What's New

July 31, 2003

 
PDA Use Growing in Medical Field

Here's an article on the New York News Network talking about how Dr. Bill Koslosky, a surgical resident at Staten Island University Hospital, and other New York physicians use their PDAs.
posted by Kent 10:35 PM | |

 
Hands High Updates Memo PLUS

Hands High Software has released version 4.0 of Memo PLUS, its enhanced notepad application.

One of the new features in version 4.0 is the ability to encrypt memos using DES encryption. This should be particularly helpful for medical users who are using Memo PLUS to store patient information (HIPAA, remember).

Other new features include support for high-resolution and expandable screens, support for Palm OS 5, customizable coloring, new sort options, the ability to send a note as an email or an SMS message, the ability to print a note using popular print managers, the ability to beam a note using Bluetooth, and more.

Memo PLUS 4.0 costs $19.95.
posted by Kent 4:58 PM | |

 
Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia

The Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia is out of beta testing, and now costs money ($27.48 for a 12-month subscription). Still, at a little over half the price of ePocrates Rx Pro, it's a relative bargain.
posted by Kent 12:21 PM | |

July 30, 2003

 
Fatcalc Released

Alan Teh's (a.k.a. Palmdoc) new application, Fatcalc is now available on PalmGear.

Fatcalc estimates body fat according to BMI, ideal body weight and fat content. It also calculates basal metabolic rate, daily caloric requirements, and estimates how many calories are burned according to the type of activity (my suggestion...thanks, Palmdoc!) ;-)

Fatcalc is "donationware", and proceeds from registration go towards the Lyfeline Leukemia Fund.

You'll also find Fatcalc and other applications Alan has written on his Web site.
posted by Kent 6:17 PM | |

 
NIH Clinical Center Partners With ePocrates

The NIH Clinical Center is partnering with ePocrates to accelerate the recruitment of patients into NIH clinical research studies. Using ePocrates' proprietary DocAlert messaging system, messages are delivered to the physicians' handheld devices allowing access to trial information at the point of care.

This is the first time that the NIH Clinical Center has partnered with a physician handheld network to increase patient referrals to NIH clinical research studies. Traditionally, the NIH Clinical Center recruits patients through standard patient recruitment channels, such as internal investigator referrals and media campaigns. By accessing ePocrates' physician network through the DocAlert system, the NIH Clinical Center expect to receive more qualified patient referrals and participants that complete the trial.
posted by Kent 5:48 PM | |

July 29, 2003

 
Shots 2003 Reviewed Online

Shots 2003 received a favorable review by Dr. Thomas G. McLeod and Dr. Jon O. Ebbert in the July 15, 2003 issue of eFamily Practice News. You'll have to register to read it, but registration is free.

This is the online version of Family Practice News, an independent newspaper that provides the family physician with timely and relevant news and commentary about clinical developments in the field and about the impact of health care policy on the specialty and the physician’s practice.
posted by Kent 4:56 PM | |

 
PDAs in Clinical Research

PDA Cortex has an article written by Donna Fowler, RN, BSN, CCRC which describes how she uses PDAs to help organize her clinical research. "I found that 24 hours was not enough hours in the day to accomplish the many tasks that I acquired when I joined a new research group", said Donna. "There were too many tasks, appointments, and too many places I needed to be each day that it became overwhelming. Nursing had taught me to multitask and how to prioritize, but previously I had had support staff to assist in organizing and keeping up with the multitude of projects. Here is the story of how we implemented the use of PDAs to assist research coordinators in the multiple projects involved at a private research site, and how we utilized PDAs to transfer information and keep physicians up to date and informed about the current and ongoing research projects."
posted by Kent 7:52 AM | |

July 28, 2003

 
Handheld Medicine Solutions Guide

The Solutions Guide from Zatz Publishing presents eight excellent articles from PalmPower Magazine and PalmPower's Enterprise Edition. The guide is provided via email or download in Adobe Acrobat format and is free of advertisements.

