Google is After your Health Records

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Google knows where you live and where you surf online. If you own an Android phone, they probably know who you speak to and who's in your directory. Now they are after your health records. Does that scare you as much as it scares me?

Two Google engineers are presenting a paper at USNEX HealthSec 2010, part of the 19th USENIX Security Symposium, which runs from August 11-13, 2010 arguing that current health records are static and they have a way to change that - of course they do. Their mission is to organize the world's information and your health records are part of that information. They plan to do this by using the Google Wave federation protocol. This  protocol is based on open source code that permits Wave servers from different organizations to cooperate and is designed to present updates from many sources in a format that is compatible for medical record keeping in a distributed environment.


If there protocol is generally accepted by the medical community, watch for ads in your mailbox for Viagra and Lipitor.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The perils of privatised health records | Michael Cross (guardian.co.uk)
• Personal Health Records Use Growing (informationweek.com)
• Google now integrating its own Google Health service into your search results (downloadsquad.com)

Google is After your Health Records

Image via Wikipedia

Google knows where you live and where you surf online. If you own an Android phone, they probably know who you speak to and who's in your directory. Now they are after your health records. Does that scare you as much as it scares me?

Two Google engineers are presenting a paper at USNEX HealthSec 2010, part of the 19th USENIX Security Symposium, which runs from August 11-13, 2010 arguing that current health records are static and they have a way to change that - of course they do. Their mission is to organize the world's information and your health records are part of that information. They plan to do this by using the Google Wave federation protocol. This  protocol is based on open source code that permits Wave servers from different organizations to cooperate and is designed to present updates from many sources in a format that is compatible for medical record keeping in a distributed environment.


If there protocol is generally accepted by the medical community, watch for ads in your mailbox for Viagra and Lipitor.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The perils of privatised health records | Michael Cross (guardian.co.uk)
• Personal Health Records Use Growing (informationweek.com)
• Google now integrating its own Google Health service into your search results (downloadsquad.com)

Gulf Oil Spill was not Caused by Technology

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The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is a huge environmental disaster that will take decades to clean up. Thousands have lost their livelihood, vacationers will be staying away and dozen of specifies of wildlife will be toxic or gone for many years. Good news is that it appears the leak has been stopped and soon, the relief well will be able to permanently plug the leak. Of course, we cannot forget the 11 men who died and those who were injured when the well exploded on April 20th

Since the explosion, all efforts have been directed to stop the leak, and so should they. As it appears that an end is in sight for the leak, the press is going to shift to the cause of the explosion that started this mess. I'm sure it will take many months to determine the exact cause and the insurance companies will be watching very carefully. Some of this press has begun. I came across an article that quoted Mike Williams, the rig's chief electronics technician, saying that there were many problems and red flags on the rig but the most puzzling is that he computer screens on the rig would turn blue with no data coming through. What they may have been seeing is known, in the tech world, as the Blue Screen of Death - BSOD. 


In my opinion, the Gulf oil spill was not caused by the BSOD or any other technology. It was human error. People love to blame technology when things go wrong but it is not often the technology that went wrong - it was how it was used or how it was implemented or how it was designed. If they were getting BSOD on the rig, they should have questioned it and got it fixed. That is a human failing. Considering what was at stake, any usual technology malfunction should have been addressed. 


Computers are often used for mission-critical applications that can caused deathly consequences if they fail. It is up to use human to monitor technology carefully to ensure that it is operating as necessary so that the Blue Screen of (virtual) Death does not lead to real deaths.

Google Gets an 'F' on the Nexus One

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Not everything Google touches turns to gold. As a matter of fact, Google has had many products launches that have not been successful. They like to beta test product by the public and then if they do not succeed, they are  quietly pulled or minimized and not supported as well as their main applications. Such is the case with Google's Nexus One cell phone. Lots of hype with the announcement but little notice of its demise. As a matter of fact, Google choose to inform the public of its pulling the plug on this product on the same day that Apple's Steve Jobs held a press conference to discuss  antenna-gate!

Google has some very good Web-based products but it clearly had no idea about how to get into the cell business, making several mistakes. One of the mistakes was to align itself with a single service provider, T-Mobile, the weakest carrier in the US. It also confused the issue by branding the phone, made by HTC, and serviced by T-Mobile. With this companies involved, there was lots of finger-pointing when it came to service requests. slowing down the process with a unprepared support infrastructure. The final nail in the coffin was to offer the phone only through a Net purchase.

I'm sure that Google is licking its wounds, learn from its mistakes and try again after the Nexus One is a distance memory. After all, they already know what you are doing online but they also want to know what you are talking about.

