If you’re a cardiologist, now you can hand your patients a business card with a built-in electrocardiogram.
This self-funded ECG business card – made by MobilECG – uses your thumbs to give you a readout of your pulse and beats per minute on a tiny screen built into the card.
While this is a neat invention and a great way to leave an impression on somebody, MobilECG makes it clear that this is a toy, and not something that can replace a professional ECG. Routine ECGs in the medical industry require 10 different electrodes attached to your limbs and chest to get an extensive diagnosis of your heartbeat.
This ECG business card uses a button cell battery, which MobilECG Founder Péter Isza told Mashable lasts for at least an hour of continuous use. Unless you put both your thumbs on the touch pads on the back, the card stays in standby mode and doesn’t use any power.
The front of the MobilECG business card, which doubles as an ECG on the reverse side.
If you’re interested in getting one for yourself, you can sign up online and MobilECG will let you know when it is available. They list the price at approximately $29, but if there is a lot of interest it could end up costing less. Isza said that after they posted about the card on the website 9gag, they have received a lot of interest from the Internet.
One of the most interesting aspects of this idea is that it’s all open source, so if you’re on the technically handy side, you can check out exactly what makes it tick and even build one for yourself. MobilECG offers the full schematics in PDF form.
