medicine

The Future of Health Care Is Social [slideshow]

Jennifer Kilian and Barbara Pantuso — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:17:56 -0400

Read the feature article: The Future of Health Care is Social

Join in the conversation this Thursday October 8 at noon eastern, when frog design holds a discussion about the future of health care on Twitter (follow @frogdesign and the hash tag #futureofhealthcare).

The Future of Health Care Is Social

Jennifer Kilian and Barbara Pantuso — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:00:05 -0400

Health care is a personal issue that has become wholly public--as the national debate over reforming our system makes painfully clear. But what's often lost in the gun-toting Town Hall debates about the issue is a clear vision about how medicine could work in the future. In this feature article, frog design uses its people-centered design discipline to show how elegant health and life science technology solutions will one day become a natural part of our behavior and lifestyle.

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Augmented Reality Gets New Dimension: Layar Adds 3-D

Kit Eaton — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:49:50 -0400

We've covered Augmented Reality app Layar a lot as it's one of the most promising examples of the technology out there--and it's getting even neater: Layar's adding 3-D to its AR world modeling system.
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Soon Your Phone Network Will Be a Vanilla Data Channel

Kit Eaton — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:26:01 -0400

Nokia just revealed it won't let phone networks apply any proprietary customization to its hot little MID/smartphone the N900. It's another sign that in the future your cell-phone network will be way less important than it thinks it is.

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Twitter and Facebook Come to FiOS TV, but Verizon's Still Just a Widget Wannabe

Kit Eaton — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:23:31 -0400

Verizon's just added something to FiOS that's either a blessing or a curse for Twitter addicts--a live feed of your Twitter account that'll appear on your TV over the show you're watching, part of a new Widget Bazaar that also includes a Facebook app.
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Exploring the Apple Tablet Rumor...Again

Kit Eaton — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:06:55 -0400

The Apple Tablet--long hoped-for magic unicorn of the high-tech gadget world--is back in the news. But this time instead of merely speculating, people are saying they have hard numbers to back up their rumors. So--is it real?
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Will Your Next Prescription Drug Be Made Out of Recycled LCD Screens?

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:44:07 -0400

LCD waste from electronics is the fastest growing waste stream from Europe. One way to cut down on LCDs heading to the landfill: Turn them into medication. It sounds like something out of a sci-fi flick, but researchers at the University of York have discovered that waste from old LCD TVs can be recycled for medical purposes.
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Infectious Disease Cruise Conference

Fast Company Calendar — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 01:00:00 -0400

One tip to avoid the spread of infectious diseases: Don't gather in confined spaces. Like, you know, a ship at sea. (We haven't forgotten all those news stories about the stomach-churning, disinfectant-resisting norovirus.) This conference-on-a-cruise about contagion and bugs is aimed at the continuing education of physicians and nurses. The unintentional takeaway? Do as your docs say, not as they do.
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DNA Purification Gets Portable for Developing World

Kit Eaton — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:57:20 -0400

DNA analysis is key to many modern medical techniques, but usually requires a whole bunch of electronics and chemistry in a lab environment. That's not suitable for poorer nations, so a science team has simplified it to the max.
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Best Buy Dabbles in Online Crowdsourcing

Kit Eaton — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 10:25:39 -0400

Best Buy's a big name and, you know, it's pretty successful. But that doesn't mean it's closed-minded, and won't listen to good ideas from the public. To that end, it's just launched an online Suggestions Box.
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How BodyMedia Is Making Fitness Data Personal

Kate Rockwood — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0400

John "Ivo" Stivoric
Cofounder, CTO, and VP of New Products
BodyMedia
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Making It Personal

Ivo Stivoric, 38, has developed wearable fitness sensors for clinical patients for more than a decade. Responding to demand, BodyMedia introduced its GoWear fit line for consumers last year.
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Why Walgreens Is Building Its Own Universal Health-Care System

Zachary Wilson — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:00:00 -0400

Everyone knows Gary Gustin. When he walks through the halls of L-3 Communications' Camden, New Jersey, office, he gets smiles and hellos from everyone he meets. Gustin isn't the CEO or the guy who developed the defense contractor's secure BlackBerry substitute for President Obama. He's a Walgreens employee.
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Travel Search Wars: Google Tests City Guides, Bing Travel Plagiarizes

Kit Eaton — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:09:37 -0400

Seems like travel functionality is a trending topic in search engine design: Google's testing intelligently-created City Tours. Meanwhile Bing Travel, which we wrote about recently, is in trouble over an alleged plagiaristic UI.

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Magnetic Blood Cleaning Procedure Could Save Lives, Star-Trek Style

Kit Eaton — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:50:54 -0400

Here's a medical innovation that's pretty amazing: It's a blood filter that could actually reduce deaths from sepsis in hospitals. The system works by removing dangerous bacteria not by using fine porous filtration, but instead the power of magnets.

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Did The iPhone 3G S Sell a Million This Weekend? You Betcha

Kit Eaton — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:03:42 -0400

Some analysis last week poured cold water on the idea that the new iPhone 3G S would outsell its predecessor on the first weekend, and only make 500,000 sales. We say otherwise, and there's plenty of data around the net to back that up.
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Scientists Design "Virtual Twins" to Pre-test Medical Treatments

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:53:26 -0400

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Google Street View Now Lets You Navigate Like a Superhero

Kit Eaton — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:41:01 -0400

Google's Street View app has always been, if you think about it, a bit mind-blowing (that's why we put Stephen Chau on our list of the 100 Most Creative People). But amazing--and free!--as it is, the app has never been very easy to use. But now it's been souped-up, and could pass as a sci-fi movie special effect.
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A Prescription For Doing Good – Pfizer’s New Ethonomic Treatment Plan

Kaihan Krippendorff — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:18:04 -0400

Over the last several months, I’ve introduced companies that are successful while also doing good for all stakeholders – employees, the community and shareholders. Many of the companies that I have introduced are younger, more agile businesses that on the surface seem more likely to incorporate ethonomics in their evolving business plans.
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Sony, Microsoft Motion Controls Will Beat Wii at Its Own Game

Kit Eaton — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:17:46 -0400

Nintendo Wii's role as king of motion gaming consoles is at risk. Sony and Microsoft have both previewed motion control systems at the E3 video game expo, and both systems knock Wii clean off the throne--even though neither has announced when their controllers will become available to the public.
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How Much Would You Pay Your Doctor to Tell You to Behave?

Jay Parkinson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:23:28 -0400

As we all know, the economy ain't doing so well. And there's good evidence to suggest that people are cutting back on preventive doctor visits--when times get tough, people reduce frivolous spending.

Doctor visits are frivolous?
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Could Real-Life Tricorder Inventions Combat the Next Pandemic?

Kit Eaton — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:29:16 -0400

Swine flu still rumbles on in the background, and it is still dangerous--but could two new inventions revealed this week give us Star Trek-like medical technology to help us combat future pandemics?
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OLED's Best Use Yet: Skin Cancer-Killing Bandaid

Kit Eaton — Mon, 11 May 2009 10:09:56 -0400

When you read about OLEDs it's usually in the context of some super-performing display or TV, but now there's interesting news about a medical exploitation of OLED lights. They're being tested as a very efficient way to kill skin cancer cells.

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Gates Foundation Grants $100K Apiece To 81 Wild Ideas

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:10:48 -0400

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Healing Yourself Via YouTube: The Amazing and Frightening Future of Health Care

Noah Robischon — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:37:58 -0400

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Microsoft and Mayo Clinic Unveil Free Site for Storing Medical Records

Cliff Kuang — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:12:52 -0400

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