If you are iPad-positive, you may be interested in the following new press release from Msoft (not to be confused with Microsoft): Msoft launches hospital blood-tracking on the Apple iPad (PDF)
If you are iPad-negative, you may prefer this one-and-a-half minuite video: Will It Blend? – iPad [YouTube autoplay warning]
iPad translation apps?
Liked the ‘will it blend’ as an Ipad user I was grateful for the “don’t try this at home” warnings flashing up. I’d be keen to know if any services are using the Ipad as a practical tool to aid service delivery. I currently work in a London borough that has a very diverse population a large number of service users who do not speak English and this presents obvious and some not so obvious challenges for staff on a daily basis. I was impressed with some of the translation apps on my iPhone which were OK as a aid when travelling. At a meeting some months back I was able to use one of these apps on my iphone to come to a basic understanding with a service user who spoke Slovak. However the tiny screen on my iphone hampered communication as she could barely read the tiny text. I had hoped that the ‘second coming’ that was the iPad would present an opportunity to use this as an instant translation tool, alas I have yet to find a suitable translator that has been written for the iPad that make full use of the increased screen size.
Addtionally literacy is an issue for many service users who are fluent in more than one dialect, but cannot read Hindi or Punjabi as an example. I do have an excellent Arabic app that takes the spoken English phrase and converts this audio Arabic but does not work in reverse. I would be interested to hear from anyone using new or old technologies to address these challenges.