Recent Comments:
Shenzhen EM-2811 "Latte ICE" is actually kind of neat {Engadget}
Jun 21st 2008 3:50PM Sorry, I've seen the shiz that passes for electronica in Shenzhen, China.... It's a guaranteed piece-o-crap to be sure. Shenzhen's all about shoddy imitations. Has anyone seen the device in the 'wild' yet?
DRE Medical lets loose compact, PC-based ECG system {Engadget}
Apr 7th 2008 6:53PM Aytunc....
I get to see those 60 year old machines daily... And I'll bet anything that those DRE devices are NOT running Vista.... Come on... What healthcare companies do you know that have implemented Vista? Yet damn near all of the software for healthcare out there (including hospital-wide med info systems) runs under XP... Those 60 year old machines don't integrate into anything, constantly false alarm, and use ancient wireless tech that a flippin' microwave can send into a downward spiral.... And, not sure what sort of demographic you see (if you're in healthcare), but how many times is someone hooked up to an EKG BEFORE a myocardial infarction?!
DRE Medical lets loose compact, PC-based ECG system {Engadget}
Apr 7th 2008 2:29PM What makes everyone think that the 20 year old equipment (and older in some places) that is still in use now in many hospitals/institutions throughout the world isn't anymore likely to have a critical problem when you 'need' it? By the way folks... This thing is an EKG...NOT a defribrillator. If it stops working, they just hook up another one.... It's not keeping you alive.... It's just reading the rhythm of your heart...not providing therapy...
HTC Shift hands-on {Engadget}
Mar 28th 2008 8:26PM Holy crap! I read through all of those posts and the very last one finally mentions what I was thinking the whole damn time! With those 100+ plus some un-boxing photos no one thought to put a hand or some other object in at least ONE of those photos in order to get an idea of the SIZE of this thing?!?!? Considering that seems to be a major sticking point with folks here, one would think that someone whould have thought of that....
ECS' Atom-based G10IL gets more attractive by the minute {Engadget}
Mar 20th 2008 8:51AM Would be perfect if could be converted to tablet PC and had Touch sensitive screen!
Philips unveils the Cliniscape medical tablet PC {Engadget}
Oct 22nd 2007 7:54PM This is the kind of thing that I fight for at my hospital ALL of the time. Granted, it won't eliminate errors all together, but it will eliminate traditional deadly errors like illegible handwriting, unlabled use or off-policy use of drugs, etc.... Yes, it can generate a new kind of error with menu selection mis-matches, but these can be attenuated with flexible, dynamic programming (adjustment of menu selections to prevent confirmational bias, hard-stops, etc).
Problem is, this crap costs SERIOUS money and invariably, won't want to play well with 'legacy' hospital systems (which is a rather insurmountable problem at our hospital right now). Finally, it's running Vista, which would give the IT department a coronary (to consider a Vista platform when we've only recently finally gotten to WinXP (last 2.5 years) would not go well.)
MIT student arrested for fake bomb at Boston's Logan airport {Engadget}
Sep 22nd 2007 1:53PM So, Simon.... Why do you think these security guards have the luxury of 'time' to investigate this person's actions in the 'heat of the moment'? Sure, if she had responded to the questions early on, it never would have gotten to that point....
Why do we think we know the methods the terrorists will use? Do you think they have a play-book that 'this is the way we do it...all of the time?' No, they look for new ways to be successful. Think about it.... On 9/11, 4 or 5 high-jackers with 'box-cutters' TOOK over 4 planes filled with passengers!!! Those passengers could have easily over-powered those hi-jackers IF they had known their intentions and attacked in a concerted effort (like flight 93). But before then, those passengers never would have thought the planes were going to plowed into the buildings or grounds....up until that point in time, the hi-jackings ended up in long stand-offs, negotiations, and a greater likelihood that eventually, they could make it out of there alive (if they listened to what the hi-jackers were telling them).... That all changed on 9/11... So don't purport to know that the terrorists wouldn't try a 'different' approach like sending a brain-washed M.I.T. student into an air-port with an 'art-project' that could have appeared to have been a detonator for a device (either on her person or elsewhere in the area). What if the M.I.T. person themselves was the 'package'? What if they would only needed a very small amount of explosive....designed to 'aspirate' the student's blood which could have been contaminated with a chemical weapon (ie., blood-borne or airport infectious pathogen)? In the end there's a whole lot of 'what-if's' in that scenario and not a whole lot of time to sort them out..... In the end, the security guards appear to have used a great deal of restraint because the idiot is STILL ALIVE to bitch about it!
MIT student arrested for fake bomb at Boston's Logan airport {Engadget}
Sep 21st 2007 11:18PM OK, my comment is coming quite late in this thread, but I had to reply to folks that claim the guards were being paranoid when they reacted to the 'LEDS' and breadboard... First of all, just because you only 'see' the breadboard, battery, and wires on the OUTSIDE of the sweatshirt, doesn't mean there isn't something UNDER the sweatshirt (this is not even taking the play-doh into account).
So, to those that say, 'this thing was just a breadboard and LED set, why would anyone think it was a bomb?', I say this..., "OK, so just because you don't see an explosive source (again, minus the play-doh', the thing could easily simply be the detonator for a device located somewhere else nearby! So, if you have to lay that person out to prevent them from activating the detonator, you have to do it.... It's better than a 'stand-off', where you hope and pray the crazy-ass doesn't HIT the BUTTON because you phrased your negotiation wrong and gave the nut an hour to stand there surrounded....
Before 911, would this have happened, probably not, but that's the exact point.... it is AFTER 911 at this point. The whole 'game' has changed. Yes, we've changed a lot of things about the way we live, but if you think Osama figures he 'won' because of that, I think you're being delusional.... They want America and our way of life GONE, not just 'extra cautious' about being blown up.... The words, "whiped off the face of the earth" are commonly used by America's enemies (as well as Israel...though, no I'm not israeli at all)...
Gamexpert Cooler King cools your Xbox 360, hubs its ports {Engadget}
Jan 28th 2007 1:00AM I think the reason all of these intercoolers work by 'parasiting' themselves off the 'mothership' XBOX360 power supply (whether directly or through USB/A/V, is VERY simple. They want things to be neat and clean so the average go can figure it out. What do I mean? Well, when you turn off the XBOX360 will ALL of these designs, the coolers ALSO turn off! Brilliant right!?!? If they were on their separate power, you would have switch off your xbox360 and the power would contine to run to those things....(making noise that folks seem to get so upset about).
