Best of the web, well for today anyway

Just some items of interest that various folks on Twitter forced me to read.

The Patient’s Doctor:  “Ten reasons why you should use a computer in your practice – Have you ever lost your temper because your patient has lost his medical records, and does not know what medications he is taking? Are you fed up of having to write the same prescription again and again? Aren’t you impressed by other doctors who give their patients crisp, professional word-processed medical summary sheets? How are you going to compete with corporate hospitals who can access their patient’s medical records at the click of a button? The good news is that the same technology is now easily and inexpensively available for you to use in your own clinic! IT can help you improve your documentation and storage; and actually increase your productivity and efficiency, by allowing you easy access instantly to all your patient’s medical records, no matter where you are!” – This post lists 10 reasons why physicians should use computers in their practice. There are some light hearted reasons like ‘look cool’ and ‘impress your patients”, but there are some serious reasons as well like ‘save time’ and ‘increase productivity’.

Magic Scaling Sprinkles: “The Meaning of Information Technolgy – I cannot help but be a technological optimist because technology is mankind’s only bulwark against the barbarism of heaps. But I’ll grant that technology is imperfect; it is sometimes fair to criticize the Tyranny of Technology. The usual argument goes that all these tweets and text messages and notifications that “a software update is available” leave no space quiet, provide no room for contemplation. It is true: we do live in a world of interruptions; interruptions created by information technology. But we should not be surprised by this fact and no more should we despair of it. One generation of technology solves the problems of the previous but causes problems of its own. The next generation of technology repeats this story; a story as old as mankind itself. This is the dialectics of history.” – I found this post to be interesting, well written and thought provoking.

Newsweek: “Wired for Hypocrisy – That’s pretty much the case, according to new research. Since actions cannot be undone, the only option when they conflict with beliefs—which produces the phenomenon called cognitive dissonance—is to alter the beliefs. When people experience cognitive dissonance, it turns out, brain activity causes us to back and fill, mentally. The result is that we change our beliefs so that they are once again aligned with our actions. Although well known in psychology—the idea that people change their attitudes to reduce the psychological pain of cognitive dissonance dates back to the 1950s—the phenomenon has been a mystery neurobiologically. That is, its brain basis has been a black hole. Which makes this first stab at an explanation particularly intriguing: the brain regions involved in resolving cognitive dissonance are so nimble, enabling us to find rationalizations like that of the Hummer-driving green, it’s a wonder anyone can stick to his principles.” – I see this all the time as I drop my children off at school. What we currently see as “normal” disturbs me at times.

The same story from two different sources:  ChannelWeb:  “Report: iPhone E-book Popularity Will Challenge Amazon, B&N – Is Apple (NSDQ:AAPL) the one holding all the aces in the exploding market for e-books and e-readers? Apple doesn’t have a dedicated e-reading device of its own to compete with the likes of Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. But it may not need one when it already has iPhone — and e-reading and e-book applications are seeing levels of popularity on the iPhone like never before.” eWeek: “Apples iPhone Could Become Next Hot E-Reader Says Report – One of the most popular e-reader devices on the market could soon be the iPhone, according to a research note by analytics company Flurry, which observed a marked rise in the number of e-book-related applications available through Apple’s App Store in September and October.” –I just don’t see this happening. The e-reader crowd isn’t about to give up their beautiful eInk devices like the Sony and Kindle. I’ll give you the convenience of the iPhone as an e-reading platform, but would never use it as my primary e-reader. There’s room for all the players in this sandbox.

Swiss MSDN Team Blog: Microsoft Surface – Going below the Surface – This is a great post that shows the unboxing of a Microsoft Surface Computer. Wicked cool! I wish they weren’t so expensive.

PharmacyOneSource: “The Black Hole of Pharmacy – Today Pharmacy OneSource acquired the rights to the solution for “The Pharmacy Black Hole”: MedBoard. MedBoard is a web-based Medication Tracking System that records and tracks preparation and delivery activities of orders throughout a hospital to reduce lost and missing meds that contribute to approximately $400 per bed per year of preventable waste.” – I just posted on this very technology last Friday.