The Platform Shift of Health Care

I have had the privilege of attending a couple of events at which new ideas in Health Care delivery were discussed as well as the issues of an aging population.  The issues are huge, the Baby Boomers are getting older but they are going to want to keep active and they are going to expect to have anything and everything fixed.  A self-serve mentality is increasingly the norm among all demographics now, and the health care industry is starting to respond. For example, Google and Microsoft (via HealthVault) already allow you to store and manage your health records online and connect you to health services.

At both of these events, I got to watch the following video.  I never get tired of watching the cool tech they show in action.  According to a Microsoft presenter that introduced this back in the fall, all this tech is currently working, albeit in prototype form, in the Microsoft Labs.

(A higher-resolution version of the video is available directly from Microsoft)

Cyberinfrastructure 2.0: What is your Killer Voucher App (or Service)?

More comment on the new Alberta Innovation program from Cybera, an Alberta non-profit dedicated to Cyber Infrastructure technologies.  The question raised “What is the killer voucher app?” is a good starting point to try and start a conversation around this program.

So far, when I introduce this program to industry, I get looks that seem to be equal parts interest and skepticism.  Interest, of course, because our SMEs are always looking for new sources of funding, and skepticism that they will actually get the vouchers in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable amount of effort.

However, I think that the details are deliberately vague in order to allow for some creativity be applied so that voucher applicants (industry) and voucher consumers (Cybera, NEWT, CTI and others) can dream up solutions and put them into the applications to the government.  If this works, we should be in for a very innovative few months and next year our landscape may  look very different.

Cyberinfrastructure 2.0: What is your Killer Voucher App (or Service)?

Cool Manifesto: 10 Ways To Make An iPhone Killer

Here’s a really neat blog that deconstructs an idealized future handheld device to highlight the most important features for users.  Some of these we are starting to see with the iPhone, but, alas, we still somewhat short in the “fully open” software department.   Perhaps Android ?

In the meantime, I am going to try and find a way to make my iPhone keypad look like his sketch below. That’s brilliant!

lorbus » Blog Archive » 10 Ways To Make An iPhone Killer

New Alberta Programs for Tech Innovation

On June 11,  the Alberta Government announced a new $178 million dollar plan to stimulate the high tech sector.  While the details are forthcoming, the programs announced look very innovative, and it will be interesting to see how it will play out.  Some of the key highlights:

1. A “voucher” program. Presumably the idea here is to sell a kind of coupon that SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) can use to purchase services from qualified organizations.  Whether this will be any private business or only for non-profit organizations (probably) is unclear at the moment.  This will be an interesting innovation, however, since the SMEs will be in the driver’s seat and will stimulate the competition between the non-profit organizations out there to provide the best services.
2. A $100 Million Alberta Enterprise Corporation.  The action plan calls the goverment to become a limited partner in a number of funds that will be created for the various technology industries.  By partnering with private entities in these funds, the government will be getting the benefit of their expertise in vetting the companies that will approach them for investment.
3. A youth “Technopreneur” fund.  Available to young graduates, a great way to help get young people try out the word of small business.  I find this exciting because, when I went to school (many more years ago then I care to dwell on) small businesses were just not on the radar, and I didn’t know anyone who planned to go to a small company (this was at the dawn of the tech bubble).  It will be facinating to watch how this generation acts in the workplace, with an entrepreneurial mindset as a default, not an anomaly.  A program like this could really help build a risk-taking mentality in our new grads.

These and the other six actions in the plan are part of an important plan to diversify the Alberta economy keep a lot of the homegrown entrepreneurial skill and talent right here where it belongs.

iPhone Hoopla

It is fitting that the first post on “Platform Shift” comes soon after WWDC where Apple announced made some big changes. Not necessarily on the technology, which were relatively incremental (GPS, 3G) but in the model of the SDK and App Store. The vision now is that of a new Platform, and not since the PC itself has the possibility of a device that can be widely adopted, and that anybody can create applications for been so possible and powerful.

The Information Appliance paradigm detailed in “The Invisible Computer” is now closer then its ever been. Specialized devices that network to many other systems to create exceptionally useful apps will usher an era of unparalleled growth.

The systems and infrastructure are there, and the new User Interface devices are now emerging (think iPhone, Android, Microsoft Surface and even the Asus EEPC and OLPC). Does the countdown to the end of the PC as a platform start now?

Photo Courtesy of Dekuwa, via Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons License.