The guide includes the following articles:

• Healthcare-specific Palm OS solutions
  
• Basic productivity solutions for the healthcare market
  
• ePocrates Rx helps doctors save lives
  
• Makers of ActiveECG cardiac monitor have heart
  
• Medical schools discover advantages of Palm computers
  
• Palm handhelds treat home health ills
  
• Handheld applications: the right prescription for busy doctors
  
• Wireless solutions for healthcare professionals

The guide is currently available for $19.95, a 50% discount off the regular price. Click here for more information or to order.
posted by Kent 5:55 PM | |

 
15% off "Best in Class" Apps at PalmGear

To celebrate the launch of their newly-revamped site, PalmGear has discounted 100 of their best selling applications by 15% for 15 days (through August 3rd, 2003). A number of apps that may be of interest to medical users are included, among them: PalmPrint, WordComplete, FireViewer, JFile, HanDBase, Super Names, Agendus, Jot, NeoCal, SplashID, BrainForest, and Wine Enthusiast Guide (OK, so that last one may not interest all of you...but it's a really cool app!) ;-)
posted by Kent 5:47 PM | |

July 26, 2003

 
IBM and PatientKeeper Join Forces

IBM and PatientKeeper have announced a significant expansion of wireless capabilities to help hospitals enhance patient care, reduce medical errors, and increase the job satisfaction of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

As part of their collaborative efforts, IBM will market and resell PatientKeeper's mobile platform and broad portfolio of wireless, point-of-care solutions. Those solutions enable a physician to view the patient's electronic medical record, use powerful clinical decision support tools, accurately record charges for medical treatments, and more - all with one handheld device while at the patient's bedside.

The expanded collaboration is key to IBM's new Wireless and Mobility Solutions (WAMS) for healthcare professionals and builds upon a relationship with PatientKeeper initiated in May, 2001. IBM's WAMS portfolio offers healthcare providers a comprehensive wireless solution that includes hardware, design, and implementation, installation and testing, LAN hosting services, and more. IBM can integrate PatientKeeper solutions with existing hospital information systems and support dozens of different network technologies and wireless standards protocols used worldwide.
posted by Kent 9:11 AM | |

July 25, 2003

 
PalmSource Expert Guide for Medicine

PalmSource has just released the first in a new series of Expert Guides to help users learn what they can do with a Palm Powered handheld or smartphone. More topics are in development. I was asked to write the medical page. Feel free to let me know what you think. Disclosure: I have received no financial remuneration for this effort (so what else is new?) ;-)
posted by Kent 8:06 AM | |

July 23, 2003

 
A Doctor's PDA

Here's an interesting article that focuses on the Cerner Millennium Mobile solution, which provides functionality similar to MercuryMD. Hopefully, this sort of thing will become the norm in a couple of years.
posted by Kent 7:17 PM | |

 
Tungsten T2 Announced

Palm's newest handheld, the Tungsten T2, is an update to the original Tungsten T. Similar to the m505-to-m515 upgrade, the Tungsten T2 has an improved high-res (320x320) screen and double the memory (32 MB). The Tungsten T2 includes all the features of the Tungsten T plus a software bundle for a debut price of $399 ($100 less than the Tungsten T originally sold for). To ensure that your friends know you've got the latest and greatest model, the case is now silver instead of dark gray. Look for the Tungsten T at "blow out" prices soon.
posted by Kent 8:52 AM | |

July 22, 2003

 
Skyscape References at the University of Louisville

The University of Louisville is giving PDA's with medical references from Skyscape to more than 900 students and instructors in the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry and Public Health and Information Sciences.

The School of Medicine and the School of Dentistry have loaded their PDAs with Skyscape references. The School of Nursing may begin providing some of its graduate students with PDAs in the next school year.

