) replacement.

If the domestic consumers can save energy this way, I am convinced the bigger - the industry - consumers can save much more. Based on an integrated study I was involved in on facilities of utility company, it is possible to save energy up to 20% of the monthly bills.