Recent reports from service providers in Canada and Australia revealed release dates for the HTC One are just around the corner. Canadian and Australian subscribers can expect to see the handsets in their areas on Apr 19th and 23rd respectively. Although pricing has not yet been released, buyers can expect to pay a slightly broader price range than those being charged in the US .
We are still waiting for updated release dates for Europe, and should expect to hear announcements trickle out from that region over the next few weeks.
Here are the announcements made by providers in Canada:
Telus: Release on April 19th. Pricing details have not been made available at this time. Pre-sales to begin in the coming days.
Rogers: Sales will start on April 19th for $149.99 with a three-year contract. Starting today, new and existing customers can reserve or pre-order the HTC One online.
In Australia:
Telstra: Release on Apr 19th. Will cost $10 month (a total of $240) when paired with a $60 monthly plan on a 2-year contract. Purchasing off-contract will set customers back $768. Pre-orders prior to retail launch day will land buyers a free set of Beats Solo headphones.
Optus: Available on Apr 23rd. Price with a 2-year contract will be a mere $3 per month (a total of $72) with $60 monthly service plans. Pre-orders set to start April 5th.
Vodafone: Available on Apr 23rd. Price with a 2-year contract will match competitors at $3 per month (a total of $72) with $60 monthly service plans. They are also offering up Beats Solo headphones free with pre-orders prior to launch date.
Virgin Mobile: Available Apr 23rd for $59/month on a 2-year contract with $3 monthly handset payment. Customers will be able to pre-order up until the retail launch date.
I’d wager that most of you reading this didn’t make it out to Austin for SXSW, and even fewer of you still have ever gotten some hands-on time with Google’s ambitious Glass project. On the off chance that you’ve been spending these past few weeks agonizing over all the juicy Glass tidbits you missed out on by not being there, you can rest easy — Google has posted the full video of its 50 minute Glass session on YouTube.
The talk — titled “Building New Experiences with Glass” featured Senior Developer Advocate Timothy Jordan giving attendees (and now you) a brief rundown on what it’s actually like using Google Glass. We’ve seen these sorts of hands-on impressions in the past, but Jordan’s session managed to give attendees a clearer idea of what the Glass interface actually looks like while he’s rubbing away at the side-mounted trackpad or checking out updates from his Google+ pals.
More importantly, Jordan’s session provided those on-site developers a glimpse at what it actually takes to build services for the head-mounted display. In it, he made multiple references to how simple the development process actually was (it’s “not complex,” as he puts it), but there’s more than enough meat here to give potential Glass developers a taste of what they’re in for. In the end though, Jordan was bullish on what Glass means for how we as users interact with our gadgetry — he didn’t go as far as saying traditional touchscreens were “emasculating” like a certain other Google employee, but he pointed out that current modes of interaction tend to separate us from the events and experiences of our lives.
“It feels like tech is often getting in the way more than it needs to,” Jordan remarked. “And that’s what we’re addressing with Project Glass — it’s so that you can still have access to the technology you love, but it doesn’t take you out of the moment.”
Jordan and his employers at Google may think we’ll love Glass, but the real jury has yet to weigh in. While Google is prepping Glass for a widespread consumer release at the end of this year, it has also reached out to thousands of would-be Glass Explorers about claiming their own $1,500 tester units. So far the search giant has been exceedingly careful about who has gotten to play with its vision of the future, but that’s all about to change in short order.
The original charter of the Space Science Board was established in June 1958, 3 months before the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) opened its doors. The Space Science Board and its successor, the Space Studies Board (SSB), have provided expert external and independent scientific and programmatic advice to NASA on a continuous basis from NASA’s inception until the present. The SSB has also provided such advice to other executive branch agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Department of Defense, as well as to Congress.
Space Studies Board Annual Report 2012 covers a message from the chair of the SSB, Charles F. Kennel. This report also explains the origins of the Space Science Board, how the Space Studies Board functions today, the SSB’s collaboration with other National Research Council units, assures the quality of the SSB reports, acknowledges the audience and sponsors, and expresses the necessity to enhance the outreach and improve dissemination of SSB reports.
This report will be relevant to a full range of government audiences in civilian space research – including NASA, NSF, NOAA, USGS, and the Department of Energy, as well members of the SSB, policy makers, and researchers.
