WirelessDoc

Microsoft will demo RSS support

Dave is at Gnomedex today, but he's posting the news that tomorrow Microsoft will demo their extensive browser support of RSS. Initially, when MS contacted Dave, he assumed that they were only interested in managing lists of browser bookmarks using RSS, but as it turns out they have a dedicated team for development of RSS.

On Friday you'll see how deeply integrated RSS is in the architecture of the browser. But that's just the tip of what may turn out to be a very big iceberg. The people at Microsoft noticed something that I had seen, only peripherally -- that there were applications of RSS that aren't about news. Like Audible's NY Times Best Seller list, or an iTunes music playlist, or lists of Sharepoint documents, or browser bookmarks. Lists are all over the place, and people are starting to move them around via RSS, and they are not the usual kind of data that has been carried by RSS in the past.

Dave says that the OPML editor he's developing "will support the very simple extensions to RSS that they are developing, and I look forward to collaborating on further extensions and perhaps even new formats as we go forward."

Risen World Technologies announced

This press release from PRNewswire relates:

SAN ANTONIO, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Biomedical development firm Vital Needs International (VNI) announced today the acquisition of REBOL® software and formation of a new company, Risen World Technologies. The new company will integrate wireless communications based on REBOL® software into many of Vital Needs' medical devices, allowing real-time medical monitoring and communications. Risen World will also license REBOL®-based wireless applications to other industry sectors looking for a swift and secure communications infrastructure (http://www.rebol.com ).

The first application from VNI is something called the Freedom Patch , "a wireless, beltless contraction monitor for pregnant mothers...."

While looking over their Web site I see another product that they're providing to countries in Africa to help prevent blood spray during the transection of the umbilical cord. It's called Joey, and is meant to protect health care workers from blood borne disease including HIV and hepatitis.

"Please Stop, You're Interfering With My Research - Astronomers have opinions about allowing cell phones on planes. What if biologists applied the same logic to human endeavors?"

Dr. Ivan Oransky, editor for The Scientist, notes these comments by the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Radio Frequencies submitted to the FCC(PDF):

The National Academy of Sciences, through the National Research
Council's Committee on Radio Frequencies (CORF), hereby submits its
comments in response to the Commission's February 15, 2005, Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking in the above-captioned docket (NPRM). In these
Comments, CORF supports proposals in the NPRM that could have the effect of
reducing the likelihood and severity of interference from airborne cellular
telephone transmissions to sensitive radio astronomy observations.

Dr. Oransky, with tongue firmly in buccal cavity, opines:

Thank you, members of Congress, for the opportunity to address you at this hearing today. On behalf of the 300,000 members of Scientists for Responsible Progress, we are here to exhort you to pass legislation that will make the future of science a reality. We must ensure that frivolous human activity does not continue to disrupt the forward march of scientific advances. Every day, humans trample on the ability of scientists to do their work.

With that as a preamble, please consider our well-reasoned proposals:

• Lights – these must be kept to an absolute minimum. There are astronomers on the East Coast of the US who have not seen a star in years...

It seems inevitable that cell phone service will be available on the major airlines, despite the efforts of radioastronomers. However, I think the holdup has been from the carriers who are concerned about hordes of cell phones traveling high and fast above the landscape of cell towers which are trying to manage a consistent signal for each. The cell concept was designed around the terrestrial use of the average cell phone. The use of a picocell on each airliner to manage all cell signals from the plane to the ground might be implemented for this reason. I'll see if I can get confirmation on this from one of the carriers.

Wireless forensic camera develop for ER use

This story from the DesertsunOnline describes the collaboration of Forensic Visions (a company that creates and markets remote monitoring systems for airports, hotels and other businesses), and an ER physician at the local children's center. The handheld camera is meant to be used for sexual assault exams for children brought to the ER.

