Hospitals get ready… set… go… Wireless!

The revolution will not be televised.

It will be handheld.

Because the future is now.

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Medical Devices in Hospitals to Go Wireless

FCC Is Expected to Vote to Open Up Spectrum, Easing Patient Monitoring and Making Product Development Less Risky

Hospitals are getting ready to cut the cord.

In place of knots of wires stuck to patients to monitor their blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen level and body temperature, doctors and the companies that supply them hope to use Band-Aid-like sensors to accomplish the same task wirelessly.

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to vote Thursday to open up spectrum for wireless medical devices, raising the possibility of easier hospital-patient monitoring, fewer tubes in emergency rooms, and more remote monitoring at home.

The shift will make it easier to track patients’ conditions, improving the odds that health problems will be caught before they become an emergency, analysts and clinicians say.

Wireless Hospitals

While wireless technology has boomed for phones and computing, it has been slower to take hold in the medical sphere. Hospitals have

The Digital Pushback: Resistance to i-Progress in e-Medicine

What would it be like if you could to to your clinician’s office, and within a few minutes have a complete analysis of your blood done to detect whatever bug might be growing in there simply by the DNA of the organism?

It’s being doing now.

But why is there resistance to progress?

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The Wireless Revolution Hits Medicine

• Updated April 16, 2012, 11:42 a.m. ET

Eric Topol talks about the upheaval that’s coming as the digitization of health care meets the smartphone

By RON WINSLOW

After 14 years as chief of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, Eric Topol moved to La Jolla, Calif., in 2006 to become director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, which was established to apply genetic discoveries to personalized medicine. Three years later, he helped launch the West Wireless Health Institute, for which he is vice chairman and which is investigating use of wireless technology in the delivery of health care.

The convergence of these two fields—genomics, marked by the rapidly plummeting cost of sequencing a person’s entire genetic code, and wireless, with its flurry of innovative health-care apps—led Dr. Topol to write “The Creative Destruction of Medicine,” a book that offers an illuminating perspective on the coming digitization of health care. It’s also a reminder that while medicine is one of the globe’s premier drivers of innovation, it is also a conservative culture that now finds itself buffeted by transformational change.

The Wall Street Journal’s Ron Winslow discussed the implications with Dr. Topol. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation:

Unnecessary Boundaries

WSJ: Let’s start with the title. “Creative Destruction” is a provocative term. What needs to be destroyed?

DIGITAL DOCTOR Eric Topol advocates the transformative power of technology like the MinIon, a disposable device being developed to sequence parts of an individual’s DNA; a mobile patient monitor enabled by an iPhone app; the Zio patch, worn above the heart to check for irregular heartbeats; and a contact lens embedded with a chip to measure eye pressure for people with or at risk of glaucoma.

DR. TOPOL: There are two levels. One is that in medicine, everything we do essentially is

iPhone Screen Shots: Call Failure

Has this ever happened to you?

The dreaded, inevitable "Call Failure" screen.

Note the signal strength indicator.

It is a numeric indicator, rather than

Mitt Romney: “Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs, actually.”

Great.

Mitt Romney, official portrait, Governor of Massachusetts

You’ve worked diligently to earn some of your money, while you live off the interest income, and pay a lower tax rate than most normal, regular, hard-working, struggling families.

No one begrudges your wealth.

You should pay a higher rate.

I mean, really.

How many houses do you need?

Even if you have three – while most folks have one (the Census Bureau says that private home ownership rate is 66%) – why do you need a break?

Why not give a break to the little man who’s working to make ends meet, while yours wrap around several times?

C’mon, guy.

What’s the price of a gallon of milk, or loaf of bread?

It’s just that… Mitt, you’re out of touch with reality, and you continually demonstrate how much you’re out of touch every time you open your mouth.

 

Romney’s Wealth Emerges as Subtext in ‘Cadillac’ Remark

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) — Mitt Romney is a wealthy man, as he keeps reminding voters, even if it’s unintentional.

In remarks today to the Detroit Economic Club, Romney highlighted his love of American-made cars by saying he owns a Ford Mustang and a Chevrolet pickup, while his wife, Ann, drives “a couple of Cadillacs.”

Cadillacs retail for $36,000 to $74,000, according to Edmunds.com., an online auto market. One reason the Romneys may need multiple vehicles is that they own homes in Massachusetts and California, plus a vacation place in New Hampshire.

