News Updates 4 U: Hello

Showing posts with label Hello. Show all posts

Monday, March 4, 2013

PODCAST: Goodbye PT Cruiser, hello internship

As the second week of testimony begins in BP’s civil trial for damages in the Gulf oil spill, a settlement is still possible. Once evidence is presented in earnest, though, lines harden and chances diminish.

In a survey commissioned by Marketplace and The Chronicle of Higher Education, employers said they value internships more than many other credentials when it comes to hiring.

One of the weirdest cars of the 21st century might be the Chrysler PT Cruiser. While the novelty car lost its popularity with drivers a few years after its release, it became a staple in rental car fleets.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Forget WebMD. Hello, Robot, M.D.

For all that we like to think that our smartphones and tablets are living, breathing extensions of ourselves, the truth is — technology is kind of impersonal. And yet, the impersonal is about to get very personal — as in personal health.

The medical community has begun to grapple with the prospect of more technology in medicine. Imagine IBM’s “Jeopardy”-beating “Watson” computer reviewing your case history, then making diagnoses and treatment recommendations.

“I’m not saying that robots will replace your doctor. I’m not even saying they should but that we may get to a point where we are going to see some profound changes,” The Atlantic Magazine’s Jonathan Cohn says. His cover story in the latest issue of the magazine reports on technology and medicine and the future.

Cohn says at the very least, we’ll see “very intelligent computers” and more use of data in medicine and treatment.

There are a lot of ways technology can save us money — eliminate waste, for example. And it could change the way doctors work, those very expensive doctors. If computers and other new technologies can take over some of the work burden, health care could cost less.

But on the other hand, technology in medicine is easier said than done. Those electronic medical records haven’t really panned out. And Cohn calls that a reason to be skeptical. If we can’t get EMRs right, the technology built on them won’t work either.

So will there be a day when Dr. Watson beeps around the corner and asks you how you feel?

Cohn says he doesn’t think the future looks quite that robotic. Cohn writes more about the technological innovations that could change health care in The Atlantic’s cover story, “The Robot Will See You Now.”