Tech Lister

If I Had Glass…

Gabe — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:02:22 +0000

So Google Glass is here! As you can imagine, there is a lot of buzz and excitement surrounding this product too! So what is Google Glass? Instead of you reading about it, let me just show you Google’s promotional video:

Wow… looks like a cool device huh? But what can it do?

After reading over the specs, it’s easy to see using this device to take photos or videos. Glass also supports voice recognition, so that makes texting and composing e-mail messages a breeze. It can make phone calls and use GPS on your tethered phone for turn-by-turn directions via Google Maps. And of course it will integrate with other Google services like Google Hangouts.

As a gadget geek, I think the device is innovative and cutting edge. But… I have no desire to own one plus I really don’t think I would ever wear Google Glass at work or after hours. It bears no resemblance to Navin Johnson’s Opti Grab but it does make me think of it because I’m sure most people will not look this cool using Google Glass.

Image Credit: Google

Instead of focusing on how Glass would impact my sense of fashion, let’s take a look at the potential ways Google Glass (and other wearable computers) can impact the healthcare setting:

Retrieve Evidence-Based Information – I know… we librarians are so predictable but this application of Glass addresses a critical need in the clinician workforce. Studies have shown that the typical physician has about 10 questions per day, of which about one half go unanswered. Using Glass, we could have a voice-activated assistant to search PubMed’s Clinical Queries or use PICO searching to answer patient-related questions.

Provide Access to the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) – Using the wireless capabilities of Glass, “key” information from the EMR about your patient like vitals, labs, etc. can be easily displayed when you get ready to see your next patient.

Link History & Physical Examination Data to the EMR – Glass could act as a real-time medical history-taking tool that would record and upload clinician/patient interactions into the EMR.

Prevent Diagnostic Errors – Preventing diagnostic errors would also be a natural use Glass. Glass could provide access to differential diagnosis tools in real time to aid clinicians in the diagnostic process. Let’s take this a step further, Glass could snap a picture of a skin lesion and then use a database to find a match to assist with your diagnosis. Or, Glass could use visual recognition apps to identify and quantify other visible symptoms.

Prevent Medication Errors – Medication errors lead to increased ER and hospital visits; Glass could use a visual search app to quickly identify medications during a patient medication review and determine any potential interactions or conflicting prescriptions.

Consult with Colleagues – Glass uses the Google apps so using Google+ Hangouts to consult with an expert clinician is just a voice command away. Send pictures or video to your colleague for a more comprehensive consultation.

Streamline Clinician Case Load – Glass could increase efficiency in your daily workflow by alerting you of your next appointment and providing a summary of key points in the patient’s record. See this video demo of this idea.

Translate for Non-English Speaking Patients – Glass could also “live translate” your interactions with non-English speaking patients.

These are just a few ideas and I have read several more scenarios on different blog posts like How Google Glass could revolutionize medicine. Companies, such as Augmedix and Pharmaforward, have already popped up to begin developing Google Glass apps that will enhance healthcare. This is a trend that will continue for the short term until better more human-friendly technology is developed. Who knows??? Maybe we are just a few short years away from implanted computers and contact lens displays.

I am impressed with Google’s foray into the wearable computer market but don’t think for a minute that I wouldn’t make fun of you for wearing Google Glass after I express my fascination of the device. And if it is not enough for me to make fun of you, take a look at Tech Blogger Randall Meeks’ Review here.

Tech Tools for Dog Owners

Lee — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:17:37 +0000

On May 1, Hand-in-Paws is bringing their therapy dogs to Lister Hill Library to provide stress relief to student studying for finals. In this post, dog owners will find some fun and useful technology tools to keep yourself and your dog safe, happy, and healthy.

* Tagg is a GPS pet pet tracker that attaches to your dog’s collar. It allows you to track your dog’s location and activity level from your smartphone or computer. The apps are free, but the tracker and service are not, of course. If your dog gets out, Tagg will send you both an email and a text so you can go get him. It even includes directions to his current location. You can generate charts of your dog’s minute-by-minute activity level, too.

* An inexpensive option is the PetHub QR coded dog tag. Scanning the tag links to an online profile page about your dog with your contact information and also generates directions to where he is found. Additional services are available.

* iCam is an iOS tool that lets you watch your dog in real time while you are away. You can use the app to monitor live streams of video and audio feeds generated from multiple webcams. Now you will know what your dog actually does while you are at work.

*You love to walk your dog, right? Like the fitness app, MapMyRun, MapMyDogwalk uses the GPS on your phone to track and map your walk and save metrics including distance, pace, speed, calories, and more. Save your data online to see maps and your workout history and connect with others. (iOS and Android.)

