Driverless Cars

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Smart Pill Bottle


Smart Pill Bottle: This technology would allow medical bottles that contain pills to interact with patients that take that medication. These bottles would store patient information, how many pills are in the bottle, and frequency for which the patient should be taking the medication. Patients would receive text messages or phone calls letting them know they missed a pill or they are running low on medicine and need to refill. In case of an accident basic patient information would be stored in the bottle, so medical personnel could diagnose the patient more quickly. There would also be some sort of security mechanism where only the patient could open the bottle and authorized users as well.

This technology will be available within 20 years. It will be available, because most of the technology is already out there. We already have services that notify us, whether it is our bank accounts, credit report/scores, or the recording television shows by mobile devices. Another reason why this technology will be available in a short amount of time is because we already have monitoring technology. For example, doctors give patients heart monitoring devices to take home for a couple of days and this device tracks all heart activity. As we can see the technology is actually already there, it is just the matter of consolidating it into one device that serves a specific purpose.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Paperless society

Please listen to my Gabcast by using the link below. Thanks.

http://www.gabcast.com/fullplayer.php?chan=30992

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Redux



Redux is a new web 2.0 tool that has two distinct features. This tool allows you, the end user to upload photos, videos, and music. The tool also allows you to blog as well. These two features can be summed up as: Youtube and Napster meets tweeter. The purpose of the tool is to provide commonality between individuals, whether they are strangers or friends. For example, there are many times that we find out about a good movie, TV show, or song by “word of mouth”. This tool is essentially positioning itself as the “word of mouth”. Not only can I upload clips about my favorite movies or songs, but I can also blog about them within that same posting. That gives users two features, being able to upload personal interest and also being able to comment and engage in conversation about them as well.

This tool can be very instrumental in supporting strategic discussions by providing a stage for innovation, brainstorming, creativity, and commonality. This is a place where ideas and thoughts are presented and commented on. These thoughts and ideas can be used in strategic discussions to move the agenda of the discussion forward. For example, if a company is having strategic discussions about implementing a new technology this tool could be used as a reference of some sort, in regards to previous decisions and how they panned out. The tool could be also used as a way to enlighten strategic discussions. Since people are allowed to upload videos and photos people that are having a strategic discussion could possible go down a different path, because this tool has the potential of showing them something different.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is one case study that is discussed in the book “HOW PEOPLE HARNESS THEIR COLLECTIVE WISDOM AND POWER to construct the future in co-laboratories of democracy” by Alexander N. Christakis. In this case study the author discusses CKD and its impact on the healthcare system. The case study specifically looks at CKD and the way the patients who suffer from it should be cared for. Since many of these patients die a slow and painfully death, the study looks at different ways these patients can possibly be taken care of during their last days. The ideological spectrum on patient care when it comes to this disease is very broad. In the end, the case study looks to come up with common ground on how to deal with these patients.

The study looks to benefit from SDP’s “four basic stages of inquiry” by using this as a process to address this complex problem of CKD. The study shows how each individual and groups of individuals are allowed to express and promote their ideas for patient care when it comes to CKD. Not only are they allowed to promote and express their ideas, but the “four basic stages of inquiry” also allows for categorization. So, ideas and thoughts may be lumped together if there are some similarities. Also, in the “four basic stages of inquiry” the participants are also required to come up with alternate solutions to the problem. The main goal is to recognize barriers between the participants, while allowing the participants to promote those barriers and at the same time understand the other groups or individuals different approaches to the problem.