Thanks to Skyscape's handy smARTlink interface, students and instructors can easily cross-reference information between clinical and drug reference products or even dictionaries. The two Skyscape references currently used by the health sciences students at the University of Louisville are 5MCC/2003, the handheld version of Griffith's 5-Minute Clinical Consult 2003; and StedmansC, the PDA version of Stedman's Concise Medical Dictionary, 4th Edition.
posted by Kent 6:23 PM | |

July 21, 2003

 
Fatcalc

Palmdoc is looking for a few good beta-testers for a new diet calculator application that he's writing using NS BASIC. The program looks pretty cool so far (especially for a first effort), and he's even incorporated some suggestions by yours truly. ;-)

If you'd like to become a Fatcalc beta tester, e-mail Palmdoc.


posted by Kent 6:37 PM | |

July 18, 2003

 
New Clamshell Sony Clie

The new PEG-UX50 resembles a mini-notebook with its clamshell-style magnesium case, yet weighs only 6 ounces.

With both 802.11b WiFi and Bluetooth built-in, the UX50 offers two methods of wireless communication.

The built-in 310,000 pixel digital camera supports up to 640x480 resolution, and allows users to take quick snapshots and transmit them over one of the wireless connections. You can also record and play back MPEG4 video (30 fps, 160x112).

The new wide-screen design features a high-resolution 480x320 display for easier Web browsing. The screen lifts to expose the keyboard, or swivels to hide the keyboard and use as a touch screen.

The UX50 runs Palm OS 5 and includes 29 MB of dedicated internal memory for storing multimedia content along with 16 MB of RAM. An automatic data back-up feature helps protect your information by moving data in RAM to non-volatile memory when a low battery state is detected.

The list price on the Sony site is $699.99.


posted by Kent 8:47 AM | |

July 17, 2003

 
Blast from the Past

Gizmodo has compiled a list of the hottest new gadgets for 1983. Remember any of these? Check out the whopping 961 bytes of memory in that Casio "PDA". Woo-hoo!
posted by Kent 5:24 PM | |

 
The Hip Bone's Connected to the Leg Bone...

Bones is new anatomy reference from Medical Wizards, and includes 48 drawings representing virtually every bone in the human body. All are labeled with important anatomic markings. Additional items, such as facial fractures, hip fractures and Salter-Harris fractures are addressed. An orthopedic glossary is included for those of us who can't seem to remember what a Bennett's fracture is. This is a great reference for medical students, residents, and other healthcare providers.


posted by Kent 2:38 PM | |

July 16, 2003

 
Companies to Bring Drug Interactions Database to Handhelds

The Medical Letter and Tarascon, a publisher of medical pocket reference books, have teamed up on Tarascon's latest PDA drug tool, the Pocket Pharmacopoeia Deluxe Edition for Palm OS and Pocket PC handhelds. The Pocket Pharmacopoeia Deluxe Edition will include The Medical Letter's Adverse Drug Interactions database to provide physicians with a fully integrated application for checking multiple drug interactions.

"'The Medical Letter's Adverse Drug Interactions' database is intended to provide physicians with clinically oriented, unbiased interactions information needed to make responsible prescribing decisions," said Gianna Zuccotti, M.D., M.P.H., Deputy Editor of The Medical Letter. "Including the adverse drug interactions database in the 'Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia' gives physicians access to this crucial information right at the point-of-care."

In addition to The Medical Letter's Adverse Drug Interactions database, the companies said the Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia Deluxe Edition will also include expanded drug information from the Deluxe Edition of the print Pocket Pharmacopoeia, continuous ongoing drug information updates via the Internet, support for most external memory cards, an integrated Herbal & Alternative Therapy section, 47 reference tables and nine dynamic medical formula calculators, and extensive pediatric drug dosing information.

Source: PDAStreet
posted by Kent 8:37 PM | |

 
Hospitals Mobilize Patient Data with MercuryMD

MercuryMD announced seven new customers and five successful hospital implementations using MData, its mobile data system that integrates patient data from hospitals' various information systems and delivers it directly to clinicians' handheld devices.