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• Requiem for a phone: Nexus One done at Google (news.cnet.com)

Leading Edge vs Bleeding Edge

I heard part of the press conference given my Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, this morning about the iPhone 4 problem of dropping calls. A few things stuck out for me. Firstly, Jobs admitted that the iPhone 4was not perfect. Good for him for admitted that. Secondly, he minimized the problem by saying that the iPhone 4 dropped just one more call, on average than its predecessor. Granted one more call is not a lot but on a phone that is supposed to be an improvements, it is not acceptable. Thirdly, that the fix is so simple and the problem so obvious, why was not not found and fixed before it was released?

Hold phone like this ...  

not like this ....

But the thing I was most surprised to see was Jobs' attitude about the problem. He definitely did not think it was a big thing which certainly did not deserve the media hype. He certainly did not have the "I feel your pain" attitude. It was more like he was pacifying his whining clients. Watch it and decide for yourself.

The Mother of All Patches

Bought an iPhone 4? If you are in Canada, they are supposed to be available later this month. By the sounds of the problem the iPhone is having may delay the Canadian launch or even begin a recall. The redesigned iPhone has its antenna wrapped around its perimeter. Good idea in theory, but I guess that the test engineers have very small hands as this design mean that when the user holds the phone in a normal manner, the signal is interrupted and calls may be dropped. Apple is playing down the issue, saying its a software problem and has instructions on their Web site on how to properly hold an iPhone as to not block the antenna. Consumer Reports feels that the issue is so detrimental to its use, it cannot recommend the phone. Apple's stock has also dipped below its 50 days average.

Thankfully, there's a fix! It requires a patch! Not a software patch but a real patch. There are many reports that say if you put a small piece of duct tape over the lower left-hand side of the phone, the problem is fixed. Won't Red Green be proud!! (For those not familiar with this piece of Canadiana, Red Green was a character in a TV that fixed everything with duct tape). You can find an video of the procedure on the CNN tech site.

This is not the first time duct tape was used to fix technology. A very famous patch occurred in 1970, when the failing square carbon dioxide filters from Apollo 13's command module had to be modified to fit round receptacles in the lunar module. A workaround was made using duct tape to hold together other items found on board. The lunar module carbon dioxide filters started working again, saving the lives of the three astronauts on board.

If the iPhone is released in Canada as is, I would strongly urge you to visit your local hardware store on the way home from the Apple store. In that way, you will be able to hold the phone the way you want to without dropping any calls. You might also want to drop into your stock broker to invest some money in 3M stock.

Computer Protection

Your computer is a gateway to a vast amount of your personal information. It contain Web site you have visited, passwords (possibly saved by your browser), financial information and thanks to the boom in digital photography, many of your photographs. Just like all your personal belonging that you secure when you lock your doors when you leave your house, you should take some effort to secure your computer and its contents.

The good news is that you do not have to be a computer expert to secure your computer. There are some basic things that everyone can do, and should do, to put there mind at ease with regards to the way they manage the information stored on their computer. I think of computer security as protecting and insurance. Insurance is a bet that we take and hope to lose but you must ask yourself - "what data would I lose if disaster struck?" - fire, flood, theft, failure.

Here is a list of some security measure you can take:

1. Firewall - this is software that essentially makes your computer invisible to the uninvited. You probably have a firewall installed if you have a router either supplied by your ISP or of you purchased one to provide Internet services to two or more computers. If you are unsure if your router contains a firewall, contact your ISP or the router manufacturer.
   
2. Secure your wireless network - The only good thing to come out of Google's collection of unsecured wireless network data is that it brought this issue to the forefront. You may thing you are doing the neighbourhood a service by providing free Internet to your neighbourer and passer-bys but they are individuals who literally drive up and down street looking for unsecured wireless network for illegal purposes. For example, using your wireless network, they can download copyrighted materials and you would be responsible. Your wireless network is also a way into your computer. They can follow the signal back to your computer and access files. The technique to secure your wireless is different and dependent on the manufacturer of your router. Call their technique support line and they should help you. One more thing - the password required is 10 characters long, consisting of the characters 0-9 and A-E. Do not use your phone number for the password! That is way too easy to figure out. If your router was installed by the ISP installer, that is what they usually set it at - be sure to use something else.
   
   

Tech Sector on the Rise

Coming through one of the worse recessions in history, we all look for those signs that would lead us to believe that it is over. Some look at the sale of large ticket items such as cars and houses while other look at the job market. There is one indicator that is often overlooked and that is the amount of money spend on technology by businesses.

