Buckle Up! You’re Along For the Ride

It feels like a new era is here. These last few months have been a roller coaster ride of unpredictable change.

Global economies are in trouble, large numbers of people are losing their jobs and the roofs over their heads, wars are raging in many parts of the world, and access to things such as clean water, medicine and basic food supplies are scarce for the most economically disadvantaged.

But for all the doom and gloom, there are bright spots everywhere. A new President in the White House is inpsiring change on an international scale, groups such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are committed to bringing meaningful solutions to the world’s worst ills, and in the middle of all of this, technology is advancing at warp speeds while the prices for it drop.

Technology we could only see on Star Trek twenty years ago now shapes our daily lives.

Take these for example.

In late February, I was attended the launch for a revolutionary ruggedized computer, Panasonic’s new Toughbook H1. This thing is so cool I recommend you chuck those COWs (Computer on Wheels) off the highest structure around; on second thought you probably shouldn’t, I don’t want to be liable!

The Toughbook H1 is obviously the result of much consultation with the international healthcare community. You can hold the entire computer in one hand while using the touchscreen or the tablet pen, making your interactions with residents and families that much easier.

Lithium ion batteries for the H1 can be swapped out on the go without any downtime. It’s WIFI and Bluetooth compatible, with a built in 2 MP camera, RFID reader, fingerprint reader, contactless SmartCard reader and optional barcode reader. This baby is loaded.

If that weren’t cool enough, the Toughbook H1 can remind you when it needs a good sanitizing. The screen can even show you where you’ve already cleaned. Even better, you’re not gonna break your back all day carrying this wonder computer around, it’s only 3.4 lbs including the two batteries and handle.

With three in 10 people over the age of 60 having some form of hearing loss and one in six baby boomers with a hearing problem, the other amazing technology out there lets the techies in these age brackets make the best use of all their gadgets.

The new Siemens Tek hearing instruments sync with the Tek Connect remote control allowing the wearer to receive audio signals in stereo. How cool is this!

You can receive calls from a Bluetooth enabled phone in stereo and answer those calls by using the Tek Connect remote. Sound can be streamed directly from your audio sysetm, home entertainment sytems or MP3 players right to the hearing instruments, all without feedback. Makes hearing loss a lot more manageable.

I know there are other innovative products out there that are combining technology in new and fascinating ways, and we’ll only start to see more of this. The current Obama administration has already shown it is more supportive of research and development in science, medicine, and technology, having signed a pledge to “restore scientific integrity in governmental decision making.”

Pundits say we can expect to see increased funding specifically for stem cell research, which has exciting implications for the treatment of type-1 diabetes, spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease.

These may be crazy and wildly unpredictable times, but it’s exciting to see where advances in technology and medicine are taking us.

Everyone securely fastened in their seats? You’re along for the ride whether you like it or not.