Worthing MarketPlace Wednesday 8th June 2016 (UK)

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Worthing-Marketplace-flyer-712×1024.png” thumb_width=”120″ /]Fresh from last week’s National Telecare Awareness Day on 1 June, UK Telehealthcare is sponsoring a bonus MarketPlace today (8 June) in conjunction with the West Sussex County Council at the Charmandian in Worthing, West Sussex. 36 companies including Tynetec, CAIR, Doro, Tunstall and others we mention are listed for five hours of exhibition and activities starting at 10 am. UK Telehealthcare information and flyer at left above.

Chris Lewis – the hyper-connected individual meets the healthcare system (guest blog)

Chris Lewis, a world-renowned telecoms expert and regular presenter on disability issues has kindly offered to share some further thoughts with readers. 

At the Great Telco Debate last year, one of the biggest laughs was when my co-host Graham Wilde was attacked for buying his wife a FitBit, implying she needed to lose weight! The success of these so-called health tracking devices, and their associated apps, is an indication of how wearables, combined with smart phones and tablets, are beginning to change our behaviour and our lives.

Outside the healthcare industry, these devices with their life-changing outputs are seen as wondrous. However, inside the healthcare sector, they are often dismissed as being toys providing inaccurate and misleading information.

The consumer electronics industry, with its dynamic gadget crazy geeks, coming up against the established healthcare profession, with its hospitals and insurance organisations, represents a key battleground for us all. Regulation in the medical area is rife, and so it should be. Consumer electronics is a considerably more liberal environment. So we have the challenge of making money and identifying new markets on the one hand, whilst accurately treating people with illness and disabilities on the other.

In previous articles (and here(more…)

Stop the Internet of Things Monster!

[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/robottoy-1.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]A cry from the heart (or aching head) indeed! The overhyped, overheated and overblown Internet of Things (IoT) gets a good and deserved lampooning from tech writer Joanna Stern. If you take seriously a egg tray that tells you when the hen ova are getting few or old, an umbrella that signals you when it’s left home, a connected toilet seat and a juicer that only works when it’s on Wi-Fi, you’ll think the writer is a Luddite. But if you think 95 percent of IoT is ridiculous (save a Few Good Apps) and Overload Reigns in Solving Problems Which Aren’t, you’ll enjoy The Internet of Every Single Thing Must Be Stopped (Wall Street Journal). (Ms Stern would be undoubtedly appreciative of the ‘‘Uninvited Guests’ that nag and spy. And she doesn’t even get into the hackable dangers of Interconnected Everything.)

Falling Walls Lab NY–application deadline June 22

Falling Walls Lab New York, German Center for Research and Innovation, August 30, 6 PM

The New York City edition of the international Falling Walls Lab, which invites scientists and innovators to present research that answers the question, “Which are the next walls to fall?”, this year is hosted by GCRI.

Each year, the Falling Walls Lab Finale is held in Berlin, this year on November 8, and is closely connected to the annual and internationally renowned Falling Walls Conference the next day. The Conference hosts 20 top-class scientists from around the world to present their current breakthrough research.

The New York deadline is June 22. To submit an application, go to the Falling Walls website. Separately, a 3-minute video preview of the presentation must be sent to events@germaninnovation.org. Apart from their round-trip travel to the Falling Walls Lab New York, participants will not incur additional travel costs. According to the event listing on the website, the most intriguing presenter will qualify directly for the Falling Walls Lab Finale in Berlin. The Falling Walls Foundation will cover accommodation costs for November 8-9 in Berlin. All participants in the Finale will receive a ticket for the Falling Walls Conference.

The Falling Walls Lab is a non-profit series of scientific conferences, which aims to build and foster interdisciplinary connections between scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Contact the Falling Walls Foundation at labs@falling-walls.com. Also coming up: Falling Walls Tokyo 29 August, Falling Walls Lab UAlberta 29 September. Main websiteHat tip to GCRI (listing here)

Telemedicine device wins Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation

A telemedicine invention called Cardio Pad developed by an engineer from Cameroon has been selected as the winning entry for [grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Cardio-Pad-2.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]the 2016 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, according to news reports  (BBC, Forbes, TechTrends, Business in Cameroon).

The winner, 24-year-old Arthur Zang (pictured with a Cardio Pad), who won the £25,000 ($37,000) on offer from the Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK,  was awarded his prize at a ceremony in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the 26th of May, 2016. Zang previously won a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2014 for the device. (more…)