Shortly after launching its “Operation Free Korea” initiative, notorious hacking group Anonymous has fired its first shots at North Korea. The group had demanded supreme leader Kim Jong-un resign, in addition to abandoning his nuclear ambitions and installing free democracy across the Asian country. Earlier this week, hackers belonging to Anonymous claimed to have stolen the passwords of 15,000 users from the North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri. After its demands were not met, the group has begun to take down various properties belonging to Pyongyang.
Patent suits involving Motorola and Apple have been relatively quiet lately, but that doesn’t mean they’ve ceased entirely. The latest comes from a German court that has ruled Apple’s infamous slide-to-unlock patent invalid in their case against Motorola. Apple tried to show 14 different amendments to the patent to keep it valid, but the German court disagreed.
While this is technically a win for Motorola, most Android manufacturers have put workarounds in place to avoid infringing on Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent. Had Apple been able to continue using that patent, it wouldn’t have given them any notable advantage over other manufacturers. Still, we can chalk this one up as a win for common sense and call it a day.
Now that the dust has settled over Facebook’s big announcement, we can get into the nitty gritty details about Facebook Home. One such detail comes from Qualcomm, makers of the insanely popular Snapdragon processors. Qualcomm has said that they’ve been working with Facebook to improve user experience on Android devices using Facebook Home or the Facebook application, claiming “better overall performance, lower power consumption and improved data efficiency.” Those are three big improvements that you’re never going to hear anyone complain about. Cristiano Amon, executive vice president of Qualcomm, said they’ve been working to make the enhancements available to existing and future Snapdragon-powered devices, so if you’re one of the many who own a Snapdragon device, you’re in luck.
Qualcomm has fine tuned system performance in the CPU, GPU, and 3G/4G modems, so this should make a noticeable difference. Facebook is definitely starting off on the right foot by getting a major player like Qualcomm on board, so hopefully this little experiment goes pretty well. Hit the break below for the full press release.
About Qualcomm Incorporated Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is the world leader in 3G, 4G and next-generation wireless technologies. Qualcomm Incorporated includes Qualcomm’s licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of its patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of Qualcomm’s engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of its products and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, QCT. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the ability to successfully design and have manufactured significant quantities of components on a timely and profitable basis, the extent and speed to which Qualcomm Technologies and third parties are able to collaborate, changes in economic conditions of the various markets Qualcomm Technologies serves, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in Qualcomm Incorporated’s SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 25, 2012, and most recent Form 10-Q. Qualcomm Incorporated undertakes no obligation to update, or continue to provide information with respect to, any forward-looking statement or risk factor, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
iOS is one of the most popular ways to use the Facebook app on mobile devices. Facebook sharing is also integrated into iOS and OS X. Apple and Facebook have a good thing going together. However, things may not be quite as cozy as they seem; the relationship could even be on the rocks if you read between the lines of what Mark Zuckerberg had to say on Thursday.
Thursday was Facebook’s big day: the rollout of Facebook Home, the first piece of the company’s attempt to be a primary interface for mobile devices. Notably, it’s a launcher for Android phones only. Still, Apple came up a fair amount during the discussion around the unveiling of Facebook’s latest mobile ambitions. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t say anything directly negative about Apple, the iPhone and their partnership, but the two seem to be drifting further apart philosophically.
Here’s what he said in two interviews published Thursday:
Zuckerberg may really want Facebook Home to be on the iPhone, but it’s likely never going to happen, and he knows it. Here’s how he avoided saying that in an interview with Fortune:
We’d love to offer this on iPhone, and we just can’t today, and we will work with Apple to do the best experience that we can within what they want, but I think that a lot of people who really like Facebook — and just judging from the numbers, people are spending a fifth of their time in phones on Facebook, that’s a lot of people. This could really tip things in that direction. We’ll have to see how it plays out.
He admits that philosophically the team down in Cupertino is pretty different than the hackers in Palo Alto. As he told Wired:
There are a bunch of companies that try to make every release perfect, and Apple is the best at that. That’s wonderful, but there’s another way of doing things that’s potentially even better over the long term—allow yourself room to experiment and don’t try to make each individual release as polished as possible.
While Google and Facebook are very much direct competitors, Facebook is actually far more similar to Google. From the same Wired interview:
We have a pretty good partnership with Apple, but they want to own the whole experience themselves. There aren’t a lot of bridges between us and Google, but we are aligned with their open philosophy.
Facebook and Apple are friends now but they haven’t always been. It’s pretty easy to see that if Facebook does try to morph this Android launcher into a version of a Facebook mobile operating system some day, it may find itself on a similar trajectory as Apple frenemy-in-chief, Google: once integral iOS partner to just another appmaker on the App Store.