MercuryMD recently completed MData implementations at Children's Health System in Birmingham, Alabama; High Point Regional Health System in High Point, North Carolina; Anne Arundel Health System in Annapolis, MD; Meridian Health System in Wall, New Jersey; St. Mary's Medical Center of Ascension Health in Evansville, Indiana; and Carolinas Healthcare System in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"We were committed to finding a mobile solution that would be the right choice for our clinical end-users, hospital executives, and IT administrators alike," said Dr. Margaret Quinn, Chief Medical Information Officer of Meridian Health System. "MData was something that everyone agreed on: it was simple to implement, it helped augment other technology initiatives, and the time-savings benefits were immediate."

Source: PDAStreet
posted by Kent 8:34 PM | |

July 15, 2003

 
Skyscape Seeks Drug Company Sponsorship

Following ePocrates' lead, Skyscape has launched a new sponsorship initiative aimed at drug companies. PDA references like those offered by Skyscape fall under the PhARMA guidelines for physician gifts, and (IMHO) are vastly preferable to a coffee mug or a fistful of cheesy pens. Those of you who prefer to "just say no" to drug reps might want to visit this site instead.
posted by Kent 9:05 PM | |

July 13, 2003

 
Wireless On-Call

This article in the Toronto Star discusses some applications of wireless technology in healthcare.
posted by Kent 6:30 PM | |

 
Securing Wireless LANs

If you're using or considering deploying a wireless LAN in your office or hospital, this article in Healthcare Management Technology is definitely worth a read. You can't be too careful where confidentiality issues are concerned, especially with HIPAA on the scene. To paraphrase the great philosopher Norm Peterson, "It's a dog eat dog world, and doctors are wearing Milk Bone underwear."
posted by Kent 9:27 AM | |

July 12, 2003

 
PDAs Help Medical Residents Work Fewer Hours

Effective this month, new rules from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education limit medical residents to 80-hour work weeks and 24 consecutive hours on duty. The new rules will likely create staffing headaches for many institutions that rely heavily on residents to provide clinician coverage for their patients.

Cascades East Family Practice Center in Klamath Falls, Ore., may have found a partial answer to its potential staffing problem by using PDAs to improve efficiency and patient safety with MData from MercuryMD. Read the full article in Health Data Management here.
posted by Kent 9:34 PM | |

July 11, 2003

 
Nurse Palm Software

Those of you interested in nursing applications should check out Nurse Palm Software, a well-done site that highlights a variety of PDA-based nursing resources.
posted by Kent 10:05 PM | |

 
HandScribe

With HandScribe, nurses and allied health professionals can chart and review comprehensive patient information at the point of care. HandScribe enables clinicians to track complete medical and nursing data on their patients: demographics, problems, interventions and assessments. It is designed to facilitate the comprehensive documentation requirements of e-healthcare.

Click here for an overview of HandScribe.
posted by Kent 9:56 PM | |

 
A Day in the Life of a PDA-Carrying MD

OK, so Drs. Nilay Shah and Jose Sumaquial use a Pocket PC. You could do pretty much everything they're talking about with a Palm OS device as well (for the record, I regularly wake up to the alarm in my m515...the "Reveille" sound is very annoying indeed, and plenty loud enough on high volume). Check out their story here.
posted by Kent 9:37 PM | |

July 10, 2003

 
Internal Medicine On Call

Skyscape has just released the latest Internal Medicine reference: Internal Medicine On Call. A concise, portable reference that focuses on the evaluation and treatment of over 60 of the most common internal medicine on-call problems. Each on call chapter includes a presenting problem, immediate questions, differential diagnosis, laboratory and other diagnostic data, and treatment plan.
posted by Kent 6:59 PM | |

 
Skyscape Helping to Fight AIDS in Africa

Doctors in Uganda and Kenya, whom until now have been battling epidemics like AIDS with limited resources, are turning to new technology to give them the information they need to help save lives. AIDS afflicts 5.3 million people in the world, 3.8 million of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. President Bush will be highlighting the $15 billion United States AIDS initiative during his trip to Africa this week, which includes a July 11 visit to Uganda.