UK diabetics get 'Intel Inside'

The Brtish Times Online reports this trial of implanted computer chips that will interface with cellphones via Bluetooth:

The sensor, which includes a Pentium microprocessor just 2mm square, will initially be implanted in diabetics. Trials will begin by Christmas at St Mary’s hospital, London. The implant will be programmed to send an emergency text message via a mobile phone, alerting medical staff to changes in blood-sugar levels.

Why RSS and Folksonomies Are Becoming So Big

This post by Jenny the Shifted Librarian once again touts the elegance of RSS in stripping away such undesireables as comment spam, trackback spam, etc., by way of an essay by Kevin Hale.

This might just be a matter of this sector waiting to be discovered by the spammer so that they can create their tag spam. And, I find it very difficult to accept the metaphor of Google as a library. It's that type of egalitarian collective that doesn't ensure authority on any particular subject. Just because many people are linking (or appear to link via the spammers), doesn't guarantee that the destination information is reliable.

AMIA announces 10x10 project

The American Medical Informatics Association is announcing their 10x10 initiative to set as a goal 10,000 trained informaticians by the year 2010.

This is from the email I received from them:

The first offering of 10x10 is a partnership with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). AMIA 10x10 at OHSU current course will consist of 12-weeks of on-line training culminating in an intensive in-person 2-day session. (One full day of AMIA 2005 Tutorials, and one day final project work and networking with classmates and leaders in the field)The Web-based portion of the course will be provided through lectures, interactive discussions, and self-assessment tests. The in-person sessions will bring together attendees to integrate the material, allow presentation of course projects, and meet leaders in the field as well as other students.

Topics covered in the program:

• Overview of Discipline and its History
• Biomedical Computing
• Electronic Health Records and Health Information Exchange
• Decision Support: Evolution and Current Approaches
• Standards: Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security
• Evidence-based Medicine and Medical Decision-making
• Information Retrieval and Digital Libraries
• Bioinformatics
• Imaging Informatics and Telemedicine
• Consumer Health, Nursing, and Public Health Informatics
• Organization and Management Issues in Informatics
• Career and Professional Development

The tuition for this program is $2,000. The tuition covers both the on-line and in-person sessions. Additionally, 10x10 students will receive a one-year membership in AMIA.

Deadline to sign up for the current offering is July 6, 2005

Complete course information available at: http://www.amia.org/10x10

vSkype launches group videoconferencing plugin for Skype

Renato M.E. Sabbatini is reporting in his newsletter, Edumednews:

Santa Cruz Networks on Wednesday launched vSkype Beta, group videoconferencing and collaboration software that lets Skype users meet online with as many as 200 friends or business associates who also use Skype.

The vSkype Beta software is available for downloading from www.vskype.com and can work on any Internet connection that is 56 kilobits per second or faster, says Stuart Jacobson, chief executive officer of Santa Cruz Networks. The Santa Cruz, California, company has developed technology that lets each user get the best possible video performance for their network connection, he said. The idea is that meeting participants with slower connections can join in with slower frame rates without dragging down the rest of the participants.
 

Some Japan Internet stats

Joi Ito provides some stats presented at the Internet Association Japan:

There are 32,244,000 broadband households which is 36.2%.

There are 70,072,000 Internet users.

72.5% of people have heard of blogs, up from 39% last year.

25% of women in their teens and 20's have blogs.

9.5% of Internet users use RSS Readers.

46.5% of Internet users have decreased spending in physical shops because of online shopping.

29.6% of offices have wifi up from 10.7% last year.

2.8% of companies have corporate blogs and over 50% express no intention of ever having corporate blogs.

5.5% of companies have corporate web pages for mobile phone users.

I'd like to see how this matches up with the US.

Clinton,Frist Tout Medical Records Bill

I'm receiving e-mails from the many who saw the interview yesterday on the Today Show. This Yahoo! report mentions:

The bill would spend $125 million a year to promote local and regional health information systems to allow some 6,000 hospitals and 9,000 health care providers to better communicate and share patient histories during medical emergencies.

This bill is woefully underfunded.