records

Vince Kuraitis has dissected a multitude of postings and literature produced by Google's vice president, Adam Bosworth, and here's his theory on the search giant's health initiative.

Kuraitis, principal and founder of healthcare consultants Better Health Technologies, predicted Monday at the fourth annual Healthcare Unbound conference that Google may develop the next generation of the personal health record.

After combing through Bosworth's material, Kuraitis said he wouldn't be surprised to see a Google Health that is patient-centric, where consumers own their personal health data and access it via a Web site, which acts like a … Read more

Digital Music News posted a short piece yesterday on a forthcoming venture called RCRD LBL.

First reported by the New York Post, RCRD LBL is a planned venture by Engadget founder Peter Rojas and Downtown Records founder Peter Deutsch. High-quality brands, both. The idea is simple: users will get exclusive music for free, and the company (and artists) will earn money by selling advertisements and sponsorships. Rumored artists include Radiohead singer Thom Yorke; Gnarls Barkely, the creators of 2006's catchiest single Gnarls Barkley; and DJ Mark Ronson, who's perhaps best known for his cover versions of popular songs, … Read more

The Recording Industry Association of America has already mounted a court challenge against XM Satellite Radio over gadgets like the Pioneer Inno that allow consumers to trap individual songs originally played on air in alleged violation of copyright.

Now the industry group is urging that issue to be one of the deciding factors for federal regulators weighing the proposed multibillion-dollar union of XM and its sole competitor, Sirius Satellite radio.

In comments filed with the Federal Communications Commission on Monday, the RIAA urged the agency to "make clear that its approval of a merger is conditioned upon the continued … Read more

Electronic records hold the potential to improve medical care by flagging problems such as drugs that shouldn't be combined, but a study by Stanford and Harvard medical school researchers has concluded that so far they haven't improved the quality of outpatient health care.

The researchers studied a database of 1.8 billion doctor visits in 2003 and 2004 and examined performance on 17 indicators of quality. The results were mediocre, according to Stanford.

"In essence, we found little difference in the quality of care being provided by physicians with electronic health record systems, compared to those without … Read more

Microsoft said Monday that's it's revamped its IPTV software, now called MediaRoom. In a feature published Monday on CNET News.com, I've already gone into some depth about what the new software offers and what it means for the telco TV market.

But I also wanted to point out an important feature the new software doesn't offer: multiroom DVR. This service would be a dream come true for me. Even though I've got three TVs in my tiny apartment in New York City, my roommate and I still fight over the TV in the living … Read more

ARLINGTON, Va.--A T-Mobile executive on Thursday said there's no need for Congress to pass new laws prescribing requirements governing how mobile phone carriers handle their subscribers' personal information.

Criminal penalties for scammers--such as those contained in a bill signed by President Bush earlier this year--are great, but further regulations are unnecessary and unwise, said Kathleen Ham, T-Mobile's director of federal regulatory affairs.

"I think we have every incentive to want to protect the privacy of our customers," she said during a panel discussion at the annual Pike & Fischer Broadband Summit here.

In the … Read more

Editor's note: CallRec was tested on a Treo 650.

Pros: Records independently of app, tracks remaining storage, two recording input options, multiple ways to share Cons: No trigger hot key, two-second lapse with phone call recording

At a baseball game last summer, my friend recorded the incessant howls of a boisterous seatmate with his smart phone, replaying it in my ear with tinny imperfection. Too bad he didn't have a Palm device with CallRec tucked onto his memory card to forever capture the fan's clamorous "woo-woooos" with lifelike clarity.

CallRec is a midsize piece of commercial software (207KB on-phone storage; $30) that makes clear recordings of your notes-to-self and phone calls, and has enough options for tweaking the recording quality to cut out most background noise. The clean, understandable interface provides screen-touch buttons to start, stop, and replay recordings, though you can also initiate and end sessions by pressing the Treo's side button. CallRec names recordings with a time stamp, but it's easy to rename files, and to organize them by file name or duration. … Read more

You'd think that once you hit the summit of Mount Everest you might be able to count on at least a few incommunicado moments. Not these days.

British climber Rod Baber set a world record Monday for the highest-ever land-based mobile phone call and text message, according to Motorola, which is sponsoring his climb. He called from 29,035 feet at 5:37 a.m. local time using his Motorizr Z8.

Baber, who set out for Kathmandu on March 30 with a global team of climbers, made his first call to a special voice mail account. "It's … Read more

While cruising around SonyStyle looking for some clue as to whether the NW-A800 might be prepping for a stateside launch, I came across the ICD-U50. What struck me about this device is that it was listed under MP3 players with a 256MB capacity, and I thought "what the...Sony is still selling 256MB MP3 players...and for $99.95!" But then I realized that the ICD-U50 is actually a multifunctional digital voice recorder, and a stylish one at that. I mean, we don't get a lot of standalone voice recorders around here, but I can say with … Read more