Internet giant Google has announced it has embarked on a pilot project with the Cleveland Clinic which will involve Google storing the medical records of between 1,500 and 10,000 patients. Participation will be voluntary—patients must consent to having their records handled by Google’s new service. The Cleveland Clinic already operates its own electronic records system called MyChart; however, the Google service will make medical records available to patients using the same passwords they can use to access Google’s other services, like GMail. The records will include details about prescriptions, medical conditions, allergies, and the like, the patients can allow physicians and others to access at their discretion.
"By using the GData protocol already offered in many Google products, and supporting standards-based medical information formats like the Continuity of Care Record (CCR), our health efforts will help you access, store and communicate your health information," wrote Alan Newberger, an engineer on Google’s health team. "Above all, health data will remain yours—private and confidential. Only you have control over when to share it with family members and health providers."
Google previously announced Google Health would open its doors in 2008, but the company hasn’t offered any information on expanding its pilot program.
Google isn’t the only major computing company looking at health information: Microsoft announced its own HealthVault program late last year, aiming to provide health information as well as secure access to medical records.
Privacy advocates have warned of the dangers of storig health records electronically: abuse or security problems with the systems could result in massive invasions of privacy, discrimination, extortion, loss of employment, or other serious consequences. In the United States, third-party health information services also aren’t covered by the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which means information on those systems may be more easily obtained by the government or a third party, or even be used for marketing purposes. (Google already parses the content of email and instant messages traversing its services to target advertising to its users.) Among other requirements, HIPAA mandates patients be informed by their physicians when they are subpoenaed for a patient’s medical records.
Few things ruin a quiet evening faster than a robot vacuum roaring through the living room. Most of us end up pausing the cleaning run, which defeats the whole purpose of owning one. Matic thinks it has the answer with its new Serene robot vacuum, and the big selling point is how little noise it makes.
The Matic Serene runs at 52 decibels even when cleaning at full power. To put that in perspective, Matic compares it to the hum of your refrigerator. It is available now for $1,695, which is $200 more than the original Matic’s current price.
Outdoor security cameras are not always practical if you live in an apartment or rental. Drilling into an exterior wall may be off-limits, while pointing a regular indoor camera through a window can create another problem once reflections start showing up after dark.
Baseus is trying to solve both issues with the new PrimeSentinel W1, a $69.99 security camera designed specifically to monitor the outdoors through glass. It mounts directly to a window without drilling and uses a 4K Starlight sensor with an F1.0 aperture for full-color monitoring during the day and at night.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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