(Liveblogging from Center for Connected Health Symposium) Another panel of #IoT and other new devices that could be game-changers:

*MedMinder: to empower seniors & those with chronic conditions to avoid hospitalization. Another startup to increase medication compliance: they have increased compliance to 92% — watch out, Vitality, Inc. — they add sensors to a traditional pill holder. User gets a flash from the container, then sound alert, then phone call. Also has email and txt. New version only allows you to unlock the right compartment @ right time. Seems to me problem with this is that you have to keep the pill holder @ hand, vs. the Vitality nightlight.

*Sotera wireless: improving patient care through continuous vital signs monitoring. Early recognition system so that patient won’t have to be re-admitted.  Sotera ViSi Mobile: patient worn monitor monitors a wide range of vital signs. Will have first installations in 3 weeks. Wi-Fit enabled. Has an open API.

*BodyMedia : “to unlock and decipher body’s secrets.”  New BodyMedia patch, the Vue, instead of arm band.  Using it in weight management. Disposable.

*vitalconnect: develops small, body-worn sensor patch. Communicates through Bluetooth, to smartphone and cloud. Configurable notifications to caregivers or family. Looks very kewl.

*NeuMitra: ” solving  stress for life, work, and play.”  Biowatches send smart alerts to smartphone alerting you to need to do stress reduction.  Bandu band. Demonstrated it at the Pentagon. Real-time reporting. Can merge with GPS for “stress maps.”  Links with apps you already have on phone for stress reduction. Using with vets suffering from PTSD.

*BAM Labs — smart bed technology. People don’t want to have something strapped to them as they sleep, and there are so many kinds of beds. Their goal is to have EVERY bed be a smart bed. Think it’s ideal platform to collect health data. Would get a million data points from an individual bed yearly. Takes about 5 min. to install, under mattress. Data to  the cloud, nothing attached to person.

*Hometeam Therapy: “stronger, better, faster, funner” for PT. What about the days when you aren’t with the PT?  Written directions don’t make it (believe me, and my wife is a PT). Lets you compare results to others, reports to the therapist. App for use with Kinect.  Very kewl. Shows instructional video.

*TomorrowOptions: Movinsense for repositioning bed-ridden patients. Detects falls.

*Sensiotec — Virtual Medical Assistant.  Doesn’t require contact: signals reflect off vital organs, ultra-low cost, scalable in hospital. ZigBee/IP gateway.

Liveblogging @ Partners’ Center for Connected Health Symposium.

Panel on possible impact of Near-Field Communications for health care.

*BTW: why won’t Apple say whether they’re using NFC???

*areas it might affect include: identity, HIPAA compliance, cloud access to records, forms, insurance and copay, data integration, payment, and scripts.

*Objective Compliance Therapy Management (did I get that right?):  happening in Europe: objective data collection on behavior, health, and therapy. Also can be used for prescriptions, schedules and diets.

*in Netherlands, used by home health workers to unlock doors, get access to patient’s records.

*mobile payments both blessing & curse (because all of components mustwork together).

*wide variety of obstacles to rapid deployment.

*NFC most valuable when mashed up with other technologies. Uses example of Bump (which isn’t NFC) as indication of how it might work.

*app ideas: tap to do something — to pair two NFC-enabled devices; tap to share: share video, medical records, health wallets; tap to access.

*example of person who earns a discount on a croissant by meeting certain gym objectives.

*clinically: simplifying referral process. Would allow you to quickly process referral, tap to check in with specialist.

liveblogging @ Partners Healthcare  Center for Connected Health. Demos of 10 new technologies:

*Honeywell Genesis Touch — reduced hospital re-admissions by 70%

*Vignet cancer prevention and control. Created “Cancer Concierge” for state of VA. System generates in real time list of appropriate screenings, then books appointments in real-time. Reminders on smartphone.

*CliniCam: iOS app. to capture and store clinical images. Several security features.

*Anybots: cloud-based robotics platform. Mobile device.  QB, the Grady Bot. Quite cool! Being used with patients who can’t control any body parts, providing virtual mobility.

*Symple: consumer app for iOS. Records symptoms daily. Has photo attachments. Graphs symptoms over time. Created by a patient with auto-immune disease. Thousands of users with no promotion.

*Ubitru: “next generation mobile messaging system”  Kewl interactive txt demo.

*Podimetrics: predicts foot ulcers in diabetics. Sensors embedded in a bathroom floormat. VERY KEWL!

*Healthrageous: personalized health management company. Emphasis on people as consumers, not patients. Based on tech developed @ Partners Health Care. Measure objective health outcome changes. Works through a variety of modalities. Can work with chronic conditions. Available on mobile devices.

*Irody: new way to get directevidence about each medicine taken by patients. Smartphone can recognize various meds, photographs the meds, identifies each, explains mistakes to the patient.

*Mad*Pow: “Hot Seat” tool to reduce “marathon sitting” and its health risks. Sends prompts to smartphones to get them to turn short breaks into meaningful activities.

My fav from an #IoT perspective? Podimetrics’ bathroom mat!

Libelium, the Spain-based wireless sensor networks platform provider, has introduced a new line of wireless sensor devices that enables installation of scalable, modular wireless sensor networks in hours rather than days.

