| Hospital Patient Devices Could be Disrupted by Proposed Internet Use |
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An Associated Press article (as published in the Boston Globe online) reported that the proposed use of unoccupied TV airwaves for high-speed Internet service could disrupt the signals that hospitals use to monitor critically ill patients. The use of these idle channels, called “white spaces”, by unlicensed portable Internet devices, could interfere with the monitoring of patients’ heart rates, blood pressure readings, blood oxygen levels, etc. These “white spaces” will be available when the U.S. transitions to digital TV next Februrary. The article reports that GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Co., which manufactures medical devices, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to devise stricter standards which would protect wireless patient-monitoring equipment from being overwhelmed by other wireless devices operating on nearby channels. The article also reports that the FCC is conducting tests to find an efficient and interference-free way to use the “white spaces” for broadband use, but that several trial devices have either broken down or failed. In 2000, the FCC did allocate channel 37 for exclusive use by medical monitoring equipment, but some hospitals still have not migrated to this channel. One of my previous blogs was on the possibility of hacking a patient’s implanted heart device. The AP article is another take on the safety and security of wireless health care devices. |
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Submitted by: Alice McCreary, Reference Librarian
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Comments (0)| It’s All About Getting the Details Right |
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Last week Microsoft announced Live Search cashback, a search tool that gives you cash back when you purchase products online. Microsoft has to try something — anything — to get above 10% search market share, so why not pay people to use Live Search? After Here’s how I imagine Live Search cashback will work out. Recently I signed up for another Microsoft product, Office Live Workspace. A few weeks later, I received an email from Microsoft telling me I’d been selected to win a 12 pack of Diet Pepsi Max. Free caffeine! My fourteen-year-old son was stoked. A week after that I got an envelope from Microsoft in my office mail. Hot dang — my coupon had arrived! Uh, not so fast. The envelope was unsealed. And empty. No coupon … no freebie. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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May 26, 2008
| Evidentiary Foundations, 7th Edition |
 By Edward J. ImwinkelriedEd Imwinkelried’s Evidentiary Foundations covers all major evidentiary doctrines, providing for each doctrine: a brief description of the pertinent Federal Rules of Evidence and the most recent leading cases construing the Rules, a list of foundational elements-the events and facts you need to lay a complete foundation, an illustrative foundation showing how each question relates to a particular element of the foundation. The revised 7th edition features an analysis of statutory developments. The other new material discusses the presentation of hard copy exhibits in court using document cameras and the presentation of digital exhibits using monitors or projection screens. Library Record • Borrow it • More Titles |
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Submitted by: Malgorzata Pawska, Digital Content Coordinator
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May 21, 2008
| Google Health |
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I was on the Michael Smerconish radio show this morning, talking about Google Health, which lets you store your personal health information online. You can create a medical profile and automatically import your records from Quest Diagnostics, Walgreens, and others. You can also manually import records from your personal physicians. Your information is private, and you can specify who can get access to it. Michael was keen on Google Health. He mentioned an actual scenario where he needed to get medical information for one of his sons for summer camp. He couldn’t remember which of his kids had an allergy to penicillin, so a service like Google Health would make his life a lot easier. Accessing this information from an Internet-enabled smartphone such as an iPhone makes it that much more powerful. I have reservations. The more I use Google, the more all of my digital eggs are in one basket. If I use Google Web search, Google Maps, Google Health, Google Docs, Google Desktop, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Checkout, etc., they potentially know:
You also have to be very careful when you access GH on someone else’s computer: at work, on the road, or in the doctor’s office. You have to be very aware of the need to logoff (or close the browser) — if you close a browser tab or click away to another Web site, you are still logged in. My feeling is if you already have to import copies of paper records from your doctor, it would be better to scan them to PDF and store them on an encrypted USB drive. Michael asked me if Google will run ads off of your profile? I looked at the Google Health Privacy Policy, which states: “Certain features of Google Health can be used in conjunction with other Google products, and those features may share information to provide a better user experience and to improve the quality of our services. For example, Google Health can help you save your doctors’ contact information into your Google Contact List.” So as far as I can see, the door is open for ads. Keep in mind Google isn’t the first online health manager. Some competitors include: |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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May 19, 2008
| Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds |
 By Benjamin Tyson DuranskeThis book is an introduction to the emerging and fascinating world of virtual law. It examines current cases and legislation impacting virtual world providers and users, and makes predictions about the future application of current law. It addresses the application of intellectual property law (copyright, trademark, and patent), criminal law, property law, contract law, securities law, tax law, and civil procedure. The author provides clear and practical advice on how to create a virtual world presence for your practice or for your clients with virtual world connections. Library Record • Borrow it • More Titles |
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Submitted by: Malgorzata Pawska, Digital Content Coordinator
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May 13, 2008
| Wireless Philadelphia to Become Network-less Philadelphia on June 12 [UPDATED] |