With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!!
Could Rovio’s Angry Birds one day have the global brand recognition that Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck once had? That’s apparently the Finnish mobile gaming company’s ultimate goal, as The Wall Street Journal reports that Rovio plans to move beyond only developing games and become “a global entertainment powerhouse.”
New licensing agreements with Google Play, Microsoft (MSFT) and other services helped musicians generate more royalties in the U.K. from digital music services than radio for the first time last year, The Guardian reported. Songwriters earned a total of £51.7 million in the U.K. (roughly $77.7 million USD) in digital royalties, an increase of 32.2% from £39.1 million in 2011. Digital music services are now the single biggest source of income for musicians in the U.K., surpassing radio and live events. Online licensing revenues have doubled in the county since the arrival of download and streaming services such as Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes Store and Spotify in 2008.
Owners of Google TV platforms have a nice addition to the Google TV Remote app in an update that was released yesterday. The app runs on a user’s Android device and when the device is connected to the same WiFi network that a Google TV is connected to, it gives the user remote control capabilities.
The latest update to the app makes some tweaks to accessibility and changes the D-pad from a gesture based version to one that mimics hardware remotes. The big change though is the ability to do a voice search using the app. Google has added the necessary code for this function directly into the remote app, which opens the door to this functionality being available on more devices.
If you have a Google TV device, you may want to hit one of the download links below to grab the remote app.
Revised takeover offers for Australia’s Billabong International Ltd have come in considerably lower than indicative bids, with the highest valuing the struggling surwear firm at only A$287 million ($300 million), the Australian Financial Review reported on Friday. A consortium comprising Billabong’s former U.S. boss Paul Naude and private equity firm Sycamore Partners has put forward an offer of about A$0.60 cents per share, while a rival group made up of private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners and U.S. clothing group VF Corp has offered less than A$.50 cents per share, it said.
(Reuters) – Revised takeover offers for Australia’s Billabong International Ltd have come in considerably lower than indicative bids, with the highest valuing the struggling surwear firm at only A$287 million ($300 million), the Australian Financial Review reported on Friday.
A consortium comprising Billabong’s former U.S. boss Paul Naude and private equity firm Sycamore Partners has put forward an offer of about A$0.60 cents per share, while a rival group made up of private equity firm Altamont Capital Partners and U.S. clothing group VF Corp has offered less than A$.50 cents per share, it said.
The offers are below Billabong’s share price at its last close on March 28 of A$0.73 and around half the A$1.10 initial indicative bids from both consortiums, which valued the company at A$527 million ($550 million).
Since the initial offers, Billabong has posted a first-half net loss of A$536.6 million and lowered its full-year guidance, citing difficult trading conditions in Europe and a disappointing performance from its Nixon watch brand.
Billabong shares are currently in a trading halt until an announcement on the takeover bids. The stock, which has lost around two-thirds of its value in the past year, sank to an all-time low of A$0.63 last month.
In February 2012, Billabong, the sponsor of current world surfing champion Joel Parkinson, rejected an A$850 million offer from TPG Capital as too low.
Subsequent offers of A$1.45 from TPG and Bain Capital were withdrawn after due diligence.
The company has sold off key assets, replaced its chief executive as a result of profit downgrades and raised A$225 million in a deeply discounted rights issue to cut its debt, which currently totals about A$286 million.
An Apple (AAPL) patent application published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday suggests that the company may be looking to create a navigation system based on panoramic imagery, similar to Google’s (GOOG) “Street View” technology. The “3D Position Tracking for Panoramic Imagery Navigation” patent describes a graphical user interface that utilizes the onboard sensors in the iPhone or iPad to navigate panoramic location data. Unlike the Street View technology found in Google Maps, Apple’s system will use data from the accelerometer, cameras, gyroscope and other sensors to automatically move a user through a street-level image.
The cloud is now used for many things, from simply storing documents, to create and editing files online. Google Play, in addition to many other things, offers a place to store up to 20,000 tracks that can then be listened to online or with a range of mobile devices. This number relates only to songs from your “personal collection” and is in addition to any purchases you make. Google Play Music Manager is the tool you need to get everything up and running.
Install and launch the app, sign into your Google account and you’ll be asked where you current music collection is stored. There is support for iTunes and Windows Media Player, but there’s also the option of just opting to work with files stored in My Music, or any other folder for that matter. If you have your music scattered across multiple folders, you can add them all to your Google library.
