Bayer introduces Contour USB glucose meter
By Donald Melanson 
posted September 23rd 2009 8:11PM
posted September 23rd 2009 8:11PM
We may not yet have nanosensors or high-tech contact lenses to monitor glucose levels, but there are still plenty of gadgets out there to help diabetics, and Bayer has now introduced another first with its new Contour USB glucose meter. While it doesn't go quite so far as to provide continuous, wireless monitoring like some similar concepts we've seen, it will accept test strips like any other glucose meter, and do plenty of things those others can't -- like store up to 2,000 readings on the stick itself, display the results right on the stick's color display, and sync up with your Mac or PC for more detailed logs and additional information. No firm word on an actual release date just yet, but Bayer says it will be available in the U.S. "soon."
[Via Everything USB]
[Via Everything USB]
Just what I need for my diabetus. Hold the phone. Where is the camera and 3G support? No sale.
rofl, if you end up in the hospital in a coma, make sure the IV has 3G streaming into your veins or no deal!
If you die, make sure they put 3G in your casket.
And there better be 4G when you get to heaven!
Call liberty
monster lol, Wilford
Liberty Medical or Liberty Prime?
It should also be a flash drive.
It IS also a flash drive. I've had my hands on a working prototype and it will be a very convenient tool for people with diabetes!
Mike works for Bayer.
@Mushrooshi It does, but only 500 MB
Being a diabetic this sounds like a great idea. However Bayer also more money for their test strips then a lot of the other companies.
I really doubt that bayer more than the other companies...
I don't. I bet that Bayer accidentally the whole thing.
I've been type 1 diabetic for 22 years and.... Yep I want it!
thank god, its hard to get some patients to keep track of their readings
I looked at the picture too quickly and thought the first label was "Facebook" and started thinking of a "Your Friend got a 120 mg/dL, Think You Can Beat It??!?" facebook app that would release alongside this.
SWAG SWAG SWAG ... you know you want it !
There have been many student and other types of projects to similar effects over the years, nice to see a corporation finally coming out with a real product. It should definitely help a lot of diabetics - glucose level monitoring is pretty important. Seeing it on graphs and such should be great, too.
My $8 meter from WalMart stores hundreds (500?) of readings, displays them on it's easy to read LCD screen, dumps data in CSV by way of a data cable.
That's not the promising part. The trends menu suggests further data manipulation on the device itself, which could be handy. But doubtful it would be. Trend: You ate. Glucose went up. Pow.
Even cooler is a glucometer that doesn't use needles and doesn't need blood... check out www.groveinstruments.com It just uses lasers.
It doesn't auto tweet? Damn!
Wireless continuous glucometers aren't "concepts", and have been around in functional practice for a while. I encourage any diabetic with poor control to visit their endocrinologist. My wife used one for a while, and it was amazing. I can't tell you what a wonderful feeling it was for me to get up in the middle of the night, or early in the morning, pick the receiver up off her night stand, hit a button, and see what her blood sugar was. Unfortunately, at the time, the transmitters were about $70 a pop, and only lasted a week. I hear insurance companies are on board with them now, and many major carriers cover them now. I think I'll remind my wife to look into it again.
http://www.medtronic.com/your-health/diabetes/device/insulin-pumps/guardian-real-time-system/index.htm
Thanks for that link, Ken. I'd love to have something like that for my wife, too.
Hell yeah, Diabetes is sexy again.
Does it have some kind of electrical shock feature that would shock these fat diabetics off their ass and get them exercising? You want to know what is breaking US healthcare costs it is these fat-ass type 2 diabetics and their $400/month worth of meds.
I'm diabetic and I weight 160 lbs. But I guess we're all fat, right?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/type+1+diabetes
Also, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/asshole
the thing that will determine whether this is a win or a lose is how good/user-friendly the software is that accepts the data once it's in the computer. Meter companies are notorious for making software to match the ever sexy Operating System that is Windows 93.
Just what is the deal with the crappy old proprietary software that comes with non-mainstream hardware? It's like the meter company hired the CEO's uncle Felix who retired last year from the county IT department, where he specialized in microfiche indexing.
Hell, even the software that came with my power backup device looks like it was made circa 1996 by someone who bought a clip art CD and felt the need to make full use of it.
Many Bayer machines have been USB-readable for a while now, just usually with a fake test-strip that is wired to a USB cable.
Ummm I've been doing this for 2 years with my Onetouch Ultra 2. Granted it doesn't have the color display, and only stores 500. But otherwise... I would however like to see better software. The one touch's is a complete freaking joke.
I think one person was hired to develop the software....on Fridays.....every other week....with the last Friday of the month off....with the second Friday of the month happy hour at noon.
This is just junk. Complete waste of tech adding a color screen. The real reason they tried to upgrade the meter is so people will buy their proprietary test strips. That's where the REAL money is. It costs about $50 for a bottle of 25 test strips, and if you test your BG 6 times a day, you're spending $12 a day for the rest of your life. Bayer definitely wants in on that, and so do other companies, so they basically throw free meters at you and claim that their meter is the best. I must have 5-10 extra meters laying around somewhere that I have never used, and they all do the same thing in a different package. If you really want my attention, make the meter ultra thin and small. I want the "iPod Nano" of glucose meters. Why is that so hard, it doesn't even play freaking music or have a color LCD screen!!!!???
What I like:
-Standard USB port. No more proprietary cable that you cannot find anywhere.
But:
-Rechargeable battery. Sure, it's nice, but let's say you need to test your blood sugar, but the thing is out of juice. With a regular meter, you can just go to a grocery store/Target/Radio Shack and get a new battery.
Hey, where's the machine that can communicate wirelessly with a smartphone? These companies should make it easier for people to track their blood sugar without having to rely on a software on a PC. How about a machine that can communicate with a smartphone app (iPhone, Winmo, Palm Pre, Android) that have advance features (vs basic memory feature on a dumb device). I thought they have one everytime Apple announce a new iPhone OS.
By the way, I thought I saw a blood sugar machine that connects to a Nintendo DS.
Why would anyone have sugar in their USB ports?
No matter how sexy the gadget is, it is still fingerstick dependent making it probably clinically irrelevant compared to continuous glucose monitoring technology. Historic logs though might be quite an improvement. We´'ll have to wait for clinical studies...
I got one today and am so happy to see a synergetic breakthrough in laypersons control. I'll be back with a full write-up in a couple of days!
I got mine two days ago. The software's a pain to start up in Windows 7, but I copied it to my hard drive, modified the batch file, and pinned an icon to my start menu. Now I can look at my logbook even when the meter's not connected. :)
Bayer should really hire some programmers who know how to install software.