All the chatter about the Apple Tablet–sorry, iPad–must be getting to Microsoft. At a forum on healthcare technology in Beijing, on the agenda were projects such as:
- MyLife (My, i, aye!) for Windows Mobile phone users (a small, intimate group) for health monitoring: cameras, accelerometers (already built into phones that switch views from portrait to landscape), and microphones to log readings of blood pressure, body weight and more, plus monitor exercise and eating. This would plug into Health Vault.
- Using Xbox 360 units, which Microsoft posits as cheaper than similar hospital equipment yet often just as powerful, to feed and filter information from EMRs to in-room display screens for patients and caregivers. Added benefits: playing games and going online, no controller required (MS’ Project Natal). A way to relax in between exams, meds and meals.