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In African Villages, Phones Can Become Ultrasound Scanners

nytimes.com

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Re: In African Villages, Phones Can Become Ultrasound Scanners

#41

Post by kryogen1c »

watermans wrote: post #40
joshz404 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an engineer working in non-profit health, just remember the grass is always greener.

Does this mean you feel that your work is not altruistic? Would you mind elaborating on that? Some days I feel like I’d rather work for a non-profit than where I am.

Having worked in a government organization (military) for 10 years, i will guess.

I think the point is not that one is not better than the other, simply that they are different. Each coin has two sides, and double edged swords cut both ways.

If youre flush with cash, you might feel void of meaning. If youre helping children, you feel fulfilled but frustrated by what little it would take to accomplish so much more.

Re: In African Villages, Phones Can Become Ultrasound Scanners

#42

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

jwr wrote: post #27
ggm wrote: post #2

This is the kind of investment in technology I think Bill & Melinda Gates should be remembered by, as well as their investment in vaccines and contraception. Great stuff ( and well done to the inventor)

I had similar thoughts, but then I started realizing that investing in fighting malaria or cheap ultrasound scanners will matter little if in 30-50 years much of our planet becomes uninhabitable, which is now nearly certain unless we take immediate action. These days I think almost all resources should be thrown into inventing and developing carbon capture technologies. I don't mean to belittle the achievement or sou…

And here I think our highest priority should be stopping the heat death of the universe. Makes global warming seems really small in comparison, no use spending energy on it.

Re: In African Villages, Phones Can Become Ultrasound Scanners

#44

Post by mschuster91 »

1023bytes wrote: post #5

Only works with Apple products? That's rather out of touch.

Not really. The thing with Apple devices is that you can be relatively sure it will work and you only have to test against a couple devices. For Android handsets? Different and vastly larger beast.

There's so much that may or may not work: the USB port must support OTG/Host on the hardware side, which is already a hit-and-miss. The port must be able to supply the power required for the ultrasound. Then the Android stack must support USB OTG - and that must have been properly tested during manufacturing. And then the vendor must have compiled the Linux kernel below Android with support for uvcvideo (which is not standard enabled in cheap phones). Then the CPU and video unit must be powerful enough to run the software with video playback.

Re: In African Villages, Phones Can Become Ultrasound Scanners

#45

Post by jes »

ToBeBannedSoon wrote: post #43

I don't understand why this ultrasound scanner needs a user license except for exploitative reasons. It's what crooks would do.

Ultrasound systems are medical devices. There are limits on power levels for patient safety and to ensure efficacy. To my knowledge, licensing here is an attempt to protect patient safety.

Re: In African Villages, Phones Can Become Ultrasound Scanners

#47

Post by ToBeBannedSoon »

jes wrote: post #45
ToBeBannedSoon wrote: post #43

I don't understand why this ultrasound scanner needs a user license except for exploitative reasons. It's what crooks would do.

Ultrasound systems are medical devices. There are limits on power levels for patient safety and to ensure efficacy. To my knowledge, licensing here is an attempt to protect patient safety.

Phony argument. An electronic thermometer and blood pressure monitor ensure safety too and they never need a license. Do x-ray machines need a license? This ulrasound device by definition doesn't even emit radiation. This company is conning its users.

Re: In African Villages, Phones Can Become Ultrasound Scanners

#48

Post by yanokwa »

veza wrote: post #22

This is beautiful. As a developer this is the kind of app I would like to work on, that has a direct good impact on people's life. I know there are all kinds of lists on github. Is there a list of companies that are inherently good (I know it's subjective) and are hiring developers?

I run Nafundi (https://nafundi.com) and we work exclusively on open source software (https://opendatakit.org) that improves the lives on the underserved. We are bootstrapped, remote-only, and always hiring.

Re: In African Villages, Phones Can Become Ultrasound Scanners

#49

Post by mjfern »

yanokwa wrote: post #48
veza wrote: post #22

This is beautiful. As a developer this is the kind of app I would like to work on, that has a direct good impact on people's life. I know there are all kinds of lists on github. Is there a list of companies that are inherently good (I know it's subjective) and are hiring developers?

I run Nafundi ( https://nafundi.com ) and we work exclusively on open source software ( https://opendatakit.org ) that improves the lives on the underserved. We are bootstrapped, remote-only, and always hiring.

Amazing work! Just curious -- what's your revenue model?

Re: In African Villages, Phones Can Become Ultrasound Scanners

#50

Post by atpat »

ToBeBannedSoon wrote: post #47
jes wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ultrasound systems are medical devices. There are limits on power levels for patient safety and to ensure efficacy. To my knowledge, licensing here is an attempt to protect patient safety.

Phony argument. An electronic thermometer and blood pressure monitor ensure safety too and they never need a license. Do x-ray machines need a license? This ulrasound device by definition doesn't even emit radiation. This company is conning its users.

If you actually read the FAQ on the website (https://www.butterflynetwork.com/pricing) you'll see that you don't need a license to continue using the product:

> Your Butterfly iQ will remain functional even without a subscription. You can continue to scan in all 19 applications, but will not be able to upload new images. You will have full access to all images in the cloud that were previously saved.

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