Here's a real world problem not many people have to think about - accidental incest. Since iceland is a relatively isolated island, migration is low yet the total population of not much over 300k remains small. There are many urban tales of couples pairing up, only to meet again at some social function to find out they are related but didn't realise it.
To address this, the Islendiga App or "App of Icelanders" turns NFC enabled handsets (sorry iPhone users - that means Android, but an iPhone version is in the works) into a kind of early warning system when they are tapped together. The adline is "Bump the app before you bump in bed".
The provenance of the data is first class - it was developed by the Icelandic biotechnology company deCode Genetics with a background in census, family archive and church data mining research. Their database is said to cover 95% of all Icelanders from the last 300 years.
Read more: The Icelandic Anti-incest Android App: Bump before you hump
EPGL Medical have announced their intention to integrate Google Glass into their range of medical technology devices. Uses such as in-theatre feedback vision, hands-free symptom/database query and sugeon-surgeon communications have been highlighted by Dr David Markus of EPLG. He said "physicians using our devices will be able to utilize technology such as Google Glass while performing procedures, using our devices and viewing feedback data in real-time. The advancement of these exceptional new technologies are ideal for medical applications as doctors need a hands-free reference to feedback data while performing procedures."
The company is no newcomer to advanced medical technology - it has filed over 50 patents related to this to date - and has a so-called "secret weapon" device unique to the industry, although there in no indication this is related to Google Glass, as yet.
Offering features such as the ability to upload and download personal health documents, medial images, medical records from various healthcare providers and more, users are also given a free “Lifeline” telephone number that provides free unlimited voice and fax capabilities. While the concept of a digital PHR is certainly nothing new, the route MyMedicalRecords.com has taken in terms of distributing and promoting the concept; as well as making it simple for people to understand and actually use certainly is The idea of providing a personal phone number to give out to one’s doctors, who can then simply fax in their medical records and other information and unifiying this in a central method is unique. The average person simply doesn’t understand how powerful a centralized digital PHR can be, and this concept takes all the guess work out of it.
Read more: MyMedicalRecords.com launches Android App/Personal Health Record Card
Home remedies has had over 500k downloads from Google Play and promises a comprehensive, easy to use medical database at your fingertips. The unique point it offers is the home emphasis, i.e. lots of focus on natural solutions. Putting aside the discussion of whether this is the best approach for another day, it promises Most of the non life threatening illness can be treated at home. Learn how you can use natural cures to replace many of the most commonly used over-the-counter drugs in the treatment of common ailments. If you use home remedies wisely, it will save your time and money. Hope this app helps you to find your own path of healing through natural remedies.
Worldwide, the UK's NHS is a unique healthcare organisation in that it is funded by the public taxpayer. Recently, it launched the NHS Health and Symptom checker on Google Play, as a complement to the various phone line, website and other self help services available to the UK population.
From the Google Play entry:
Key features
The app gives access to all their health and symptom checkers, covering a wide range of problems including dental pain, diarrhoea and vomiting, abdominal pain, rashes, back pain and burns.