In this issue:

• Quicksilva Underpins NHS Electronic Prescriptions Rollout
• Helping people to record their first demo
• US performs poorly against UK and other developed countries in primary care
• How will technology change the future of healthcare
• Legislation to access public's texts and emails put on hold
• SonyEricsson debuts Android phone
• Murdoch could block Google searches entirely

The times they are a-changing

Call me an Old Hippy if you like, but this month's banner image took me back to the days of peace and love... people relaxing together in the sun listening to live bands and causing no hassle... back then it was happening...

...cut to today and that other anarchic environment – the internet.

Things aren't as rosy as they were and I believe the internet itself is changing... evolving some might say... but not in a good way. The threat to the Wikipedia site highlighted in this link "Wikipedia shows signs of stalling as number of volunteers falls sharply" due to the unprecedented numbers of editors becoming "dead"... some reported a 49,000 lost.... could have many causes, however, maybe those cited are part of a growing trend for web users. Reports say that sites like Wikipedia are having to introduce new rules to prevent the abuse of individuals that is now common... on other social sites too like Facebook there are suggestions that panic buttons are needed to report abuse... and anyway, sites like Twitter have been hijacked by "celebrities" who manage to do a good job of defaming themselves without abusive input from others...

I think we've proved that, as a species, we can't be trusted to play nicely...

Gayna

US performs poorly against UK and other developed countries in primary care

From BJHC & IM

The UK has been ranked as having one of the best primary health care systems in the world in a survey by the leading US think tank the Commonwealth Fund and published online today in the journal Health Affairs

Quicksilva thoughts...

Very few days go by without some form of "the NHS is bad.." storylines in the press, so it makes a pleasant change to read that compared to much of the world, the NHS is actually doing quite well.

From an IT industry perspective, the point that 96% of the NHS is utilising Electronic Medical Reports and that "...the majority of doctors feel the quality of healthcare is improving", means there is already a strong base.

New services that enhance the interaction of Healthcare professionals, maintain patient confidentiality, reduce errors and streamline workload, allowing for more focus on the patients, can only further improve a service that actually isn’t that bad at all.

How will technology change the future of healthcare

From FutureGov

The future does not bear thinking about for many healthcare practitioners in Asia, which is faced with the world's fastest ageing population. FutureGov asked a group of experts for their views on how technology could clear a safer path for the sector.

Quicksilva thoughts...

Technology without question has, over the past number of decades, paved the way for a more efficient/effective healthcare for patients and healthcare workers.

Within this article, we gain the views of some key players within the healthcare technology sector. They inform us on how technology has improved healthcare worldwide and also how we can move forward to allow technology to further improve our existing healthcare systems.

Even though technology has and will play a key part in any healthcare system and in making our healthcare processes more effective we need to be aware that healthcare is for the benefit of the person. The key challenge at present and in the future will be to decide when the advances in technologies benefit the person and a society as a whole and when they do not.

Legislation to access public's texts and emails put on hold

From Guardian.co.uk

Plans for a £2bn Home Office surveillance project to track details of everyone's email, mobile phone, text and internet use have been put on hold after a consultation raised concerns over its technical feasibility, costs and privacy safeguards.

Quicksilva thoughts...

This article stirs up an on-going debate between 'Big Brother' style surveillance enthusiasts and counter terrorism organisations, and the law-abiding majority of the general public who generally feel that although they have nothing to hide, they simply do not want their every move being tracked and monitored.

Plans for a Home Office surveillance project to track the details of everyone's email, mobile phone, text and internet use have been halted over concerns regarding the cost (£2bn), technical feasibility, and privacy implications associated with such a project.

Despite the fact that the proposed system does not intend to monitor or store the actual content of any such communications, opposers argue that implementing security measures on the data in a project of this type is practically impossible. One MP argues, "It is simply not that easy to separate the bare details of a call from it's content. What if a leading business person is ringing alcoholics anonymous?"

Concerns like these are certainly understandable, however the question remains; “Is such a project absolutely necessary in helping to protect the general public from the ongoing threat of terrorism and serious crime?”

SonyEricsson debuts Android phone

From BBC News

Handset maker SonyEricsson has unveiled its first phone built around Google's Android operating system.

Quicksilva thoughts...

Another smartphone leaps into the market with an impressive array of features. Many news reports and presumably SonyEricsson themselves see this as a move to gain market share by putting up a fight against rivals: iPhone, Nokia running S60 and PalmPre. But something else is also going on inside... All of the aforementioned phones, including the latest from SonyEricsson, sport web browsers that are built on the open source WebKit engine. And of most interest, WebKit supports much of the functionality from the HTML 5 specification: free-form drawing, geo-location, offline support (client-side storage), animation, 3D transformations, audio and video (without Flash)...

These additions to the mobile browser enable webapps to do many of the things you'd expect from an application on a desktop. The user base to take advantage of this is substantial; this may positively feedback into the web at large (many of the latest versions of desktop browsers also include HTML 5 functionality).

Unfortunately, due to the Android OS version adopted by the SonyEricsson Xperia X10, its version of WebKit does not support HTML 5. This could be where the phone will lose to its rivals in the coming year.

Maybe a future firmware update will fill that hole?

Murdoch could block Google searches entirely

From Guardian.co.uk

Rupert Murdoch says he will remove stories from Google's search index as a way to encourage people to pay for content online.

Quicksilva thoughts...

So Murdoch's plan to charge people for accessing news will be reinforced by removing such chargeable news from Google searches which would otherwise allow you to read for free. Would he not be better off finding a way to charge the traffic from the Google found content, rather than blocking Google so that you don’t get traffic to begin with?

Surely this harebrained plan can only succeed if all other major competitors follow suit, which is not going to happen – it's not in the spirit of the "internet". And people are surely not going to part with their hard earned cash (even more so in the current economic climate) to read the "news" online from the likes of the Sun when they can get world class news completely free from the BBC...

If he restricts my online access and my ability to share news content with others, then his content will become worthless to me in this modern age!

Perhaps he needs to rethink his business strategy...

"...Clean up complexion, soften eye lines, soften smile line, add color to lips, trim chin, remove neck lines, soften line under ear lobe, add highlights to earrings, add blush to cheek, clean up neck line, remove stray hair, remove hair strands from dress, adjust color and add hair on top of head, add dress on side to create better line... Total: $1,525.00." --The invoice for retouching the cover photo of Michelle Pfeiffer in the December, 1990, issue of Esquire magazine, obtained by Harper's. The photo's caption reads, "What Michelle Pfeiffer Needs Is Absolutely Nothing.

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