In 2002 there were 49 million cellphones in Africa…and now?

May 16, 2011 | by

Making the case that mobile phones are the way that people in Africa access the internet, is this 3¼ minute video presentation from the South African Praekelt Foundation. The answer to “…and now?” is in the video, of course! Hmm…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxSBiJd5RKU

And how will people power their phones in the future? Dirt! According to this Gizmag item: Mobile phones in developing nations could charge up using dirt.

Mobile Health 2011 – roundup

May 10, 2011 | by

Overshadowed in our reporting by the ATA event, the Mobile Health 2011 conference (event website) was happening at Stanford University, California on the 3-5 May. Do your own catching up with the Twitterstream archive, or read a lengthy and thoughtful report compiled by R. Craig Lefebvre, of socialShift. What Really Works in Mobile Health? A Summary of the 2011 Conference. And the conference triggered a terminology rant worth reading by Geoff (Technology Entrepreneur, ex-Health Hero, ex-Bosch) Clapp: How I Stopped Worrying and Love [the name] mHealth.

**Updated 13 May** Winning the conference award for Best Mobile Health Solution for Behavior Change was the Tonic iPhone app, for keeping track of anything in your fitness and health routines. Those of us who remember Zune Life (a casualty of the recession) will know the founder, Rajiv Mehta. Mobihealthnews interview.

Alzheimer’s telecare project interim evaluation results (video)

May 6, 2011 | by

30 minute presentation by Sarah Delaney, of the Work Research Centre, delivered to the Technology and Dementia Seminar, School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin in November 2010 – but just posted by the University on YouTube – about the results of the Alzheimer’s Society’s survey of carers. Telecare Project Interim Evaluation Results.

Content: 10/10. Unmissable if you are interested in telecare with people with dementia, especially the ‘Food for Thought’ section starting around 20 mins. General non-UK readers will be interested too in the definition of ‘telecare’ around the 2 min mark.
Presentation: 1/10. Well organised and good to listen to, but the bullet-ridden, text-heavy slides are the kind that have (unfairly) got PowerPoint its bad reputation.