In rough times, technology is often one of the first areas to be cut and therefore, a resurgence in this area is a sure sign that businesses are starting to rebound. Looking at the recent and project sales of of some of the large technology giants, you will see a turn around in the numbers. Here are a 10 examples:

1. after falling by 4.2% in 2009, tech spending is up 3.8% this year to $1.5 trillion
2. Microsoft has sold over 150 million of Win 7 - fastest OS sale in their history
3. hardware sales are expect to rise by 6.4%
4. Dell is expecting a 19% rise in revenue as oppose to the 13.4 drop they experienced in 2009
5. SAP sales is expect to rise by 7% this year - dropped 8% in 2009
6. according to a Nightly Business Report / BridgeNews poll, 40 percent of 300 executives polled expect to increase their IT spending this year and plan to invest, an average of 21% of their capital investments to technology this year
7. Cisco Systems recorded a 23% jump in quarterly profit and 8% gain in revenue
8. Intel said that revenue for microprocessor division for corporate server systems rose 42%.
9. Sybase reported a 34% jump in profit
10. Forrester Research, Inc is reporting that tech spending will rise by 11.2%  in Europe, Canada by 9.9%, Asia Pacific by 7.8%, and Latin America by 7.7%.

This recession hit everyone very hard but if the increasing profits by tech companies and IT spending by businesses is an indicator, there's light at the end of the recession tunnel.

Google Me

Have you Googled yourself lately? Most people have but the Google Me in this context is the much-rumoured and anticipated social networking community powered by Google. Google's attempt at social media in the past has not been successful. How many of you have used or even heard of Orkut, Buzz or Friend Connect? All these are examples of Google products that have attempted to crack the social media market and have not.

The rumour of Google Me started when Digg founder Kevin Rose tweeted that that Google is working on a Facebook competitor. It was seconded by former Facebook CTO Adam D'Angelo on the question and answer Web site Quora - "This is not a rumor. This is a real project. There are a large number of people working on it. I am completely confident about this." This would be an opportune time for Google to come up with a competitor to Facebook that has been having problems of late with their security setting.

I left Facebook because of the weak security and the lack of control I felt I had with my privacy settings. I'm sure that the developers of Google Me will learn from the privacy mistakes committed by Facebook and release a more secure social networking site.

After all, it is in Google's best interest to get to know more about you. What better way to find out then to create a platform where you voluntarily spell is all out for them. Then try Googing yourself and see the information that comes up. How did they find out all that information about you? Beats me! - No .... Google Me!

Google on the Move

Google is at it again. They recently announced that they plan to buy ITA Software for $US700 million.  ITA Software is a major provider of airline travel software and has among its clients virtually all of the major Web travel information and booking providers including airlines as American and Continental and online travel services such as Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz and Microsoft's Bing. 


Now what does Google want with this company? Well, over 10 percent of searches on Google are travel related and the online travel business is big business. Put the two together and Google is going to try to corner another Internet market. I'm sure you will shortly see a list of airlines schedules and fares when you enter departing and destination cities into the Google search box. And then a link to the new Google Travel Service that will gladly sell you a ticket.


Another convenient service brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood Google Web services. Or another attempt to learn more about you and where you travel and where you are at all times - perish the thought.

XXX for Porn

ICANN, the organization that oversees domain names and registrations for the Internet, plans to approve the .xxx top-level domain (TLD) for adult Web sites. This is good news. Although optional, sexually explicit and pornographic Web sites can now use this .xxx for their domain names. I hope that these site become responsible and use this naming convention. 


Of course there is objection to using this naming convention. Some say it will not do any good because .xxx is just as accessible as .com. True enough but by using this convention it would make screening such sites much easier for parents and businesses that want to take inquiring eyes elsewhere. I know that porn distributors do not want young kids stumbling across their sites. Many porn sites already have a statement on their home page warning surfers under the age of eighteen not to enter. If they really mean to keep young people away, they can take the extra step to rename their site so it would be easier to avoid. 


Porn is big business on the Internet. It is thought to be the first business to make money in the online environment. Porn sites sell $3,000 of materials PER SECOND. If all 375 million porn sites were to switch to the .xxx name, it would be instantly bigger than the .com domain.  Until recently, "sex" was the most often searched term online.I'm sure it will not lose any market share by switching to the .xxx domain. 


I would urge all online porn businesses to take on this challenge and adopt the .xxx domain. Help make the Internet a safe place to have fun and find information without accidentally running into the stuff you want to sell. Those who want to buy some will find your services no matter what you call yourself.