*Be prepared while you are out and about. The Pet First Aid iOS app (limited features for Android at this time) contains articles, videos and detailed instructions on how to care for your dog or cat in an emergency. Yo can also save information including their vaccinations, veterinarian contact info, medications, allergies & conditions, and any other notes about your pet’s health.

* Ready to play? Try the Go Go Dog Pals remote-controlled critters. ($$$) Customization kits will soon be available too. Watch video here.

* My personal favorite tech tool is iRobot’s Roomba vacuum cleaning robot. ($$$) Depending on the model, you can program Roomba to clean your floors while you are at work, or set it loose when you leave for your walk. It will vacuum up that annoying dog hair and fur from all types of floors so you don’t need to deal with it daily. And it’s fun to watch.

* Coming soon. Watch for FitBark, the FitBit for dogs. Clip the Fitbark to your dog’s collar, and use the FitBark mobile app, launching on iOS in Spring 2013 (Android is in the works) to see charts and data on your dog’s daily activity and sleep patterns. (See Pat’s post on FitBit here.)

Thanks to the Mashable Blog for several of the ideas in this post. The authors frequently post about our canine friends.

Tech Tune-up: 50 sites (Part 1)

vgordon — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:26:34 +0000

Here are the 25+ sites that I presented at the Tech Tune-up on 4/24/13. Michael Fitts will be posting his list as well. Hope you enjoy visiting these sites! — Valerie Gordon

p.s. Do you have suggestions on other types of fun classes you’d like to see at Lister Hill? An Evernote Users Group? Lifehacker Happy Hour? Productivity Tips & Tricks? Post your comment here or send a suggestion to vgordon@uab.edu

Tech Tune-up: 50 Sites (Part 1)

Productivity

TechLister http://www.lhl.uab.edu/tech/
Profhacker http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/
Study Hacks: http://calnewport.com/blog/
Becoming minimalist http://www.becomingminimalist.com/
Yarny: https://yarny.me/

Plus old favorites: Lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/ & Zenhabits: http://zenhabits.net/

Home & Garden

Apartment Therapy: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/
Gardenista: http://www.gardenista.com/
A way to garden: http://awaytogarden.com/
Ikea hackers: http://www.ikeahackers.net/
Take them a meal: http://takethemameal.com/

Plus old favorites: Houzz http://www.houzz.com/ & design sponge http://www.designsponge.com/

More design

Polyvore www.polyvore.com
The sartorialist: http://www.thesartorialist.com/
I love typography http://ilovetypography.com/

Travel

Road trippers https://roadtrippers.com/
Birmingham Library Pinterest Page http://pinterest.com/bplonline/
Storyverse https://www.smalldemons.com/
IMDB: Downton Abbey: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606375/

Plus old favorites: AirnBnB https://www.airbnb.com/ & Yelp http://www.yelp.com & Tripadvisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/

Explore

Open Culture http://www.openculture.com/
Sulia http://sulia.com/
What NYPL is reading: http://pinterest.com/nypl/what-nypl-is-reading/
Allmyfaves.com http://www.allmyfaves.com/

Plus old favorites: Stumbleupon http://www.stumbleupon.com/ & reddit http://www.reddit.com/

Smile

Catalog living http://catalogliving.net/
Zoo borns http://www.zooborns.com/
Soulpancake http://soulpancake.com/
Funny or Die: http://www.funnyordie.com/
LetMeGoogleThatForYou: http://lmgtfy.com/

Skyscanner (A Great Tool to Find Cheap Flights and More!)

Fitts — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 05:00:36 +0000

Looking for a one stop shop for your pending travel needs that will search for the most cost effective airfare? Well you may be interested in checking out Skyscanner. Skyscanner allows users to search millions of routes on over 1000 airlines to find the cheapest flights. There are 2 basic ways to access this tool. One method would be via the web by visiting . Secondly you may download the ap from your smartphone. One thing that I love is the fact that the ap is available on all the major platforms. Including Windowos, Windows 8, Android, Blackberry and IOS.

As far as skyscanner.com is concerned, it compares over 1000 airlines to find you the cheapest airfares. In addition it also compare and finds the cheapest hotels and car rentals for your next trip.

For smartphones there are apparently more than 6 million people are already using the skyscanner app. It is available for Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android. With the windows phone version in particular (which is what I have smile) the app also lets users track prices of selected flights with the Live Tile. You can even pin flights to the start screen and the prices automatically update every hour.

So at this point you may still be asking yourself why you should be using skyscanner? The reasons are simple:

Compare millions of flights from over 1000 airlines around the world in seconds; save money, save time.

Book your flights direct with the airline or travel agent and get the best deals.

It’s independent, simple and finds the cheapest fares in seconds, wherever you want to fly.

