Verizon and Google Net Neutrality deal has health care monitoring in mind
Lost in all the buzz of the recently announced Verizon and Google Net Neutrality “partnership” was that both companies were thinking of mobile health care as part of net neutrality. The reaction to the net neutrality proposal has gotten significant criticism by the tech world, mainly because Google and Verizon feel wireless carriers should be exempt from net neutrality rules. But in a joint and long winded statement, there was the following noteworthy note about mobile medicine:
Fifth, we want the broadband infrastructure to be a platform for innovation. Therefore, our proposal would allow broadband providers to offer additional, differentiated online services, in addition to the Internet access and video services (such as Verizon’s FIOS TV) offered today. This means that broadband providers can work with other players to develop new services. It is too soon to predict how these new services will develop, but examples might include health care monitoring, the smart grid, advanced educational services, or new entertainment and gaming options. Our proposal also includes safeguards to ensure that such online services must be distinguishable from traditional broadband internet access services and are not designed to circumvent the rules. The FCC would also monitor the development of these services to make sure they don’t interfere with the continued development of Internet access services.
Google recently showed how mobile health care apps can sync with their personal record – Google Health – and with their clear interest in collecting “observations of daily living” data, the proposed net neutrality standards make one think Google wouldn’t be opposed to providing a platform for health care monitoring in the future.
Google’s Android OS strategy is following Microsoft’s lead – not Apple’s
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There were fireworks at the recent Google developer conference (“Google I/O”). Some of this was well deserved excitement around features found in the newest version of the Android mobile operating system (version 2.2, “Froyo”). Much of the fireworks, however, were due to loud, public taunting of the iPhone and Steve Jobs by senior Google executives.
Since everybody loves a contest, these statements by Google speakers were widely covered in the tech press and predictably stirred up heated comment threads throughout the blogosphere.
In truth, the schoolyard level of the rhetoric (see Kara Swisher) probably does not serve Google’s interests in the long run. This is because Google’s business relationships are symbiotic: Google needs its partners’ trust to continue delivering to Google, via their devices and services, massive amounts of user data for its primary business, which is selling advertising.
Apple or Google? The Answer is Both – What the Future Holds for their Competing Mobile Platforms
Over the last few months, a great deal of time has been expended on the “hot competition” between Apple and Google in relation to smart phones. Much of this interest probably had to do with a partially imagined story of a once close friendship between Apple and Google, founded on their mutual enmity of Microsoft, now fractured on the rocks of competition and greed. While the truth probably isn’t as dramatic, whatever conflict exists is much less interesting than where they may overlap – especially when imagining where medical technology could go and how it would affect medical professionals. As most readers are undoubtedly aware, much of the recent discussion in the blogosphere on this topic (at least before January 27) was about the rapid ascent of the Android platform. The emergent themes were that the open and mutable nature of the Android operating system, the entry of multiple handset makers, and the absence of any restriction on software publishing will inevitably make Android the dominant smart phone platform of the future. The historical analogy given was desktop computing, where commodity hardware and a minimally restrictive operating system made Microsoft Windows the de facto standard, despite many obvious flaws. But, it seems this analogy is flawed and here’s why.
Google’s Nexus One Phone Could Usher In New Wave of Medical Dictation Services
Google’s launch of it’s newest phone, the Nexus One, has been met with praise and skepticism. There are many who love the speedy SnapDragon processor and the 5 megapixel camera, while others rail against its lack of differentiation from other Android OS platforms. Through all the debate, I’ve found the built in capability of Voice to Text not getting much attention. From what I’ve read of the phone so far, the voice to text appears to be surprisingly accurate, opening up the possibilities for this feature to be used for Medical Transcription services. The only problem is Google has offered Voice to Text in other platforms, and we haven’t seen similar results.
GeeTasks: Helping Medical Professionals ‘Simply’ Stay on Task [App Review]
By: Matthew DeAugustinis, MD/MPH student, MS4
The Google behemoth has brought us many life-simplifying applications in the last decade (gMail, Google Calendar, etc…). Health professional have found these applications priceless in many aspects of our busy lives. Whether keeping that Grand Rounds top on the agenda or making your kids recital, having access to the data of our lives wherever we have internet is something we cherish. In December 2008 Google released another web based app to organize our lives, Google Tasks.
Google Tasks functions as a simple to-do list, with the ability to create multiple lists, provide due dates (and sort by due dates), add notes and access these lists through gMail, Google Calendar or on a standalone web app. This enables individuals with busy lives, i.e. medical professionals, to keep tabs on what’s most important, when it’s important and if we’ve yet done it. Unfortunately, like many Google applications, Google Tasks is solely web-based requiring the use of a browser and internet connection to access your tasks (both on a PC and Mobile Device). This issue has been remedied in the past for gMail and Google Calendar by the native Apple applications “Calendar” and “Mail” which sync with Google but retain information for offline viewing. Apple has no such native app for tasks. In comes GeeTasks to solve this issue.