The system is called Waspmote Plug & Sense!™

It is pre-configured for monitoring uses such as Smart Cities, Smart Parking, Smart Agriculture, Air Quality, Smart Security, Ambient Control and, Radiation Control.

The sensors send information to Meshlium, the sensor gateway that uploads data to the Cloud. That makes the data accessible from anywhere and easy to integrate into third-party applications.

Plug & Sense! sensor nodes offer a variety of radio frequencies and global certifications so they can be deployed anywhere in the world.

The system has a number of easy-to-use features:

• Each mote has six connectors to which sensor probes can be attached directly, so the system is scalable.
• it may be solar powered
• the sensor nodes can be programmed wirelessly using an over-the-air programming (OTAP) feature.
• sensors can be replaced or added without having to uninstall the mote itself, keeping maintenance costs to a minimum.

The Waspmote Plug & Sense! wireless sensor platform is now available online http://www.libelium.com/plug_&_sense.

Hard to compare two Internet of Things companies that are still in start-up mode, but I’m even more impressed with SmartThings than I was with Ube.

It just won the Dublin Web Summit start-up competition and its Kickstarter campaign was wildly over-subscribed, totaling $1.2 million, compared to a $250,000 goal.

According to Mashable, SmartThings will enable remote control of just about everything in the home:

“The wireless, smartphone-connected system makes the fully automated home a reality. Home dwellers can connect any lock, thermostat, light and kitchen appliance to the Internet. Everyday objects can become fully automated with a range of motion, moisture, open/close and presence sensors.

Using a SmartThings app, patrons will be able to monitor who’s home, what’s on and what’s off. Connect your pet’s collar to the smart hub, and it will alert you when Scruffy gets out of the backyard. Get a text when the dog’s food bowl is empty. Or even remotely monitor an elderly relative in another state by tracking their activity around the house.”

Best of all, like a number of competing smart home apps, SmartThings will be open platform, and has created an active community site for other developers to share device & app designs.

On Tuesday I joined serial IoT entrepreneur David Rose and MIT Professor Sanjay Sarma with Host Kara Miller on WGBH Radio’s “Innovation Hub” to discuss the current reality and prospects for the Internet of Things.

Enjoy!

A study released today says that more companies are making #IoT solutions a near-term priority.    The report by Forrester Consulting, “Building Value from Visibility: 2012 Enterprise Internet of Things Adoption Outlook,”  was commissioned by Zebra Technologies Corporation, which makes marking and printing technologies, including RFID and real-time location solutions.

According to Forrester, among those companies surveyed, 53% plan to implement an IoT solution in the next two years, and another 14% plan to do so in 2-5 years. 15% of the organizations already have an IoT solution in place. Transportation and logistics, as one might expect, lead the field: 21% of those businesses already have IoT solutions.   By contrast, only 3% of health care institutions surveyed have IoT solutions in place.

The study shows that “many organizations are using technologies such as barcoding, RFID and GPS to gain greater visibility into the location, condition, timing and accuracy of the events occurring in their value chains.”

According to the study, “a variety of forces are aligning to drive increased enterprise demand for Internet of Things solutions, including declining device costs and widely deployed IP networks. While supply chain visibility and asset tracking are the top issues organizations hope to address with these solutions, the top benefits for surveyed North American enterprises include loss prevention, cost efficiencies and supply chain.”

Zebra’s own IoT targets include patient identification, inventory management, and food traceability.

Ube, a new home automation system for smartphones, has launched with a bang, winning the Demo 2012 competition. This really may be the home automation system that makes the #IoT a household reality!

Oh yeah, did I mention the app is free?

According to co-founder Glen Burchers, “’We control home electronics that connect to the Internet..This includes your smart TV, set top box, media player, thermostat, and even garage door opener all from within one free app. We manage this control intuitively with a gesture interface.’”

“Routed through your home network or through Ube’s Cloud when remote, users will be able to control their Smart TV and set-top boxes using the Ube app right off the bat when it launches early next month. The company says its app will work with over 200 IP-based devices like AV receivers, thermostats (watch out, Nest!), garage doors, etc.”

They are also working on three pieces of hardware to extend the system’s power: a smart dimmer, outlet and plug.

Ube devices

Just as I wrote about Ninja Blocks, here’s a new bottle cap that makes the Internet of Things fun (or, as Fast Company calls it, the alcohol-based internet of things, which should make it a lot of fun!).

London-based creative agency Work Club created the bottle cab for Heineken’s Strongbow Gold Cider. The “StartCap” includes an RFID tag. When you flip the top it triggers a range of actions:  “anything from automatically checking you into Foursquare to activating a spotlight or firing a glitter cannon.”

That reminds me of the Budweiser taps that light up when the Red Sox score. Guess we know where that one went this season, groan….

The StartCap and its ilk aren’t the most consequential, life-altering examples of the Internet of Things, but they do illustrate how pervasive it can become, and how companies will be able to alter their products to create a real relationship with the consumer.  As World Club Joint Creative Partner (how’s that for a title?) Ben Mooge told Fast Company, “‘Technology allows you to bring product, customer, and brand much closer together.'”