You’ve heard of the Dog Whistler, Find My iPhone and Flashlight. Now the iPhone is playing doctor with its latest app that claims to diagnose ear infections.
Remotoscope, a clip-on device, has been developed by researchers at Georgia Tech and Emory University.
Of course, the average parent tending to their child’s earache is no doctor, and medical professionals will be the ones to make the ultimate diagnosis.
‘Really the diagnosis is going to be done remotely,’ lead researcher Dr Wilbur Lam told TUAW.‘The patients will be diagnosed by the physician, but the parents, with this type of device, will be his eyes and hands.‘All the mum or dad needs to do is just stick it in the kids ear, jiggle it around a little bit and there will be videos and images obtained that can be uploaded to the clinician or physician.
It isn’t the first medical-centred app to hit app store shelves.
From the ‘Bowel Mover’ monitoring device, to ‘iRecus’, offering CPR advice, it seems Apple has all bases covered.
There is even a swine flu alert app to warn of impending epidemics, named Influenza H1N1.
Other bizarre i-inventions include iFart, for the less mature at heart, and Baby Shaker, a controversial app which was swiftly withdrawn amid a furor of complaints, as it encouraged users to shake their iPhone to silence a crying baby.
My Girl’s Day and iAmAMan are among the many menstruation calendar apps designed with the man in mind, ‘so he can keep abreast of his girlfriend’s impending mood swings and food cravings’.
As for Remotoscope, it is currently undergoing clinical trials, with researchers hoping to publish their results by the beginning of 2013.
When the app might appear on the market remains unknown.