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Today’s Inquirer reports that EarthLink will end wifi service for the troubled Wireless Philadelphia project on June 12. Right now, it doesn’t look like any other company will take over operations — apparently, EarthLink couldn’t even give the network equipment away. But you wouldn’t know that from the latest post on the WP Web site by CEO Greg Goldman, dated May 9: “Wireless Philadelphia and the City of Philadelphia continue to work together to ensure a positive future for Philadelphia’s municipal wireless network and nationally-recognized Digital Inclusion program, the vision of which is to provide all citizens with access to essential technological resources for education, employment, and other life opportunities.” Click here for more background info on Wireless Philadelphia — plus a pretty decent rant – by our own RayAna Park. UPDATE (May 14) — WP now has a statement on their site: “Today we received an announcement that EarthLink intends to discontinue operation of its Municipal Wi-Fi Network in Philadelphia. The reason cited was that negotiations with a certain party failed to come to a positive conclusion. The transfer of the EarthLink network is by definition a complex, time-intensive, multi-party transaction. Despite today’s announcement, Wireless Philadelphia and the City are still working actively together to identify alternatives for preserving this network and applying it to numerous civic, commercial and social purposes. We remain optimistic for an orderly resolution of this matter. Regardless, Wireless Philadelphia is utterly steadfast in its determination to extend internet access to all members of the community, and we intend to do everything in our power to continue the momentum generated by WP in support of Digital Inclusion.” |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
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May 12, 2008
| Plan Your Estate: Protect Your Loved Ones, Property & Finances |
 By Denis CliffordPlan Your Estate covers everything from the basics of wills and living trusts to sophisticated tax-saving strategies. The authors give you explanations of every significant estate-planning option available, so you can make the best decisions for you and those you love. Library Record • Borrow it • Buy it • More Titles |
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Submitted by: Malgorzata Pawska, Digital Content Coordinator
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May 8, 2008
| You may want to start thinking about Encrypting |
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“Lose a laptop and you’re out $500 to $600. Lose your client’s sensitive information — well, that’s a different story.” If you find the encryption process a little daunting, attend Dan’s new ethics CLE class, Practical Encryption for Attorneys. |
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Submitted by: Ida Weingram, Head of Outreach Services
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Are your usual accessories these days a flash drive, laptop, BlackBerry, etc.? Do these devices have your personal information on them i.e. social security number, financial data, etc? Most importantly, do you carry around your clients’ information on them? Then you need to read | Jenkins Internet Librarian Quoted |
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“Five years ago, I wouldn’t have known about Randy Pausch, let alone seen his last lecture. I’ve watched the complete 76-minute lecture three times now. YouTube has made it is so easy for me to do this. . . . But for every Randy Pausch, there’s a hundred Tricia Walsh-Smiths,” said Jenkins Law Internet Librarian Dan Giancaterino. |
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Submitted by: Ida Weingram, Head of Outreach Services
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Dan Giancaterino’s Internet expertise has once again been called upon by Michael Smerconish. Usually Dan is a call-in guest to his talk show, but this time Michael wanted a response to the Inquirer Currents column he was writing comparing two very different (and popular) YouTube videos: the farewell lecture by a college professor who’s dying of cancer, and an online rant by a woman about her ex. The article appeared in this past Sunday’s Inquirer, | Health Care Meets Online Social Media |
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A report prepared by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn for the California HealthCare Foundation entitled The Wisdom of Patients: Health Care Meets Online Social Media, details how social media on the Internet is educating health care consumers and providers. Social media includes social networks (MySpace, FaceBook), blogs, wikis, picture-sharing (Flickr) and video-sharing (YouTube) sites, as well as web-based ”communities” where patients with the same disease/condition can meet. Social media appeared as the Internet evolved from strict information retrieval with read-only capability (Web 1.0) to the interactive Web 2.0, which allows people to post, share, and comment-on information. Ms. Sarasohn-Kahn refers to this sharing of health-related information as Health 2.0 and describes how this new medium facilitates the grouping together of people with similar health concerns. This results in the posting of health information that is more important and relevant to the individual consumer. These online collaborations are changing the way that patients, health care providers, and researchers learn about therapeutic regimens and disease management. In her comprehensive report, she details the positives and negatives of Health 2.0 and predicts how it will evolve in the future. One example in the report really demonstrated to me how this dynamic medium can be useful to an individual patient. On a social network called PatientsLikeMe, “Joe” posted that he had been trying for 10 years to manage his leg spasticity, a common symptom of multiple sclerosis. His doctor had prescribed a low dose of Baclofen, a muscle relaxant, telling him that a higher dose would cause him problems. After “Joe” joined the network, he learned that people in the MS online “community” were taking up to 10 times the dosage that his doctor had prescribed for him. “Joe” then asked his doctor to increase his dosage and his condition improved. If it hadn’t been for the social network that “Joe” joined, he would still be suffering from leg spasticity. Thinking about this example, I also thought how the network had encouraged “Joe”’s doctor to try a new treatment regimen that he ordinarily never would have tried, and how this new regimen turned out to be quite successful for ”Joe”. Ms. Sarasohn-Kahn includes a glossary of social media terms and a list of useful Health 2.0 websites in her very interesting report. Definitely good reading! (The full report can be accessed at the California HealthCare Foundation’s summary of the report.) |
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Submitted by: Alice McCreary, Reference Librarian
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