Short-term notes payable (Details Textual) (USD $) In Thousands, except Per Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended				1 Months Ended		1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended				1 Months Ended				1 Months Ended			1 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Sep. 30, 2012	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Aug. 31, 2011 Warrants Issued To Consultants [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 Warrants Issued To Consultants [Member]	Sep. 30, 2011 September 2011 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 September 2011 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Sep. 20, 2011 September 2011 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 December 2011 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 December 2011 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 December 2011 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Dec. 20, 2011 December 2011 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Feb. 29, 2012 December 2011 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member] Common stock [Member]	Apr. 30, 2012 April 2012 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 April 2012 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Apr. 23, 2012 April 2012 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member]	Apr. 30, 2012 April 2012 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member] Warrants Issued To Consultants [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 April 2012 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member] Warrants Issued To Consultants [Member]	Apr. 23, 2012 April 2012 Note And Warrant Purchase Agreement [Member] Warrants Issued To Consultants [Member]	Sep. 30, 2012 September 2012 Note Purchase Agreement [Member]	Sep. 14, 2012 September 2012 Note Purchase Agreement [Member]	Sep. 02, 2011 Unsecured Demand Notes One And Two [Member]	Feb. 17, 2012 Unsecured Demand Note Three [Member]	Mar. 05, 2012 Unsecured Demand Note Four [Member]
Short Term Notes Payble Details Textual [Abstract]
Interest expense associated with the Company's debt	$ 64	$ 3	$ 145	$ 3
Interest expense associated with the Company's debt, related party	30	3	88	3
Amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs	12	0	(29)	0
Amortization of debt discount and deferred financing costs, related party	5	0	13	0
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Aggregate amount of loans borrowed											500				500				1,000					1,103	100	25	100
Number of shares sold in private placement																							1,103
Purchase price per share for the shares sold in private placement																								$ 1.00
Conversion price																								$ 0.05
Proceeds from sale of stock, used for working capital and for repayment of a portion of demand notes																							225
Stated percentage of loans borrowed											10.00%				10.00%				10.00%				10.00%		10.00%	10.00%	10.00%
Maturity date of loans borrowed									Sep. 20, 2012				Dec. 20, 2012				Apr. 22, 2013						Dec. 31, 2012
Extended maturity date of loans borrowed									Dec. 31, 2012
Description of the derivative transaction associated with the note									convertible at the option of the September 2011 Investor into securities sold in the next equity financing with gross proceeds to the Company in excess of $100				convertible at the option of the September 2011 Investor into securities sold in the next equity financing with gross proceeds to the Company in excess of $100										will automatically convert into shares of Series D-2 Preferred Stock at a price of $1.00 per share upon the consummation of the Final Closing, provided such closing occurs prior to December 31, 2012
Associated derivative transaction, threshold amount											100				100
Number of common shares callable by warrants											5,556				5,556				5,000,000
Warrants Weighted Average Exercise Price	$ 0.0254		$ 0.0254		$ 0.0261	$ 0.0274					$ 0.0225				$ 0.0225				$ 0.0500			$ 0.0500
Fair value of warrants outstanding, initial							1				7				13				47			2
Fair value of warrants outstanding								2		12				1				45			3
Fair value assumptions for warrants pricing, risk-free interest rate			1.65%				7.00%		42.00%				39.00%				40.00%			40.00%
Fair value assumptions for warrants pricing, expected term							3 years		3 years				3 years				3 years			3 years
Fair value assumptions for warrants pricing, expected volatility rate			203.60%				190.00%		204.00%				202.00%				213.00%			213.00%
Fair value assumptions for warrants pricing, expected dividend							0.00%		0.00%				0.00%				0.00%			0.00%
Number of warrants outstanding							1,000							556					5,349			349
Exercise period of warrants							3 years		3 years				3 years				3 years			3 years
Number of shares issued by warrants excercise												5,000				4,043
Number of shares issued by warrants excercise, cashless												4,889
Number of shares issued by warrants excercise, for cash												111
Proceeds from issuance of common stock, related to warrants exercise																$ 2