First the Smart Phone, Now the Smart Home: Technology Anticipates, Meets Our Needs for Health, Efficiency

From SciencyDaily:


We have all heard of the smartphone and, any day now, most of us will have one. Not far behind: the smart home

Writing in the latest issue of the journal Science, Washington State University's Diane Cook says it won't be long before our homes act as "intelligent agents" that use sensors and software to anticipate our needs and tend to tasks that improve our health, energy efficiency, even social media. (...)

Cook has been applying artificial intelligence in test homes since coming to WSU in 2006. Sites around the Northwest, including 18 apartments in Seattle, already show that the technology can help monitor aging-in-place elderly residents and alert caregivers if they are not completing ordinary activities like rising, eating, bathing and taking medications.

Full text at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120329170435.htm

Home Healthcare Technology Gaining Momentum

from Design News:


Medical technology is moving from the clinic to the home, even as the healthcare industry struggles to adjust to the home-based business model, one expert told Design News.

"The challenge in remote patient monitoring today is not the technology," said Steven Dean, global healthcare segment lead for Freescale Semiconductor. "The technology has been available for at least a decade. Now, it's more an issue of the reimbursement climate."

Speaking on a recent Design News radio broadcast, "Embedded Angles for Medical Products," Dean said that memory, processing, and communications technology have reached the point where many patients could be adequately monitored at home.

Full text at:

http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=239746&f

Mobile Industry Views Health Care as Growth Opportunity

from iHealthBeat:

Most executives in the mobile technology industry say health care represents the biggest growth opportunity for 4G services, according to a new survey from Deloitte, MobiHealthNews reports.

For the survey, Deloitte interviewed about 250 senior executives who worked for mobile device manufacturers, mobile network operators, software application developers and other mobile technology firms. Researchers finished analyzing the data in August 2011.

Full text at
http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2012/3/22/mobile-industry-views-health-care-as-growth-opportunity.aspx#ixzz1pwN3EtsK