Skyscape, Inc., the leading provider of interactive, intelligent mobile solutions for the healthcare community, today announced that it donated 50 Skyscape-powered Palm handhelds to the Academic Alliance for AIDS Care & Prevention in Africa, the first major HIV/AIDS treatment and training center in East Africa.

“Skyscape’s donation is particularly appreciated because up-to-date medical references are prohibitively expensive and deteriorate rapidly in the humid tropical climate,” said Naoko Fujii, Executive Director of the Academic Alliance. “Our trainees were thrilled by the Skyscape handheld computers and their usefulness since handheld computers are a luxury that few ever imagine using.”
posted by Kent 6:17 PM | |

 
Samsung SPH-i500

If you're interested in "converged" PDA/phones such as the Kyocera 7135, take a look at Samsung's SPH-i500. Available through Sprint PCS, this slim new clamshell model may be what you're looking for. More information is available here.


posted by Kent 6:04 PM | |

July 8, 2003

 
Kyocera 7135 Review

Here's a nice review of the Kyocera 7135 Palm/mobile phone combo. If you've been thinking about getting one of these, or if you're wondering how it stacks up next to the competition, it's worth checking out.
posted by Kent 6:09 PM | |

 
Doctors Gadgets Syndicates the Ectopic Brain

The Web site Doctors Gadgets has syndicated the Ectopic Brain along with some other Palm-related blogs here. If you don't have access to a news aggregator, this might be one way to see more than one site's news items all in one place.
posted by Kent 6:05 PM | |

 
Electronic Technology - A Spark to Revitalize Primary Care?

This week's JAMA contains an interesting article about the potential benefits of PDAs, the Internet, and other electronic technologies in primary care. The previous link points to the abstract; you'll need a subscription to JAMA to read the full text of the article.
posted by Kent 6:01 PM | |

July 7, 2003

 
Lippincott's Nursing Drug Guide

Lippincott's Nursing Drug Guide from Unbound Medicine contains nearly 900 monographs covering more than 3,400 brand and generic medications. Organized alphabetically for quick access, each entry contains everything from pronunciation to pregnancy risk category and pharmacokinetics, including route-onset-peak-duration. It is an invaluable resource for nursing students and seasoned practitioners alike. Free trial available.
posted by Kent 8:01 AM | |

July 6, 2003

 
Wireless-Doc (the Weblog)

Here's another Palm-related medical blog from Bill Kosloskey, M.D. His content is more focused on Wi-Fi and such, with an emphasis on the Treo.

The Indiana University School of Medicine medical library also maintains a PDA weblog, although it's not very active.
posted by Kent 12:01 PM | |

 
STAT Hypertension JNC 7

Dr. Andre Chen has just released a new freeware program, STAT Hypertension JNC 7, which implements the JNC 7 hypertension guidelines released in May 2003. The JNC 7 updates the JNC 6 hypertension guidelines last released in 1997. It includes a new "prehypertension" category as well as new medication strategies.

STAT Hypertension JNC 7 breaks down the clinical topics, classifications, and medication options for rapid reference at the point of care. The program is currently in beta testing.
posted by Kent 8:14 AM | |

July 5, 2003

 
What's On My PDA?