Once your library has been created, you can opt to have any new files that you add to these folders automatically uploaded. This ensures that you always have access to all of your most recently ripped CDs and other music acquisitions without the need to remember to manually sync anything.
Even if you have a relatively small music collection of just a few hundred tracks or so, you’re possibly envisioning a very lengthy wait while all of your music is uploaded for you. Well, unless you have particularly eclectic tastes, you should find that things happen much faster than you might expect — if Google already has a copy of a track you own available online, there’s no need for it to be uploaded.
In practice, however, just how long it takes for your collection to be made available online will depend on its size, the types of music you like, whether your music files are ripped or purchased as well as the speed of your internet connection. The web interface for the music player is comparable to an online version of iTunes. It is a little limited, but it gets the job done.
You can create playlists, listen to albums in their entirety or pick out individual tracks. In addition to the usual browse by album option, a large library can also be searched or you can filter tracks by artist, genre or alphabetize them.
How important is Facebook really? The answer may come soon after April 12, when the social network releases Home to Google Play. The Android add-on usurps the homescreen, putting interactions/people first and pushes apps to the background. This, ah, Home invasion means potential trouble for Apple and Google, but in vastly different ways. Apps anchor both their platforms, curated content and the digital lifestyles users adopt. Facebook bets that between the choice of both ways, human relationships matter more.
For either the fruit-logo company or search and information giant, another question is perhaps more significant: Is Facebook’s mobile experience already good enough? Related: Do most users want to be enmeshed in a constant stream of social updates and interactions most of the time? Affirmative answer to either, or both, spells trouble for the platform developers but most worrisome for Apple, for which Facebook Home affronts and condemns the entire business model.
Apple is a Has-Been
Do you remember Apple’s not-long retired marketing tagline “there’s an app for that”. iPhone, and later iPad and mini, are built around the value of apps and supporting curated content. That’s fine for PCs, but not mobile devices. “Computers have been designed around apps and tasks for more than 30 years”, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says, today. “Even though the devices that we’re using are a lot nicer now, the UI model is actually largely the same”.
He contends that people matter more to people, and that apps are in the way for devices that are so personal and so tuned to interpersonal communications as mobiles. “Why do we need to go into those apps in the first place to see what’s going on with the people that we care about?” Zuckerberg asks. “That’s because today our phones are designed around apps and not people. We want to flip that around. We want to bring all this content to the front”.
But “many people” doesn’t mean Apple phones or tablets. Facebook Home isn’t available for iOS and probably never will be, because Apple so tightly controls the app-centric user experience. Android gets the big makeover, because Google enables it.
“The great thing about Android is that it’s so open”, Zuckerberg praises. “It was designed carefully so that you can improve almost any part of the system” — everything from the keyboard to the camera to the homescreen. “You don’t need to fork Android to do this — you don’t even need to modify the operating system, really. Android was designed from the ground up to support these kinds of deep integrations”.
By insinuation — and sometimes the unsaid is more poignant and potent — iOS does not. Zuckerberg slaps Apple without ever naming the company: “Because of Google’s commitment to openness, you can have experiences on Android that you can’t have on most other platforms”. He’s absolutely right. Look how Amazon, HTC and Samsung, among others, have modified Android to create unique experiences and, around them, branded digital lifestyles.
Zuckerberg’s statements today, given during the Facebook Home launch event, are as much as anything a statement of purpose and affirmation about the company’s core philosophy — to “give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected…these two concepts are a lot about what makes us human”.
Facebook’s CEO is right. Apps are a tired model that makes little sense on phones. Relationships and tasks matter more — and context. Apple is cut-off from Facebook’s invention. How much or little that’s a problem depends much on how satisfied iOS users are with the Facebook status quo — the app and partial integration into the operating system. If that’s good enough for most users or they really do put apps first, Apple needn’t worry much. If.
Trojan Horse invades Google
Google is a different matter. While Zuckerberg praises the company and Android, both are means to an end. Android’s openness enables Facebook’s larger objectives, while allowing the social network to usurp core UI. Facebook Home is a Trojan Horse that takes control of the Android user experience but far more aggressively and freely than other custom UIs. For example, HTC sense or Samsung TouchWiz are designed for the manufacturers’ devices. By contrast, Home will be available from Google Play store to anyone with a supported device.
“We want to bring this experience to as many people as possible”, Zuckerberg says — and that’s a major reason the company chose not to build a phone or develop an operating system. Facebook is “building something a whole deeper than just an ordinary app”.
