Online cameras add to hospitals new medical tools

Yesterday, the intensive care unit at Mercy Medical Center had miniature cameras installed on the ceiling in 12 ICU patient rooms.  Nurses on the floor called them ”another set of eyes”.  The pictures taken from a camera give another tool to hospital-bound doctors with special training in the treatment of critically ill patients, also called intensivists, in the growing practice of “telemedicine.”   Gastric Bypass surgery, on the other hand, is one of many surgeries that will have to be done in person for some time.

Telemedicine on babies

More and more hospitals are adding technology, such as the Sisters of Mercy in St. Louis, Mercy’s parent company, to maximize their in-house resources.  The use of remote technology in intensive care units “is probably one of the newest and fastest areas in telemedicine,” said Jonathan Linkous, chief executive officer of the American Telemedicine Association in Washington.

For the past few years, hospitals have turned to their intensive care units to help save costs and improve access to resources such as the intensivist, Linkous said.  If you look at the budget of a hospital the intensive care unit is always the highest cost one.

The general medical  industry has come to employ more intensivist-trained doctors since numerous studies have shown that these caregivers can improve the quality of care for critically ill patients and their survivability.

That’s “if you have one available,” Linkous said. “A lot of hospitals in remote locations don’t have intensivists.”

Telemedicine helps bridge that specialty doctor gap, especially among health systems with hospitals in less urban environments. More than 60 medical specialty doctors and subspecialists have used telemedicine, the association reports.   The origin of the telemedicine movement can be traced back about 40 years to applications such as transmitting X-rays across phone lines, Linkous said. Now, telemedicine is becoming an accepted diagnostic tool. Rarely to be people trasmit images using the iPhone.  Even though CSI gives the  imporessions that forensic scientists take pictures of fingerprints on their Apple iPhone and send them to the lab, this doesn’t really happen yet.

Online conferencing for Obama’s inauguration – January 20th

Online history being made by Obama

Here’s a quick list of the best spots to watch Obama’s inauguration online on January 20th:

• Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies – closed captioned and flash required. The site has a wealth of information about what happens on Inauguration Day, including a handful of inaugural videos dating back to President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1957 swearing-in ceremony, as well as videos of presidential luncheons dating back to the inauguration of John Kennedy. (It also reveals, for those interested, the recipe for Obama’s luncheon meal, which features a main course of pheasant and duck served with sour cherry chutney.)

•  CBS News will have day-long live coverage January 20 on TV and the Web, starting at 7 a.m. EDT. Katie Couric will also host a special Webcast that night with reporters and punditry, for which viewers can submit questions during the webcast.

•  CBS streaming coverage will also be Webcast on Joost’s Everything Obama page, which also features interviews, campaign highlights, and satire clips.

•  MSNBC will be streaming the historical event on its home page and politics section, and users can embed the video into their own sites and social pages. Its inauguration page also features videos of inaugurations from decades past.

•  If a computer screen seems too small for such a momentous moment, there’s always the option of heading to a movie theater–or a Starbucks. At MSNBCEvents.com, the cable network is distributing free tickets to screenings of the inauguration in movie theaters in 21 cities (what a bargain instead of $10 a ticket for a normal movie). MSNBC is also partnering with Starbucks to

Reviewed FreeConference.com, a free online conference tool!

So I had another online meeting with some clients this past week and decided to test out the beta test program of SharePlus desktop sharing application from FreeConference.com.  I’m sure the owner of the software hopes that I would use the phone # they provided for the meeting since this is how they make their money.  But, being the cheapskate I am, I opted to use Skype for my phone connection.  inot feel like paying 10 cents a minute per caller to use their online 800 phone # for the conference.  They did have the option for a long distance dial in # but I wasn’t sure if they meant long distance to Canada or in the US so I avoided it.

The conference setup interface was relatively painless and my clients had no problems setting up from their end.  The one thing my clients noticed is that they couldn’t see my mouse pointer while sharing my desktop and the screen seemed to lag behind about 4 seconds, more than WebEx had in the past. One cool feature with this tool is that they can send you a SMS texct message to remind you before your conference starts.  It costs .45 cents but that’s pocket change for must of us to be reminded through our cellphone.

I really had nothing to lose when I tested this free online meeting program since these clients

Free Online Conference tool now out…take that WebEx

FreeConference.com

Has anyone heard of freeconference.com?  These guys allow you to not only call into a  dedicated # for free  for your conference but also you can share your desktop for free (for a limited time only, currently in beta).  If you want to check them out, click here.  Sign up is incredibly easy with these guys.  I can’t wait to test them out over the next conference call.

Here’s some more info on them:

17 Ways to Use VoIP to Save Money During a Recession

With this recession kicking into high gear it’s time for small business’s to look at ways of cutting costs without slashing employees or the marketing budget.  VoIP is a quick and easy way to trim that budget for the end of the year. See the list below:

Catholic writers to use online conferencing

Religious leaders tend to be slow in adapting to new technologies but online conferences are grabbing hold of all segments of the population thanks to past gas prices.  Every one that works yearns to find an easier way to meet with others around the world and online oncference software fills that need.  Here you will see how Catholic writers are using it.