Not that you asked, but in case you were wondering what programs I find indispensible, here ya' go:

Medical Stuff - This is the real reason we have Palm devices, right?
BreastCA - Handy implementation of the Gail and Claus models.
STAT Cholesterol - Tremendously useful for counseling patients about cardiovascular risk factors.
STAT Cardiac Clearance - Helps ensure that you don't overlook anything when you're asked to "clear" a patient for surgery.
DietCalc - I use this one a lot for diet and excercise counseling. Puts everything in one place.
DoseCalc - Handy for calculating pediatric drug doses.
ePocrates Rx Pro - My favorite drug reference of all time. Don't leave home without it.
STAT Growth Charts - Very handy even if you're plotting things on a standard paper chart.
HanDBase 3 - I use this to document my on-call notes, among other things.
Heart Rate - Comes in handy when recommending an exercise prescription.
Hi-Note - Keeps my medical pearls nice and organized.
iSilo - This one's a must-have. Reads iSilo files and Doc files...it's two readers for the price of one!
MedCalc - Better than a pocket calculator and a formula card any day.
Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests - Very useful if you're not sure what test to order or exactly what the results of a test mean.
PregCalc Pro - I don't do OB, but I still use this for gravid patients presenting with non-pregnancy-related complaints.
Shots 2003 - I think I have a mental block about the immunization schedule. I use this one a lot.
SplashID - Keep all your passwords under lock and key.
SplashPhoto - Good for carrying around photos of the family, or medical images for patient education or reference.
Tarascon Pharmacopoeia - Still free while in beta testing. Get it while you can!
TealDoc - Sure, iSilo can read Doc files too, but this does it with flair.
Wine Enthusiast Guide - Hey, it's got cardiovascular benefits!
5MCC - If you can only buy one medical reference, this is the one. I use it every single day.
Evidence-Based Diagnosis - Surprisingly useful reference written by EBM guru Mark Ebell.
Ferri Guide - An inpatient staple. Doesn't get much use anymore, since I no longer do hospital medicine.
Outlines in Clincial Medicine/FP - Very detailed, but a bit hard to navigate.
Primary Care Medicine Recommendations - Fills in some of the gaps in 5MCC and OCM.
Washington Manual - Another inpatient medicine staple, gathering dust.

Utilities - They may not be exciting, but they're sure useful.
Owner - I like to think that this little freebie might someday help my m515 find its way back to me, should I misplace it. Yeah, right.
Battery Log - Nice to have if you're obsessive-compulsive (and what doctor isn't?)
ClipHack - Eliminates the Palm OS clipboard's 150-or-so word limit.
McPhling - Start and switch applications without visiting the Launcher!
File Man - My favorite file manager.
Filez - Another file manager, this one's freeware.
FindHack - Puts your Palm device's "Find" command on steroids.
PalmPrint - Great for producing a hard copy of something when you need it.
Parens - No longer supported by the author, but the best calculator replacement I've found.
X-Master - Hackmaster done right.

Games - Not really my thing, but even I get bored sometimes.
Blocks - Tetris clone.
HardBall - Breakout clone. It comes free with your Palm device (look in the Add Ons folder).
MineHunt - Minesweeper clone. Another freebie on your Palm's CD-ROM.
Psycho Path - Yeah, it's a little disturbing. But the blood is green, so that makes it OK.
Sol Free (Solitaire) - Does anyone not have a version of this game?

So...what's on your PDA?
posted by Kent 7:56 PM | |

July 2, 2003

 
The Ectopic Brain Is Now Syndicated!

By popular request, I've added an RSS feed to the site. Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is an XML-based format for content distribution. This will enable users with RSS newsreaders (e.g., Headline Viewer for Windows or NetNewsWire for Mac OS X) to read news items, and will allow other sites to "publish" news items using a news aggregation service like Moreover.com. The RSS feed is accessible through the little orange button labeled "XML" at the top of this page.
posted by Kent 7:04 PM | |

July 1, 2003

 
Little Blue Book for PDAs

The Little Blue Book is now available for handheld devices. This handy resource provides access to physician and pharmacy fax numbers, e-mail addresses, and other contact information customized for the same 146 separate metropolitan areas as the print version. The Little Blue Book for PDAs contains the same information physicians have come to depend on for making HMO-compliant referrals for their patients, phoning colleagues for consults, or for calling in prescriptions to a pharmacy. All physicians are listed at no charge. A free trial version is available.
posted by Kent 11:43 AM | |

 
PDAs May Reduce Medical Errors

Here's an interesting article (in Adobe PDF format) written by Dr. Mark Rosenbloom (the creator of PEPID) which was originally published in the February, 2003 issue of International Pediatrics.