I find interesting that among the high-end devices Facebook Home supports — HTC One, One X and One X+ and Galaxy S III, S4 and Note II — none are stock Android Nexus devices that Google directly sells. You have to wonder why? I sure do. Perhaps they can run Home and it’s unstated. Or perhaps openness is a closed door among rivals. Facebook Home so completely takes over the user experience — homescreen, notifications and messaging — there is little room left for Google+. The search and information giant has big ambitions for its rival social network.
Is Google blocking the way Home, or did Facebook simply decide not to go there? Either, or both, is sensible. Considering Nexus device owners are presumably Google enthusiasts, Facebook might not want to invest in them first. The search giant has reasons to keep Zuckerberg and Company off its turf, despite his heaping them praise.
But the Trojan Horse is more insidious. Facebook has launched a Home program for phone manufacturers. HTC is first OEM in line with the appropriately-named First smartphone. AT&T starts selling the device on April 12, but preorders began today. Facebook Home and Instagram are preinstalled, displacing HTC’s own Sense UI.
Google has trouble enough dictating the Android experience now. What if more OEMs load Home and make it the default user experience? Zuckerberg promises monthly updates, which means more features and revenue-generating tie-ins, such as search and advertising that directly compete with Google on mobile. Should enough people really want Facebook to be the first — and major — user experience, should enough Android OEMs preload Home and should Zuckerberg and Company do search, advertising and context right, collision course with Google is inevitable.
Stock Android Jelly Bean already is less-app focused than older versions, but nothing like Home. Google+ integration is tighter with every release and includes supporting apps like Hangouts and Talk. But apps, not people, rule. Google could do something similar, likely better, than Home supporting G+ — on stock Android. That Trojan Horse could go anywhere else, and even Nexus devices if allowed.
If Facebook fails, it won’t be for not trying. If Home succeeds…
On Thursday, the company said it sued IP Nav and Parallel Iron, asking the federal court in its hometown of San Antonio Texas for damages, for breach of contract and to enter a declaratory judgement asserting that Rackspace does not infringe on Parallel Iron’s patents.
The back story, according to a Rackspace blog post, is that Parallel Iron sued Rackspace and 11 others in Delaware. That suit alleges that the defendants infringed on three patents that Parallel Iron claims cover the use of the open-source Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS).
In his post, Alan Schoenbaum, Rackspace SVP and general counsel wrote:
“Parallel Iron is the latest in a string of shell companies created to do nothing more than assert patent-infringement claims as part of a typical patent troll scheme of pressuring companies to pay up or else face crippling litigation costs. At least that is what it looks like on the surface.
As GigaOM’s Jeff Roberts has reported, many of these litigious companies (aka trolls) are shells created by patent aggregators. Their goal is to wring money out of targets. Sometimes, legitimate tech companies give their IP to trolls in order to harass rivals or even create their own shell to pursue this sort of litigation.
Patent shell companies claim that they give small companies — those without the resources to enforce their own patents — a way to do so. Under that theory, these small companies, or academics or a nongovernmental agency (NGO) might turn their IP over to a shell company to protect it.
That’s a contention that Shoenbaum called “laughable.” Rackspace’s complaint is here.
This week, the President spoke on the importance of investing in infrastructure at Port Miami, and on reducing gun violence while at the Denver Police Academy. He hosted the Prime Minister of Singapore and Kid President, unveiled the BRAIN initiative, and rolled, read, and relaxed with some of the thousands of visitors to the 135th annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
Here’s the latest chapter in the broadcaster’s fight against Aereo, the New York-based startup that is streaming over-the-air television over the internet: Fox, Univision, PBS and others are trying to figure out what exactly the company has been discussing in its talks with Dish Networks, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal last week. The broadcasters subpoenaed Aereo as part of the discovery process for their lawsuit against the company, according to a Hollywood Reporter story from yesterday.
The motion seeks to uncover “any ‘actual, contemplated, considered, or proposed’ business arrangements” between Aereo and Dish as well as “offers or expressions of interest by Dish in acquiring Aereo’s assets,” according to passages quoted by the Reporter. Of course, Dish doesn’t want any of those discussions to be public, which is why the company is now trying to quash the subpoena.
Dish’s Charlie Ergen has been very vocal in his support for new TV business and distribution models, going as far as saying that “a lot of customers can live with Netflix and an… antenna, and YouTube.” Dish could possibly use Aereo to build a cheaper TV bundle by bypassing retransmission payments to local broadcasters — or maybe just lower these payments by threatening such a course.
