TECHNOLOGYSERVICE: Microsoft Wants Your Health Records

Monday, October 8, 2007

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_42/b4054047.htm

OCTOBER 15, 2007
NEWS & INSIGHTS
Microsoft Wants Your Health Records
Its new service will store your data in one place—and search ads could make it pay

***Begin Quote***

Step into a medical office, and you’re faced with a paradox of modern medicine. Just beyond the receptionist’s desk are all sorts of cutting-edge medical technology. Computed tomography scanners. Electrocardiogram machines. Bone densitometers.

But as you approach that desk to check in, you take a trip back in time. There the receptionist hands you a clipboard of forms. For the umpteenth time you fill in your name, age, allergies, medical history, and the like. For all the medical breakthroughs created by technology, medical records remain an anachronism.

***End Quote***

“We can trust Microsoft to keep our health data secure? — Right!” — Luddite

You’ll be surprised to know that I signed myself and Frau up for the service. I haven’t loaded any data yet, but I’m planning to.

Why?

I can hear it all the way from here.

Because, it would have been, and would be useful, in various circumstances.

If I had been more on the ball, then her experience at Pton Hospital where they really screwed her up, might not have happened, or been well documented.

One of the reasons I went to those corny “frau med alert” email was to keep a chronology clear in my head and establish a trail.

I’ve tried several similar services and they either folded, got lost, or were cumbersome. I’m always willing to try stuff if I can see a benefit. No matter how obscure.

Anyway, it might be useful in an emergency, or in litigation.

Besides the insurance companies, the hospitals, and the gooferment already have it all keyed to SSN, how much worse could MSFT make it?

imho!

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UPDATE

People are beginning to weigh in on the topic.

Microsoft’s Health Vault Allows You to Store and Share Your Electronic Medical Records – But Should You?

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Posted by reinkefj

TECH SERVICE: Virtual Computer — G.HO.ST

Monday, October 8, 2007

http://g.ho.st

A most interesting concept. Perhaps, this is the “computer” of the future?

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Posted by reinkefj

TECHNOLOGY: Using an LLP to protect yourself

Sunday, October 7, 2007

http://www.techmeme.com/071006/p16#a071006p16

TECHMEME points out an interesting article
Securing Very Important Data: Your Own (Denise Caruso/New York Times)
Source: New York Times
Author: Denise Caruso
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/technology/07frame…

***Begin Quote***

Securing Very Important Data: Your Own — AS long as we are willing to relinquish some personal data, Web applications have long allowed us to create virtual identities that can conduct most of the social and financial transactions that typify life in the real world.

***and***

ONE way to change this, he said, is to make people more like organizations.

To this end, Mr. Neuenschwander and his colleagues have floated the intriguing concept of the L.L.P.: the Limited Liability Persona. This persona would be a legally recognized virtual person in which users could “invest” the financial or identity resources of their choosing.

Once their individual personas are created, consumers would be able to use them as their legal “alter ego,” even in financial transactions. “My L.L.P. would have its own mailing address, its own tax ID number, and that’s the information I’d give when I’m online,” Mr. Neuenschwander said. Other benefits include the ability for “personas” to limit their financial exposure in ways that individuals cannot.

***End Quote***

This is a most interesting concept.

The tin foil hat crowd always talks about the gooferment and all upper case names. So perhaps, a great gift for a child would be an LLP and their own name as a domain name (e.g., JOHNQPUBLIC dot something ink?).

Hmmm, certainly something to consider.

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TECH SERVICE: new search tool for internet radio

Sunday, October 7, 2007

>http://www.iheard.com/stations/folk/acoustic/liveireland

***Begin Quote***

<a href=”http://www.iheard.com/stations/folk/acoustic/liveireland/”><img src=”http://www.iheard.com/images/iheard_badge.gif” alt=”LiveIreland 1 radio – iheard.com” style=”border:0;”></a>

LiveIreland 1

Irish Folk, Traditional And Celtic Music From Dublin, Ireland. Liveireland Is One Of The Worlds Most Listened To Irish Internet Radio Stations.
Station Rating:
Country: Ireland
Language: English

***End Quote***

In my never-ending search to recapture the glory days of skool and the Red Garter in Greenwich Village of the Sixties, I like: irish, folk, or Gay Nineties banjo quartet music.

Here’s a new search tool for internet radio.

Don’t you just love the net!

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TECH SERVICE: GRANDCENTRAL can’t “do” skype

Friday, October 5, 2007

I put my skype number into grandcentral and it doesn’t work. I pick up the skype call but grand central doesn’t recognize it. :-)

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RANT: Force is never acceptable

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070928/ts_afp/irelandsmokingpubsmusicoffbeat_070928145420

*** begin quote ***

Interesting…they should try it in Vegas!

*** end quote ***

Vegas has the smoking Nazis already.

It’s not complete, but it’s getting there.

It is the INITIATION OF FORCE. They are using gooferment to inflict their values on us. It’s OK because you agree with this one. What if it is one of your vices? Like golf? It very wasteful of time, energy, and attention citizen. Further, people get hurt at golf and miss work and can’t maximize their tax payments to the state. And, think of the ecology. What about all the poor animals displaced for your “golf course”. That money and land could have been given to the “poor”.

How does that fit for size? Little tight.

If some one can use gooferment to force YOU or ME or ANYONE to do ONE thing, then we are slaves and they can makes us do anything. Citizen, it unhealthy for you to go to Church, wear clothes, eat at mickeyd’s.

Look it from a freedom side. Does anyone FORCE those musicians to take their equipment to the smoke filled pubs? No, they can say “I only play at smoke free venues”. But, then they have to bear the COSTS of that action. And, who owns the pubs. Obviously, the gooferment since they call the shots. Is anyone forced to patronize the pubs? Yes, the gooferment “regulates” them.