“On-line conferences cross economic and political boundaries. We can reach Catholic writers who normally wouldn’t have a chance to meet, much less learn from, successful writers, editors and publishers. Plus, the faith-sharing is phenomenal,” said Karina Fabian, author of the Catholic science fiction anthology Infinite Space, Infinite God and President of the Catholic Writers’ Guild.

“If a rookie writer on the scene needed a shot of confidence, input, and tips, the CWCO (Catholic Writer’s Conference Online) was the place for them to hand around for the week. I learned so much and enjoyed being in an setting that was friendly for all who want to share the Catholic faith. Thanks for the great week of advice, information, and networking with others like me.” Beth Knotz,

For more info check out:

www.catholicwritersconference.com

Catholic writing conference for 2009 coming soon

Webex vs. Yugma vs. GoToMeeting – Who wins?

Yugma, the new alternative to WebEx

Yugma is the new online conferencing service that kills Webex in terms of quality and pricing (Comment me if you feel different). Someone mentioned the Yugma service over at InsideCRM online magazine and I decided to check it out. These guys are good from what I see. We know that WebEx’s lowest plan starts $39 a month for only 15 users. GoToMeeting starts at $49 a month and Turbo meeting is a piece of horse manure (personal experience), so don’t use it. Check the chart from Yugam out below. More features, and conference attendees for less. They impress me (not easy to do) and here are their feature sets, tell me what you think.

Services	Pro-20	Pro-100	Pro-500
Attendees you can invite	20	100	500
Pricing Monthly	19.99	69.95	89.95
Desktop Sharing	Yes	Yes	Yes
Free Teleconferencing	Yes	Yes	Yes
Public and Private Chat	Yes	Yes	Yes
Customizable Widget	Yes	Yes	Yes
Windows, Mac and Linux	Yes	Yes	Yes
MS Outlook and Skype compatiblity	Yes	Yes	Yes
Share Mouse & Keyboard controls with other attendess	Yes	Yes	Yes
Change Presenter	Yes	Yes	Yes
Annotations & Whiteboarding Tools	Yes	Yes	Yes
Schedule Sessions	Yes	Yes	Yes
Web Session Recording, Playback and Hosted Webcast	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shared File Space (100MB)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Webinar feature (Professional 100 & 500 only)	No	Yes	Yes
Priority Customer Support	Email, Phone and WebEmail

Collaboration vs. Sharing

Since Yugma excels in its screen sharing capacity, the real power of Yugma lies in its real time collaboration capabilities.

With Yugma, multiple people can collaborate in any program, sharing mouse and keyboard capability in real time. The whiteboard feature of Yugma allows for virtual brainstorming sessions, either in or outside of meetings. The annotation tool allows for one or multiple people to edit or provide comments on work in progress.

While many of “the other guys” focus on old school meetings like structured collaboration, Yugma focuses on two types of collaboration: spontaneous (this happens often) and structured collaboration.

Yugma Professional Features

Yugma Professional offers a extreme set of features to meet the needs of any business. Here are the brief highlights of just some of the features you get with Yugma Professional:

Yugma Viewer

Allow meeting participants to quickly connect and view your meetings without having to download or register for Yugma.

Mouse & Keyboard Sharing

Collaborate in any program in real time with one or multiple people, whether they are in the same office or across the globe.

Annotation and Whiteboard tools

With these easy-to-use integrated tools you can brainstorm in real time, edit documents, or just add some flair to your presentations

Session Scheduling

Schedule your meetings and send invites in advance. Keep track of your scheduled sessions on Yugma’s integrated calendar.

Session Recording, Playback, an Hosted Webcast

Record important meetings or demos for later viewing. No codecs or file compatibility issues, your recorded sessions will be hosted by Yugma and playback in any browser.

Shared File Space

Avoid important files getting trapped in virus or spam filters by posting files for clients or colleagues in Yugma’s shared file space.

Yugma Enterprise Features

In addition to all the powerful features you get with Yugma Professional, Yugma Enterprise users also get some key features to help manage Yugma across a larger organization, such as group account administration, consolidated billing, and a branded meeting portal page.

For more information about our Enterprise Service, check out their website at yugma.com.

Yugma’s Satisfaction Guarantee

Yugma is commited to providing our Professional and Enterprise customers the best service and support. We promise 99.9% or better service availability. If you are not satisfied within the first 30 days of your one year contract, we’ll refund your remaining balance.

We also provide live technical support during business hours via phone, email, and live chat. Email and voice mail inquiries made during non-business hours will receive a response as soon as possible the next business day.

Yugma for Business Pricing

Yugma Professional starts at just $19.95 a month for 20 attendees. We have service plans to fit any size business, up to 500 concurrent users.

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That’s a wrap, these are new huys I will be using for my online conference from here on out.  I doubt I will go back to Webex or GoToMeeting ever again.  It seems the new guys like to push the envelope while the old guys rake in the menoy and don’t really bring anything innovative anymore.  Do you agree?