SilverGlide forceps ease surgery
A Boulder medical-devices company is preventing brain drain – literally. SilverGlide Surgical Technologies recently introduced a new instrument that can prevent bleeding in hard-to-reach places during brain and spine surgeries. The Keyhole Maximum Access Forceps use nonstick technology and an ultra-thin design crafted from super-hard materials. The company, founded in 1997 and employing nine, said its product is smaller than most surgical instruments of this type, allowing doctors to operate through a small incision and “keep the surgical site in view throughout the coagulation process.”
“Keyhole forceps enable the surgeon to stop bleeding in advanced surgical procedures with greater ease and precision through openings only a quarter-inch wide,” said Jonathan Thorne, president and chief executive. “Stopping bleeding quickly during surgery is critical to patients. Smaller holes mean a smaller incision, which leads to faster healing.”
Cable favorites can go anywhere
Blake Krikorian and his brother Jason, two Silicon Valley engineers, were traveling so much that they missed many of their favorite sports games on television. So in 2002 they began devising the Slingbox, a product that lets cable subscribers download their home programming to their laptops. Just as TiVo and other digital video recorders ushered in the concept of “time shifting” a few years ago, the Slingbox promises to make “place shifting” a reality for households. The size of a shoe, it sells for $250 and unlike TiVo does not require a monthly subscription. The box can be hooked to a cable set-top box or a digital video recorder, and must be linked to a broadband line so the video can be “streamed” to a laptop or other device. Faster connection speeds provide better video quality. Users install software on laptops that communicate with the Slingbox over a high-speed Internet connection at a hotel or other remote location. Users can watch what is playing live on the cable or satellite service at home, or anything stored on a digital video recorder. A virtual remote control allows users to change channels or play, pause or rewind a recorded program. Slingbox is already stocked in almost 4,000 stores, including Best Buy, CompUSA and Circuit City.
