Smartphones and M2M for mHealth

Will Kelly explains how smartphones and M2M are becoming tools for patient advocacy and self-sufficiency.

Mobile Health (mHealth) is shaking up the healthcare market both inside and outside of the doctor’s office. The advent of machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies and smartphones are turning the Internet of Things into a health-monitoring platform that can monitor a variety of health issues (chronic and otherwise).

There are benefits of M2M joining with smartphones in a health monitoring capacity, including:

• Capability to monitor and chart trends in such things as blood pressure and heart rate
• Self-sufficiency because patient monitoring can take place outside of the doctor’s office, under their control, and without the need to always consult a healthcare professional
• Information is power when dealing with doctors, and these tools are ideal at helping patients gather information on their condition using a familiar interface

Here are some examples of how M2M and smartphones are coming together to help medical professionals, patients, and health-conscious individuals better monitor and report on chronic health conditions and their body signs.

Withings Blood Pressure Monitor
Blood pressure issues dog many segments of society. Fortunately, the Withings Blood Pressure Monitor connects to your iPhone and lets you monitor your own blood pressure at home using consumer-friendly tools. It includes the following components:

• Blood pressure cuff that connects directly to an iPhone (or an iPad or iPod Touch) to monitor your pulse and blood pressure
• Free Withings app available for download from the App Store

Through this simple connection and accompanying iOS app, users can calculate their pulse rate and blood pressure using an app interface that doesn’t take a nursing degree to interpret. It provides a number of graphs for identifying trends. There’s also an in-app feature for sending results to your doctor or other healthcare provider. The blood pressure cuff is also easy to stash away in a purse or other bag if you’re self-conscious about carrying around such a device.

Blood pressure cuffs, even after adding a digital interface, were a user experience nightmare and didn’t translate well to patients who wanted to monitor their blood pressure between doctor appointments. The Withings Blood Pressure Monitor is just one example of how M2M brings together the familiar interface and technology of the iPhone with a device such as a blood pressure cuff, which leads to improved usability.

IBGStar Blood Glucose Meter
Diabetics are gaining a lot of self-sufficiency due to M2M and smartphones. Diabetics can now track the blood glucose levels from the convenience of their smartphone. The IBGStar Blood Glucose Monitoring System is a hardware device that plugs into the audio jack of an iPhone (or iPod Touch). It includes the following features:

• No coding when calibrating test strips
• 0.5 microliter sample size for drawing a bit of blood for blood sugar testing
• Meter (hardware) with storage for 300 results with additional results storage available on the app
• App with multiple charts and graphs for viewing glucose, carbs, and insulin data
• Meter hardware has a small profile and can be left attached to an iPhone
• Personalized notes to help you track and analyze patterns and variations over your condition
• Share data with your healthcare provider through email or bring the meter to your appointment for viewing the reports together

With devices such as the IBGStar Blood Glucose Meter, diabetics can gain convenient reporting and a tool to help them better collect data for their next doctor’s appointment.

Smartphones and M2M inside the hospital
The Withings Blood Pressure Monitor and IBGStar Blood Glucose Meter are representative of the benefits that smartphones and M2M can give to consumers to stay on top of their healthcare issues. M2M and smartphones are also having an impact on patient care inside hospitals. Major carriers in the United States — such as AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon — include healthcare as an M2M focus within their enterprise division. Here are some examples of what these carriers are producing for the healthcare market:

• A Verizon and ZipIt Wireless partnership recently launched a smartphone app that helps with secure collaboration between medical professionals. This smartphone apps lets medical professionals use the secure tools available in the ZipIt Enterprise Critical Messaging Platform from their iPhone or Android phone.
• A partnership between Sprint and IDEAL Life, a manufacturer of in-home monitoring equipment, is using the Sprint network to transfer patient data from IDEAL Life home care monitoring equipment to medical professional’s smartphones. This solution builds upon the self sufficiency in the consumer (patient side) devices previously mentioned in this post but also have implications in telemedicine by enabling patient data to be transferred securely to a medical specialist that may not be geographically present in the patient’s community.
• According to recent news from CES 2013, AT&T is also preparing for some mHealth moves that target medical professionals and consumers.

More than just mHealth with smartphones and M2M
The Internet of Things is becoming a much-needed patient advocacy tool by offering patients user-friendly tools and reporting that can help better arm and educate them before doctor appointments. After all, doctors are human. The better we can communicate with them and back up statements on our condition with data means making the best use of the 15 minutes (or even less) we get with doctors these days.

More resources
For a comprehensive look at the issues and technologies surrounding the Internet of Things and the emerging M2M ecosystem, check out ZDNet’s latest feature page, Tapping M2M: The Internet of Things.

Microsoft Office 2013: What to expect on the pricing front

  Microsoft's Office 2013/new Office should be launching soon. Here's what we know so far about prices and packages. As expected, Microsoft is pricing its next-generation Office 2013 line-up in a way to try to convince users to pay an annual subscription fee -- with multiple-device-installation rights as a carrot -- instead of buying the Office 2013 software outright.

Microsoft is believed to be ready to launch its next-generation Office product within the next few weeks, possibly before the end of January. The newest version of Office -- known both as "the new Office" and "Office 2013" -- will be commercially available on that date. In preparation for the launch, Microsoft has been educating its reseller and integrator partners as to what to expect, pricing- and packaging-wise.

A chart detailing some of the expected Office 2013/New Office prices leaked in October 2012. When I asked Microsoft at the time (and a few times later) to confirm the prices, company officials declined to do so, leading some to speculate that the leaked pricing might not be final.

However, it turns out these prices for some of the "hero" Office 365 and Office 2013 SKUs, were, indeed, accurate. Microsoft shared this slide with some of its partners this week:

Everything here that is labeled as an Office 365 SKU will be priced on a subscription basis. The SKUs listed along the bottom are non-subscription, buy-once/install-on-a-single-device prices.  (Microsoft officials disclosed the planned pricing for a few of its upcoming Office 365 SKUs last year.)

But as of now, we know for sure that Office Standard 2013 will be priced at $369 and Office Professional Plus 2013 at $499, based on this week's partner disclosure. (We already knew Home & Student 2013 would be $139 and Home & Business 2013 would be $219.)

The packages listed on the slide above are not an exhaustive list of the coming Office 2013/Office 365 SKUs. This looks to be the complete Office 2013 line-up, based on what I've seen updating lately as part of Patch Tuesday:

• Microsoft Office Home and Business 2013
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013
• Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT
• Microsoft Office Personal 2013 (available in Japan only)
• Microsoft Office Professional 2013
• Microsoft Office Professional Academic 2013
• Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013 (for volume licensees only)
• Microsoft Office Standard 2013 (for volume licensees only)

Microsoft released to manufacturing (RTM'd) its latest Office client and server products on October 11, 2012. Since that time, the Softies have made the final bits available to subscribers on MSDN, TechNet and its volume licensing center. The products still are not available commercially to those without access to those channels. But as of the upcoming launch, the new Office will be preloaded on certain new PCs and available for purchase commercially.

Microsoft also will start making its new Office services -- its updated Office Web Apps, Office 365 and its Microsoft-hosted Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online offerings -- at that time, officials have said.

The company is putting a heavy emphasis on convincing not just business customers, but also consumers, to go the subscription/service route, rather than purchasing a single copy of one or more Office products with perpetual-use licenses. On the consumer front, the Office team is trying to make it more enticing for users to pay a "rental" fee for the new Office, allowing them the right to download Office products locally on up to five PCs and Macs and use them  for a year. This is what's known as Office 365 Home Premium.

On the business front, Microsoft also is trying to convince customers to go the service/subscription route. Microsoft officials said late last year the company would be offering a number of new Office 365 SKUs and pricing plans. These should become available simultaneously with the Office launch in late January.

In addition to the aforementioned Office 365 Home Premium, the new Office 365 SKUs, last we heard, includes:

• Office 365 Small Business
• Office 365 Small Business Premium
• Office 365 ProPlus
• Office 365 Midsize Business
• Office 365 Enterprise

Microsoft began preparing some of its Office 365 partners in earnest for the upcoming launch last week, providing them with guidance about how the company plans to update its cloud-hosted suite that competes with Google Apps.

Written by Mary Jo Foley.

Flush with your smartphone: Toilets get Bluetooth

Life keeps getting better and better everyday, thanks to technology and the creative minds of a few. Google has made a significant impact in the lives of so many with its Android operating system and the opportunities provided is simply endless.

Japan already has the market cornered on fancy toilets, but there's always room for more potty innovations. A new line of toilets from Lixil will soon turn smartphones into commode controllers. The Satis toilets are set for release in early 2013. Through the magic of Bluetooth and an accompanying Android app, users will have minute control over these high-tech privies.

The app can trigger a lifting of the toilet seat or a flush if you've forgotten (or don't want to touch the flusher). According to the promo video, it looks like the app can also control an extending bidet feature that looks absolutely frightening.

Top 10 IT Most Valuable Certifications

The certification landscape changes as swiftly as the technologies you support. Erik Eckel looks at the certs that are currently relevant and valuable to IT pros.

When it comes to IT skills and expertise, there are all kinds of “best certification” lists. Pundits are quick to add the safe bets: Cisco’s CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert), Red Hat’s RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer), and other popular choices.

This isn’t that list.

Based on years of experience meeting with clients and organizations too numerous to count, I’ve built this list with the idea of cataloging the IT industry’s 10 most practical, in-demand certifications. That’s why I think these are the best; these are the skills clients repeatedly demonstrate they need most. In this list, I justify each selection and the order in which these accreditations are ranked.

The 10 best IT certifications: 2012

Preface: The certification landscape changes as swiftly as the technologies you support. Erik Eckel looks at the certs that are currently relevant and valuable to IT pros.

When it comes to IT skills and expertise, there are all kinds of “best certification” lists. Pundits are quick to add the safe bets: Cisco’s CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert), Red Hat’s RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer), and other popular choices. Unfortunately, this isn’t that list.

Based on years of experience meeting with clients and organizations too numerous to count, I’ve built this list with the idea of cataloging the IT industry’s 10 most practical, in-demand certifications. That’s why I think these are the best; these are the skills clients repeatedly demonstrate they need most. In this list, I justify each selection and the order in which these accreditations are ranked.