Note: I had stopped writing posts in 2017. Started again in late-2024, mostly for AI.
Zume Life is a San Jose start-up that is planning to develop its own dedicated device to allow individuals to keep track of and manage their own care regimen. It's target users are individuals with complex care requirements- taking a multiple medications, specific diets, frequent measurements, daily exercise etc. What they offer is a 'Zumi Life Service' that helps coordinate the logistics of...
I wrote about Proactive Sleep a while back and wondered how it would be to combine a sensor to automatically record sleep pattern. Well, Zeo gets one step closer to that. Zeo system consists of a wearable headband that measure brain's natural electrical activity. Although their blog has a high-level explanation of how it works, my understanding is that its a single-channel EEG, which seems to be...
Around 1989, Steven Schueler started working on a computer program that could perform symptom triage. The intent was to create something that patients could use to safely decide what to do when they were sick. In 1990, his company DSHI Systems released “Home Medical Advisor” on a floppy disk. Later it was issued on CD-ROM’s, and claims to have sold over 2 million copies over the years. A major...
Another vital-sensing hardware with integrated service to keep you healthy. miCoach from Addias helps users create a custom workout plan and track progress with real-time feedback and audio coaching. I was fortunate to see a demo last month. At the core of the offering is a set of remote sensors- a heart rate monitor (worn as a strap around torso) and a stride sensor (clips on to shoes, and...
Royal Philips International seems to be placing its bets on some innovative healthcare IT markets. Here are some that I've noticed in the past couple of years: VISICU (a remote ICU monitoring technology company acquired in 2007) Digital Pathology (commercial offering in 2009) Motiva (Remote patient management and education delivered through television) TeleStation (In-home hub for two-way...
Here is a half-baked idea that adds another data point to my rant about how keeping a record of health-related activities is useful, and how web 2.0 technologies can help enable such a record. Bedpost is a web application (currently in private beta) that helps in keeping track of user's sex life. I've not used the site myself, but they claim simple functionality- log in after the fact and fill...
NLM may not be known for Health 2.0 efforts, but this one surely qualifies for one. Pillbox.nlm.nih.gov is a fantastic tool that lets users identify medications by the way they look. A beautiful Adobe Flex powered interface enables selection of various physical characteristics like shape, color, size etc. and comes up with matches. The website is not currently recommended for clinical use-...
In their own words 'Psych Central is the Internet's largest and oldest independent mental health social network'. From what I can find, it seems to be true. They have been online since 1995, and last year got close to half a million unique visitors. So consider it as the social network that started before the age of social networking. It now offers blogs, forums, reviews, news, feeds, tweets and...
Usually I'm wary of putting time into big-budget health portals, but San Francisco based Healthline deserves a mention. They have a portfolio of healthcare search, navigation and content that is syndicated through a growing network of big web properties like AARP, Health.com, iVillage, AOL etc. Healthline was founded in 1999 as YourDoctor.com and was re-launched as Healthline Networks in 2005....
In general, I really like the idea of using personal mobile computing devices in treating/preventing chronic conditions. As devices and sensors get smarter and cheaper, it's logical that they start playing role in helping individuals deal with chronic, lifestyle affecting conditions like migraines, sleep disorders, allergies, dysmenorrhea, depression etc. Proactive Sleep provides a 'smart alarm...