The Ultimate iPhone Apple Mac Google Contacts Address Book iCal Calendar iTunes sync post

2/26/12 Update: Be sure to read also “Sync-ing your iPhone’s Google Contacts/Address Book got you sunk? Fear not!“

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Okay, maybe it’s not the “ultimate.”

But, perhaps it’s the penultimate.

That’s good too, eh?

Yeah.

Well, you dropped the bomb, bought a Mac and or an iPhone, and you have a Google account already. Welcome to the club.

You’re loving Lion and iCloud and probably wondering, “how can I get all my stuff all synced up?”

I can understand why it might all seem confusing.

First, you have iTunes sync.

Then, you’ve got Address Book and Calendar sync.

And then… you’ve got iCloud.

Good grief! How does it all fit together!?!

Sure, it can be

iPhone security

iPhone security - ss1167

iPhone security – ss1167

Originally uploaded by SouthernBreeze

Via Flickr:
The 4our digit passkey is the one with which most may be familiar. Yet some iPhone owners may not be aware that there is another, more secure method of protecting their investment in that wonderfully powerful tool.

A more complex (and therefore secure) combination – one of the user’s own choosing – is able to be used. Not only is the creation of that passkey cAsE sEnSiTiVe, but numbers (0-9) and characters (such as # , $ ) @ + } ~ ? <, etc.) are able to be employed in the creation of the passkey.

There are several benefits to using such a system, not the least of which means that

iPhone Photography Tips & Tricks III

Perhaps you’re read the two preceding entries in this series.

That would be “iPhone Photography Tips & Tricks,” and “iPhone Photography Tips & Tricks II.” (Had to clear that up, you know. It never hurts to be certain, right?)

Apple continues to improve the camera application on their iPhone, and in the 4S, the resolution of the camera has reached 8MP, and sports all-new optics. Not only does it shoot 1080p HD video, but it boasts a  f/2.4 aperture, improved backside illumination sensor, excellent auto white balance, advanced color accuracy, face detection, and reduced motion blur.

As well, the 4S model iPhone has 60 percent more pixels than the camera on iPhone 4.

While the improved camera sensors in the iPhone 4S have increased its sensitivity, it is ultimately the glass that makes any camera’s pictures worthwhile. And the appearance of a five element lens in conjunction with a larger aperture allows better quality light, and more light to reach the camera’s sensors, which results in a clearer focus and significantly improved pictures, overall.

However, those hardware improvement don’t say much about other really cool integrated camera features in iOS 5. And just so you’ll know, iOS 5 will work on the iPhone 3GS,  iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, iPod touch 3d & 4th generations.

One useful feature available on all iOS devices is

Sync-ing your iPhone’s Google Contacts/Address Book got you sunk? Fear not!

2/26/12 Update: Be sure to read also “The Ultimate iPhone Apple Mac Google Contacts Address Book iCal Calendar iTunes sync post“

***

Some folks have expressed difficulty synchronizing their contacts on their iPhones with iOS 5.

That should NOT be a problem.

Because iOS 5 has incorporated features into it that make synchronization seamless and virtually invisible, losing a note, email, address or contact is a thing of the past.

However! To take advantage of those built-in features, they must be turned ON! It’s a bit like

iPhone Photography Tips & Tricks II

In the previous iPhone photography Tips & Tricks entry, I shared instructions and examples on how to use the iPhone‘s 5x zoom.

In this entry, you’ll see actual screenshots of the zoom adjustments, along with another useful built-in photography help.

Screenshot of the activated built-in Zoom feature on the iPhone. The photo's a bit fuzzy, because it's tough to get a screenshot quickly while maintaining a composition!

Recall that the iPhone’s zoom feature may be accessed two ways: 1.) by a

iPhone photography Tips & Tricks

Do you use an Apple iPhone?

Chances are, you do.

How would I know, and why?

Quite simply, not only does the Apple iPhone continue to dominate the smartphone market with innovations, but worldwide and domestic sales of the smartphone indicate market share dominance. In other words, Apple is the “worldwide number one single manufacturer of smartphones by revenue, profit, and volume.” Tom Kang, Director at Strategy Analytics, reported that in 2010 alone, Apple shipped over 100 million smartphones.

But you didn’t necessarily want to read a marketing and sales report – right?

On to the iPhone tips and tricks.

The  iPhone’s integrated camera has the ability to zoom up to 5x.

The zoom feature may be accessed two ways: