What is an "onion"?
It is probably just my overly skeptical attitude, and the lack of skepticism I expect of good journalism, but the article sounded just a little too good to be true.
I just searched again, within the appropriate year, at the USA Today archives
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USATodayI still can't find the article, though I found the author. But it maybe I searched wrong, so I'm not willing to say for certain that it is fake.
So don't let me discourage you. Maybe it works, and the device will turn you into Sasha Cohen.