IF YOU GOT an Amazon Echo or Google Home voice assistant, welcome to a life of luxurious convenience. You’ll be asking for the weather, the news, and your favorite songs without having to poke around on your phone. You’ll be turning off lights and requesting videos from bed. The world is yours.
Read MoreWhen most people think about wearable technology, Fitbits and Apple Watches come to mind. While these are devices have been game-changers, the world of wearable technology is so much larger - and it’s getting bigger every day.
Read MoreOver the past few years, we've covered a number of health apps that we believed put patients at risk through dubious claims about what they can measure or treat. In 2014, we detailed an app called Instant Blood Pressure, which claimed to measure blood pressure just by having users put the microphone over their chest and finger over the camera. About a year after our initial article, it was pulled first from the Google Play app store then the iTunes app store. And earlier this year, a study conducted by some of my colleagues at Johns Hopkins showed Instant Blood Pressure to be highly inaccurate and detailed how those inaccuracies could put patients at risk. Given the attention that study got in the lay press as well as Apple's moves to scale up their healthcare expertise, I assumed that the review of health apps, particularly those that claim to measure or treat something, would be tightened up.
Read MoreA key part of the Internet's infrastructure was hit by a series of attacks Friday, causing major services such as Twitter, Spotify and PayPal to be inaccessible for many users around the world.
Read MoreI wrote earlier how in many ways the impact of IoT is being underestimated. Yet more and more you are seeing opinions that perhaps IoT is in reality overhyped and growth is stalling. Does the lack of standards or growing security concerns mean that IoT may just not meet many of these grandiose expectations? Or, to borrow terms from the Gartner Hype Cycle for emerging technologies report, are we moving towards the natural evolution of technology, past the peak of inflated expectations, and diving right into the trough of disillusionment? Are we waiting for the slope of enlightenment to hit where everyone goes back to having those IoT ah ha! moments?
Read MoreAlexa has started talking finance — and banks, insurance companies, and investment firms are all listening.
Read MorePharma and tech giants are pouring hundreds of millions into diabetes technology, designing gadgets and developing software aimed at helping patients manage a burdensome disease.Pharma and tech giants are pouring hundreds of millions into diabetes technology, designing gadgets and developing software aimed at helping patients manage a burdensome disease.
Read MoreThe Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) today released a White Paper addressing access to information and communications technologies (ICT) by people with cognitive disabilities. The paper presents an in-depth look at the benefits of these technologies for people with cognitive disabilities, as well as current barriers to such technologies. Specifically, the paper identifies three primary barriers: the lack of accessibility; economic barriers; and the lack of outreach to people with cognitive disabilities and their support networks about both their rights to accessible technologies and the current availability of accessible ICT technologies. The paper also provides an in-depth look at accessible features on certain communications devices that can help people with cognitive disabilities live more independently, and concludes with steps that can be taken to ensure that future communications technologies are fully accessible to this population.
Read MoreSmartphone use by clinicians has risen dramatically in the last two years within hospitals, and more facilities have developed mobile device management strategies to cope.
Read MoreSAN 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 MoreWhile a lot is often made of the quality of a new smartphone's camera, a recent survey by YouGov has revealed that something much more mundane and practical is at the top of smartphone users' wishlists. Longer battery life was cited as the feature most people want their phone to have. Having the best quality camera was only cited by 12 percent of respondents as being the most-wanted feature compared to 46 percent for better battery life.
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 MoreFrom the Jawbone Up to the Apple Watch, wrist-based designs have become the de facto form factor for wearable technology. But we’re already wrist-banded out. So what’s next?
Read MoreDo you know how many medical devices are in your hospital or group practice? Do you know where they are? Do you know if they have embedded encryption and if it is turned on? Do you know these aren’t just devices, but often are mini-computers linked to the corporate network?
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 MoreIn broad terms, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) accessibility can be defined as technology being accessed by individuals with a wide range of abilities and disabilities. ICT accessibility is closely aligned with the principles of universal design, allowing individuals to interact with technology and electronic information in ways that work best for their needs and abilities.
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.
