Great-sounding device... I've been looking for a tricorder since Episode 1 of StarTrek. There will be many, many uses for such a device, from medicines to materials. Unfortunately, in the same way that people claim pornography 'drove' the internet's image and video content in the early years, I suspect that early-adopters will include those in the drug-distribution business, doing quality checks on high-value items at time of transaction. Eventually I want someone to build one into a small multi-wheel all-terrain vehicle of less than 1m x 1m which crawls along one's paddocks and senses plant leaves, checks the database and then laser-zaps or glyphosate squirts just the weeds. It is not that much harder to do than an robotic vacuum cleaner, but has to know what it is 'cleaning up'. Eventually, I can see such small-scale technology as allowing mini-traps in wild and semi-wild areas, which capture passing animals 24x7 and then checks their composition to discern the difference between native/protected species and invading/pest species and either let them leave unharmed, or zap them with a strong laser and drop them into a hatch for later emptying. Some introduced species (eg cane toads in Australia) are so abundant that ONLY automated 'smart' removal systems could possible control...

Herbal supplements have been said to be strife with potentially harmful other herbs and fillers.
When I look at vitamins and such online I always wonder if that is what I'm getting. Especially for stuff like racetams as every place that sells them looks fake to me but I'm paranoid too.
Does that tea have pesticides on it? Does that plastic have BPA in it? Does that water have fluoride in it?
Human health metrics? What can we tell by scanning our hair, skin, blood, spit, tears, ect?

No mention of what depth the scan can penetrates. There a bit in the video where a girl on a treadmill scans her drinking bottle. If that's not pure PR bull, then this might be able to penetrate certain liquids well enough. The biggest use I would find is testing the quality of portable water and its additives. Moving beyond that, catching fungal spores developing on food products would the the other desirable.
Re:Graeme Harrison
I would be happy if dealers provided the civic duty of scanning product quality prior to distribution. A lot of ODs and permanent damage people receive from drugs stems from the impurities that are there mainly as filler.

Yes, a tricorder is finally reality; sort-of.

Nairda,
They didn't state how far it penetrates, but they did state it uses near infrared, which is a known quantity. The penetration depth depends upon the material.
What I wonder about is that as described, the spectroscope emits near IR and then scans the result. Well, how wide a spectrum is included in near IR? Whatever is scanned would be limited to this spectrum plus whatever fluoresces from near IR. I think better results would likely be possible if the radiation included a wider spectrum. Why not visible and UV, for example?
Victor

what about volatiles, biochemicals, pathogens. This would be really useful.

T-rays (terahertz wavelength) would be better at scanning deeper. I'm all in for this device tho. I can imagine phones being made with this capability built in a few years.

Glyphosate??? I wonder if this device could show the level of stupidity in our supposed scientists, lol.

I could be wrong but this sounds way over-hyped to me. It could work with some organics but would be very limited. It would require a spectral scan that would have to be compared to known spectra. Pure materials would be doable but mixtures are very difficult and can be very complex. Then add on the fact that many materials range from transparent to totally opaque to infrared. This looks way too simple when compared with the sample preparation and FTIR equipment I used to use.

I would be most interested in scanning food for contaminants. It doesn't seem to mention this but should be possible? A lot of our food is being imported from China which could be highly contaminated (just google it). I would love to point this thing at some Chinese "organic" food and see if it's as clean as claimed. I am thinking this device could detect all known pesticides and heavy metals, plus their concentration. Could you scan your dinner at a restaurant for salmonella or e-coli? etc. I could see this being integrated into a smartphone, hold your phone over an item and get a full readout on screen. Very cool.