Without the gooferment, there’s be MORE CHOICES. The marketplace would create smoke free Irish pubs.

See in a free market, no one is compelled to do squat. Everyone would get to make choices. When you spend your certificates of appreciation give by your fellow workers for something you’ve done that they like, then it’s like having a mini election. AND, everyone is allowed to decide. Sort of like democracy without the force of mob rule.

See no one can be “wealthy” without serving their fellow man. The free market is essentially a coordination mechanism that allows us to cooperate. Socialism is enforced slavery; free markets are a very complex calculus that allows everyone to be satisfied with what’s available to the maximum extent possible.

Socialism’s mantra “from each, according to ability; to each, according to need. The Free Markets mantra is “serve your fellow man and be rewarded to the extent of your contribution”.

See first, you have to dig the well, and then you get to drink. Catch 10 fish and the market can equate that to 2 loaves of bread. If you catch 10 fish and I catch 5, you get two loaves and I get a lesson in motivation and ability.

It’s a complex mechanism, since if fishing is bad and you only catch 5 and I get 1, then the price of fish will rise. If the baker doesn’t lower his price of bread, he winds up with stale bread. So magically, there will be fish for the baker and bread for us.

It’s when force aka gets involved that the mechanism breaks down.

Argh!

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TECHNOLOGY: We should all use ZULU time!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Once again, this whole nonsense about time zones and daylight savings times aggravated me.

(I got up an hour earlier than I had to for my morning call.)

As a globe, we should all be on GMT.

Who cares if you work 9-5 in eat or 1400-2200 Zulu?

If you talk to someone in another time zone, the conversation has one variable extracted.

And, maybe Microsoft Outlook would work correctly.

Argh!

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TECHNOLOGY: SKYPE and VWBBie

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

FYI, to anyone who is interested or cares, I participated in a conference call from the Denver Tech Center Marriott using SKYPE from my personal NOTEBOOK over the Verizon Wireless Broad Band. And it all worked.

Call was FREE, VWBB ain’t, and quality was acceptable.

So in essence I have turned a very expensive notebook into a free semi-mobile phone.

A sort of large cell phone? A funny phone booth?

Demos available at a modest fee.

Love it when stuff works.

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Posted by reinkefj

TECH SERVICE: NOTE2EMAIL (My rating 5 *’s)

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

http://www.note2email.com/write

NOTE2EMAIL

***Begin Quote***

Send quick notes to your email address in one easy step.
No need for passwords or usernames.
Note it down and send it , as simple as that !

***End Quote***

Very neat. Very clean. Very … elegant.

Love it. Am quickly integrating it into my SOE.

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UPDATE: One “curve” if you send one to someone else, then you have to tell them not to reply to it. Replies appear to go to the bit bucket. Great service; needs improvement. Definitely a keeper.

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UPDATE: The developer responds. How kool is that?

From: Andrei Aldescu
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 1:40 PM
To: Reinke’s Catch All Email
Subject: Re: What happens to replies?

Hello,

We are sorry but the notes are sent from a generic email address note@note2email.com) therefore, displaying the replay to the sender is not available right now. Basically if someone replies to a note that was sent via note2email.com, that reply will only get in the note2email.com inbox  and will not be redirected in any way to the sender.

We are currently working on a mechanism that shows the status of a note and displays the content of any replies.

Thank you for using our service ,
We will keep you posted.

Andrei

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[Of course, I have to have the last word!]

As you can see from my blog, I like it. It would seem “easy” (Easy for me, cause I don’t have to do anything.) to allow the inputter to supply a reply to address. That would make it the cat’s meow. :-) fjohn

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I’m sure he will be anxious to impress a blogger with 7 readers. :-)  W, MI, SS, F, MF, JF, GC … … and you thought I was kidding. :-)

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TECHNOLOGY: the computer industry’s soft underbelly

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2007/092607backspin.html?page=2

The industry’s soft underbelly
Backspin By Mark Gibbs, Network World, 09/26/07

*** begin quote ***

What are the big issues that people outside of the computer business should really pay attention to? More important, if we believe that outsiders should be paying attention, then what will it take to clue them in? So, you tell me: What is the computer industry’s soft underbelly? What should consumers know?

*** end quote ***

I think there are several “hot issues”:

1) Computers don’t necessarily make one more productive. The certainly don’t make organizations more efficient. And, the noise level of electronic communication is such that it really prevents concentration, attention, and focus. Computing can effectively conceal process problems.

2) The novice, and most experienced, users have no clue how fragile everything is. Hard disk failure is the easiest understood. Data corruption by — malicious, corrupt, buggy, or poorly designed — software is the hardest to understand and protect against.

3) Similarly, software sucks. It’s rare that it works with 100% reliability. If you could keep it locked in a box, then maybe it would stay uncorrupted, unupdated, unfixed, uncustomized, un-what-evered. Put it in use and stuff happens. And, some of that stuff ain’t good. For example, look at Microsoft SUS updating “silently” regardless of what your settings are.

4) Now let’s talk about costs. You don’t “buy” software. “barbara streisand” You give the vendor your money and that the last you’ll get any attention from them. So you don’t “buy” it, but you pay thru the nose. If you’re an old pro, you use Open Source Software where your upfront cost is zero and you can buy some support as you need it. (A better model imho).

5) Companies want your credit card so they can keep billing that card month after month. Good luck getting them to stop. Plan on changing your number to get rid of them. AND, Intelligent Designer help you if you want a refund!

These vex pros and novices alike. And, no one talks about it. But, these are the 800# gorillas in the room imho.

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