Make sure to check out our paidContent Live conference in New York this month if you want to learn more about Aereo’s potential to shake up the TV industry – I’ll be interviewing Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia on stage, and will make sure to quizz him about Dish as well.
Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook has already issued two major apologies in his short time as chief executive at Apple, and the latest came earlier this week. In a lengthy letter, Cook apologized to customers in China, where Apple had been accused of intentionally avoiding warranty replacements for iPhones and Mac computers in order to skirt local laws that would require a new full warranty on the replacement products. The CEO admitted no wrongdoing in his apology, but China’s state-run media was instantly swayed and went from being Apple critics to Apple cheerleaders in the blink of an eye. What was so compelling in Cook’s apology that caused China’s Global Times to sing a new tune so quickly? Via Forbes, the complete translation of Tim Cook’s apology letter follows below.
Health care may be woefully behind the rest of the world in embracing information technology, but eleven startups graduating Thursday from New York-based startup accelerator Blueprint Health have some compelling ideas for moving it along.
Want to know the culprit behind $10 million in annual lost revenue for hospitals? It’s not medical errors or billing mistakes (although those are obviously problems too). It’s something far less technical: dirty hands.
According to startup IntelligentM, one in every twenty patients admitted to the hospital will get an infection while admitted, and 50 percent of those infections are related to poor hand hygiene on the part of health care workers. To keep their hands clean, the company has created a sensor-equipped SmartBand that tracks when, where and how well a doctor or nurse washes her hands. If a doctor washes her hands properly, the bracelet buzzes once; if her hand-washing fails to meet the compliance requirements, it buzzes three times. It also can sense when a health care worker is about to insert an IV and buzzes if’s been too long since she last washed her hands. In addition to letting hospitals track the aggregate behavior of their workers, it emails each health worker with a weekly hygiene report.
If you’ve ever received a copy of a lab report, you know they’re nearly impossible to decode. But Luminate Health plans to break into the $75 billion lab testing market with a digital platform that helps patients understand and access their lab results. Paid for by the lab testing companies, the dashboard displays lab results in colorful, intuitive graphs that give patients clear guidance on how to improve their health. It also enables doctors to add explanations and interpretations of the results. As part of the new health care legislation, labs will be required to provide patients with digital access to their reports. With Luminate’s dashboard, the company said they can not only be compliant with the new law but increase lab volume by strengthening the relationship between physicians and their patients.
Like a high-tech version of the board game Operation, Touch Surgery gives surgeons a virtual way to learn and practice medical procedures. Just by swiping their fingers, doctors can simulate any procedure from an appendectomy to cleft palate surgery to a carpal tunnel release. The founders’ pitch is that it gives surgeons a way to practice and learn faster, while collecting data on risk, education and other issues that could be valuable to hospitals, medical device companies and academic institutions. The app is free but the company makes money by charging medical device companies to place content in the app that trains surgeons to use their device. So far, it has signed contracts with two major medical device companies and is used by doctors at Duke, Stanford and other top institutions.
Each year, nurses at the average hospital spend 25,000 hours on the phone answering basic patient questions, said startup Keona Health. But by cutting the average triage call from 15 minutes to 60 seconds, the company said it can not only free up half of a hospitals’ nursing staff to meet with patients in person, it can help hospitals generate an additional $800,000 in revenue.
The key to its efficiency is an online service that guides patients through a set of questions based on standard triage protocol. A patient with a cough can describe his symptoms and ask whether or not he should come in to see a doctor, or a new mother could ask whether she can continue taking a certain medication while breast-feeding. Using natural language processing, machine learning and other algorithms, the platform analyzes the data and then provides nurses with a report. From there, nurses can reply via text message, email or phone call with the appropriate response.
HealthyOut is still in stealth mode, so there’s not too much I can share now. But if you’re a foodie who wants to stay healthy, this is a startup to keep in mind. It already offers a mobile app for iOS and Android that helps diners find dishes at local restaurants that match their diet and nutrition preferences. And, so far, has attracted investors including 500 Startups’ Dave McClure and former IAC CEO Peter Horan.
The cloud is now used for many things, from simply storing documents, to create and editing files online. Google Play, in addition to many other things, offers a place to store up to 20,000 tracks that can then be listened to online or with a range of mobile devices. This number relates only to songs from your “personal collection” and is in addition to any purchases you make. 
