killer healthcare (consumer) app

Today, I received a follow-up notice from Google about my Google Health account. In effect, Google icasked me to download all my data as it will not be accessible because Google chose to discontinue the service. So, here we go.

All the King's horses and All the King's men....

Such is the state of the healthcare laws and regulatory uncertainty that even with its engineering prowess and problem solving Product Managers, Google could not solve the problem. 

Or is it that Google did not find a way to easily monetize it without getting in conflict with US laws? Not so long ago, Google had to settle a matter of illegal pharmacy sales for $500 million with the Justice Department. More details here. 

Microsoft still continues...

Rival tech giant Microsoft ($MSFT) decided to continue offering Microsoft Health Vault. The offering seems to make sense. They have a monetization plan as well. 

The Killer App

Microsoft seems to stick to its path adopted in the quest to establish the ecosystem for enhancing patient care. After all, healthcare is a prime focus in most of the budget deficit reduction debates as it is slated to become 20% of GDP. A ton of self-help consumer apps are in place. Nothing comes as close to a comprehensive set of features and every consumer has to go to various apps for various services. For instance, an app reminds patients on their prescription intake. It coordinates with the hospital and provides reminder-alert service to the patients. 

The quality attributes of the killer app are difficult to gauge and establish until the regulations are finalized. Regulations have been finalized but they are not uniform throughout the country. For instance, Obama care is not going to be implemented or will need Federal help to be implemented in 22 out of the 50 States in the US. Consequently, architecture of such a product will be exposed to serious risks. 

why don't laptops have ergonomic keyboards?

One more acquaintance of mine got added to the growing list of Carpel Tunnel disease sufferers. She's a consultant and works with her laptop for a good amount of her day whenever she's not busy with meetings at client sites.

It's a shame that none of the laptop makers have come not up with an ergonomic keyboards. Also, it's a shame that in a litigant society such as the United States of America anyone is yet to sue laptop manufacturers for the same.

The day will come when laptop manufacturers, similar to cigarette manufacturers, will be asked to put a note on their products - "prolonged use of laptop is injurious to health" ! The reasons contributing to it would be:

• poor keyboard designs leading to carpel tunnel syndrome
• fertility issues in males if laptop is kept on laps for prolonged periods of time due to poor heat management designs by manufacturers 1
• toasted skin syndrome

Given that laptops are unhealthy for humans by design (... because if you put it in a position to rest your hands, your neck will be in pain and vice-versa), here are some tips for healthy mobile computing. I believe every consultant, sales person, etc. must be aware of these tips.

1. "Laptops Can Damage Male Fertility," M. Hachman, Extreme Tech, 12-09-2004.

google health

Google wants to digitize your health data. Check this article for more details. Rationale is simple: it is aligned with their original vision of the firm - To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Well, I must say - they are well on their tracks. I like Marrisa's quote on "I am feeling yucky" !

On a side note related to this, they are also working towards mapping human genome. Google's helping the lead scientist in the field do that. They are good at organizing large amounts of information such that it's easily accessible - that's what they will do with their algorithms and techniques for the Human Genome project.