The abstract reads:
Numerous studies have revealed that medical errors are responsible for tremendous patient suffering, loss of life, and billions of dollars in costs. Research also suggests that children are at much higher risk of these errors than adults. New information technologies, particularly personal digital assistants (PDAs), are able to provide readily accessible medical information at the point-of-care. Although definitive studies are still necessary, the bedside use of these portable electronic devices, equipped with relevant, reliable and accurate drug, medical reference and calculator software, can help reduce the prevalence of medical errors, particularly for children.
posted by Kent 11:18 AM | |

 
Fossil Wrist PDA Updated

Fossil first announced the original Wrist PDA last year. While scoring points for coolness, the product's flaws were obvious: a measly 190KB of RAM and 48KB of flash memory, and a nonstandard 102 x 64 pixel screen. I figured the product would fizzle quickly. Fossil wasn't so quick to give up on the Wrist PDA, however, and has released a new version that addresses many of the original's shortcomings. The latest Wrist PDA sports 2MB of RAM and 2MB of flash memory, a full (but tiny) 160 x 160 pixel screen capable of displaying 16 shades of gray, Palm OS ver. 4.1 (which should allow the Wrist PDA to run most existing Palm OS applications), a 33 MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ processor, a stylus integrated into the band for Graffiti input, an internal rechargeable battery and a USB charging/sync device. The new version is also a bit slimmer than the original (which isn't saying much, as the original version was huge), and comes in "Sport", "Casual", and "Dress" versions. I like the Sport version (shown below) the best. While still a bit underpowered for most medical users (8 MB of RAM would make it much more useful), this form factor is certainly intriguing. I wonder which medical applications will run on it?


posted by Kent 10:20 AM | |

 
Cell Phone Recommendations, Anyone?

I know this isn't strictly Palm-related, but since I just added commenting to this blog, this is a perfect topic for reader comments. My Motorola StarTAC 7868 is on its last legs, and I'm probably going to have to upgrade to a new phone shortly. I've toyed with the idea of getting an integrated Palm/phone combo, and the Kyocera 7135 is the most attractive of the lot (albeit a little pricey). However, I have some issues related to usability, particularly since it's not uncommon for me to look things up on the Palm during phone conversations (with patients on call, etc.). With the Kyocera (or any integrated Palm/Phone for that matter), I would have to use the speakerphone at those times, and I have some concerns about that (privacy, professionalism, etc.)

For that reason, I'm leaning towards a "normal" (non-integrated) cell phone. After all, I'm happy with my Palm m515, and don't really need to upgrade it right now. Since I recently switched to the Mac, I'd also like my new phone to be able to sync to my Palm address book using Apple's iSync (a list of supported phones can be found here). Obviously, that narrows my options down considerably. Since my wireless carrier is Verizon, I'm pretty much limited to the Motorola T720. It's not a bad-looking phone, but I've read quite a few negative comments about its clumsy user interface, software glitches, poor battery life, sound quality, as well as its fragility (see epinions.com).

So, any thoughts on cell phones? I'd like to hear which one is your favorite, and why. Thanks!
posted by Kent 8:57 AM | |

 
Feel Free To Chime In!

Thanks to Haloscan (and thanks to PalmDoc for pointing it out to me), you can now make comments about posts here on the Ectopic Brain! Just click on the Comment link at the end of each message, and put your two cents in. Enjoy!
posted by Kent 8:30 AM | |

Visit the Archives for previous news items.