Flexible on when you fly? Find the cheapest dates to travel
Flexible on where you fly? Find the cheapest flights from your local airport
Filter your searches by take off/landing time, airline or price.
Share your flight details with friends, family or colleagues via email, Facebook or Twitter – in one tap
Available in over 28 languages and over 61 currencies
It’s FREE! the search that is not your flight LOL!

Also don’t forget that with the online version of skyscanner you can find great deals on hotels and car rentals as well to make it a truley a 1 stop shop for your travel needs.

But don’t just take my word for it….download the app and/or visit skyscanner.com today!

Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO)

Kay — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:03:52 +0000

The fact that 70% of cell phone subscribers are in the developing world has not been lost on global health innovators. A case in point is that of the creators of SAWBO, or Scientific Animations Without Borders (http://sawbo-illinois.org/main.htm), under the auspices of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This project aims to bridge the gap between evidence-based global health interventions and those who need this knowledge the most. Unfortunately, those most in need of these interventions are often unable to access the information or understand it if they can access it due to literacy or language considerations. The SAWBO project team, in collaboration with local health, development and agricultural education agencies around the world, creates brief – about 2 minutes each – animated videos focusing on such local health issues as How to Remove Poison from Cassava Flour or Construction of a Solar Oven Using Simple Materials. These animated educational vignettes are available in multiple languages (using local accents where possible) and available for download to cell phones using Bluetooth technology. This initiative is cost-effective, scalable, and searchable using the affiliated SusDeViKi database available at http://susdeviki.illinois.edu/. Much of the work is done by volunteers, but the project receives some funding from the University, private foundations and individuals. For more information, contact the organizers at http://sawbo-illinois.org/contactus.htm.

The author wishes to thank SAWBO Director, Dr. Barry Pittendrigh, for his input for this blog entry.

Evernote

Pat Higginbottom — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:12:39 +0000

Evernote

Evernote Premium

Evernote Support

Evernote blog

Other Evernote created apps

Evernote Trunk

Penultimate

Evernote Hardware

Powerbot

Emailing to Evernote

Don’t ask to borrow my Fitbit

Pat Higginbottom — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:42:24 +0000

I’ve talked my Fitbit up to everyone I know. I go on and on about how great it is and how everyone would learn something from using one. But when my 14 year old son asked if he could wear it for a day to see how many steps he’s taking around school I….couldn’t do it. But I can’t go a day without it! Having someone else’s data in there would skew my statistics. I mean…um no. Sorry. My Fitbit! Wow, so I’m really, really in love with this little device.

This is the $99 Fitbit and it is one of many body trackers available. I think they all do basically the same thing which is track movement to provide data on your activity level–awake or asleep.

Mainly:

It is a really, really accurate step counter. With most pedometers I found that any movement counted as a step. Shifting around, jiggling, etc. Not so with the Fitbit. I have to be walking or running for it to count. And I am shocked–shocked–at how much walking it takes to get to 10,000 steps per day. I do a lot of walking. Around our 6 story building, and around the campus. I routinely walk 15 minutes one way to a meeting. And yet, without some extra walking I would rarely get 10,000 steps. I would have predicted I do at least that many in a regular work day. Not so. And since being active apart from regular exercise has been shown to be very important, this device is great at keeping it front and center in my mind.

In addition to steps it keeps track of how many flights of stairs (or hills) I have gone up–down only counts as steps not as stairs–each day. Mileage and calories burned are also tracked. I don’t personally keep up with calories in or out so I can’t say how accurate that is.

Finally, it tracks movement during sleep. Mine has a sleeve you wear it in at night and I tell it when I go to bed and when I get up. In the morning it tells me how long I slept and how many times I woke up in the night (based on my movement). You then get a ranking of how “good” your sleep was.

I am very good at sleeping! I think it is pretty accurate but wonder what other people’s logs look like. As you can see, if you forget one night you can add it manually.

Within the website or app you can also add activity, so I can track which days I went to class at the Y or swam or whatever and you can also track your food–which I am too lazy to do in any program but lots of people seem to like this option a lot.

I have the apps for Fitbit on both my Android phone and my iPad. The data syncs magically with my phone or my computer (with the dongle attachment plugged in.)

I say magically because somehow it synced while I was camping and my phone was in the car on airplane mode. Magic!

For $99 dollars I think this little gadget has made a big difference in my activity–and I am pretty active already. You can share and have friends within the dashboard but for me competing against myself week to week is enough.

This is long so I’ll stop singing the Fitbit praises but if you have any questions, ask them in the comments and I’ll be happy to discuss further.

Tired of the same old type?

vgordon — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 20:09:47 +0000

I’ve been fascinated with fonts for a long time. Long ago, I was actually a fan of Comic Sans, something most people won’t admit in public. (Read more on the font that everyone loves to hate.) Since then my taste in type has improved. I dream in Helvetica and speak in Century Gothic. I’m fond of Modern type but allergic to Jokerman. For my birthday, my husband ordered this book for me and I was happy!

