SAN FRANCISCO — Software giant Google is beginning an aggressive foray into hardware production with the launch Tuesday of a smartphone and other devices that will bring the company into direct competition with other leading tech firms, including its longtime partner Samsung.
Read MoreGoogle is expected to announce several new products today, including a new line of smartphones, an intelligent router and a voice-controlled wireless speaker. The latter, reportedly called “Google Home” is aimed to become the voice-controlled center of the future smart home and will compete directly with Amazon’s popular Echo devices.
Read MoreYou no longer have to look to science fiction to find the cyborg. We are all cyborgs now. Mobile phones, activity trackers, pacemakers, breast implants and even aspirins all act as biological, cognitive or social extensions and enhancements of our bodies and minds. Some have even predicted that human beings as we know them will be replaced by technically enhanced, god-like immortal beings within 200 years. Or at least rich people will.
Read MoreWe’re at an inflection point in the history of business. Technologies like IoT, big data and machine learning promise to reshape entire industries. According to McKinsey, IoT alone could generate up to $11.1 trillion a year in economic value by 2025. It’s important to emphasize “could” here, because I believe the potential business value of IoT is currently being overshadowed by the focus on devices alone.
Read MoreThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule that codifies the Medicare policy guidance when a device is not subject to the hearing aid exclusion. The rule finalizes that certain auditory implants, including cochlear implants, brain stem implants, and osseointegrated (bone-anchored) implants, do not meet the definition of hearing aids that are excluded from coverage.
Read MoreWhat will health care look like in 2025?
Picture this: moment by moment, an abundant network of apps, sensors and devices produces patient-generated health data (PGHD) are helping providers to better manage chronic diseases, adjust treatment plans and keep patients healthy.
Read MoreIn 2009, Congress asked for recommendations on what to do about information that falls outside the privacy law known as HIPAA. Today, health officials released their report, but offered no suggestions.
Read MoreIt’s nearly impossible to count all of the fitness trackers on the market; there are ones tailored for hard-core runners, stylish designs pegged for women, even ones that alert you when you've been in the sun for too long. But there’s never quite been one developed specifically for those in manual wheelchairs before.
Read MoreLast football season, Yahoo's Darren Burton did something he'd never done before: He commissioned a fantasy football league. That may not sound like a particularly impressive feat to you, but for Burton, navigating lists of players, stats, and scores is a unique challenge, because he is blind.
Read MoreU.S. healthcare facilities are getting closer to making Medical Body Area Networks a reality. A new website has been launched so hospitals can formally register their deployments of MBANs, which support wireless patient monitoring to transmit patient health data over a short range at low power levels.
Read MoreJason DaSilva said after he developed multiple sclerosis about 10 years ago, getting out got more complicated. “There were times that I was finding it impossible just to go out and meet a friend at a bar, or have a date,” he said, speaking in his apartment in Queens, New York. It was hard to figure out where his wheelchair would fit, how many stairs there were, whether there was a bathroom he could use. Sometimes even a phone call ahead couldn’t clarify all his questions.
Read MoreGrowing evidence suggests that health care is more efficient and effective when patients are actively engaged in their treatment. Engaged, or activated, patients collaborate with their providers, are treated with respect and dignity, receive information related to their care, and are involved in decision-making. Two separate reviews commissioned by the Institute of Medicine and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that chronic disease self-management and promotion of patient engagement are essential to successful care management programs targeting patients with high needs and high costs and are associated with improved quality of life, functional autonomy, and decreased hospital use.
Read MoreThe real world just got a little more push-button.
Read MoreGoogle Home makes one heck of a first impression: An adorable little Bluetooth speaker, with a hyper-advanced personal assistant that promises to do things Amazon’s Echo can’t even dream of. You can even choose the color.
Read MoreOh dear—not still clicking around with a mouse and keyboard are you? What is this, early 2015? Cortana comes baked into Windows 10 now, so you can shout out commands and control your laptop or desktop using your voice instead. Here are some of the neat ways you can make use of it.
Read MoreWearable technology has caught on to progress health and fitness. Simply worn on the body, smart garments can, for instance, track activity. Sensors in functional clothing could also help optimize exercises by monitoring movement sequences. A novel transparent sensor material developed by Fraunhofer ISC enables movement measuring sensors to be printed onto textiles. The innovative material will be presented on IDTechEX Europe at booth F16 in the Estrel Berlin on 27 and 28 April 2016.
Read MoreAsk the average person what a wearable technology is and they’ll say a fitness tracker. They’ll describe it as a hard plastic bracelet, watch or clip-on gadget that logs things like heart rate and level of activity. While these early wearables have been hugely popular and a big leap forward, they have also had an extraordinarily high abandonment rate. Some 50 percent of users stop wearing them within six months.
Read MoreThe Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Information and Communications Technology Access (LiveWell RERC) is funded by a 5-year grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (grant number 90RE5028). The opinions contained in this website are those of the LiveWell RERC and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or NIDILRR.