Are you tired of the same old type? Wish you had some new fonts to spice up your documents? Visit fontsquirrel.com, dafont.com and fontspace.com to find a wide variety of retro, script, decorative or contemporary fonts. Be sure to read the fine print about how these fonts can be used. Want some more inspiration? Check out these blogs: You the Designer, I love typograph y, and From up north.

Wish you knew more about type? Find some (80, to be exact) great tutorials on typography at Creative Bloq including A Crash Course in Typography by Cameron Chapmon and Principles for Combining Typefaces. The examples of successful design are especially helpful.

Want to see how much you’ve learned? Try the Font Game (available for iPhone and iPad for $1.99) or I Shot the Serif (free online). Let me know how well you do!

Blender! Create in 3D!

Lisa — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:46:03 +0000

Want to learn how to make 3D computer graphics and animations but think the software needed is too expensive? Meet Blender.

Blender is an open-source 3D computer graphics software product. Using Blender you can create animated films, all sorts of visual effects, interactive applications and even video games. For instance, Blender was used to create the animation below.

Steps of forensic facial reconstruction of a mummy made with Blender. From Wikipedia.

If you already use another animation software package the Blender interface may slow you down some since many of the commands have keyboard short cuts rather than contextual menus (this is improving however). But if you think you want to try out making animations, 3D images, or games you can’t beat Blender’s price, features, or community. Further, the popularity of the program is growing. You can even become a certified Blender trainer! The Blender website offers all sorts of information about the program including a quick reference, tutorials, a user manual, FAQs, demos, a discussion list, and examples of all sorts of projects.

There is also a very good book, just published, that covers using Blender with GIMP by Ben Simonds entitled Blender Master Glass: a Hands-on Guide to Modeling, Sculpting, Materials, and Rendering.

Blender is cross platform meaning that is runs on a variety of operating systems including both Windows and MAC. The program has reasonable hardware requirements but this is a graphics program so you will need to make sure you have a decent graphics card that conforms to OpenGL specifications.

Overall, the program was easy to install and together with the above mentioned book and other resources anyone should be able to create really cool stuff. If you decide to give Blender a whirl I’d love to hear what you think about it.

Much Ado About MOOCs

Gabe — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 04:37:09 +0000

The term MOOC was coined in 2008 but over the past year, MOOCs have become all the rage. So what are MOOCs and why all the hype?

What is a MOOC?

In the simplest terms, MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses. University faculty from leading universities (Harvard, MIT, Yale, McGill, Australian National, etc.) around the world teach MOOCs and they are open to anyone with Internet access. MOOCs have a start date and an end date similar to a real in-person class. Some have weekly assignments, tests for comprehension, and offer credit or certificates for completion. I should mention there are different opinions of what truly constitutes a MOOC among the MOOC-faithful so here is a video from one of the MOOC concept creators, David Cormier:

If you want to read about the different type of MOOCs (xMOOCs and cMOOCs), see this blog post.

MOOCs offer instruction from a wide range of disciplines including Computer Science, Engineering, Business, Humanities, Science, Mathematics, and Health & Medicine. Here are some specific examples of course topics:

Introduction to Statistics, Stanford University (xMOOC)

Global Sustainable Energy: Past, Present and Future, University of Florida (xMOOC)

Medical Neuroscience, Duke University (xMOOC)

Song Writing, Berklee College of Music (xMOOC)

Women and the Civil Rights Movement, University of Maryland (xMOOC)

Digital Storytelling, University of Mary Washington (cMOOC)

HLS1x: Copyright, Harvard University (xMOOC)

Here is a Ted Video clip featuring Peter Norvig on his MOOC teaching experience: The 100,000-student classroom.

How do I find one?

You can go directly to some of the providers such as edX, Coursera, Udacity, or you can use a MOOC aggregator like Class Central.

Challenges for MOOCs

I would be remiss if I did not make at least a passing mention of some of the challenges for MOOCs. MOOCs are still very new, experimental, and prone to failure. Educators are still trying to find ways to measure success and effectiveness of MOOCs. The attrition rate for MOOCs has garnered some negative attention with some examples citing that as little as 10-15% of enrolled students actually completing a class. MOOCs are a different type of educational tool so applying traditional metrics DOES NOT make sense. The question is what metrics should be applied to determine success or failure of a course; or more broadly, the MOOC concept?

My two cents

The jury is still out on whether MOOCs are an effective education tool, but I think it depends on why YOU decide to register for a MOOC. If your goal is to get exposure to a topic of interest, continue education, or just examine course content, I think it is a worthwhile tool with minimal investment. If you are looking to get college credit, I would encourage take a critical look at partnerships such as MOOC2Degree.