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A medical alert device is usally small enough it can be worn as a necklace, pendant, part of key chain etc’. If you have a family that has elder people or you know people with a medical condition, there is a solution that offers them and you a bigger peace of mind.

If a person is experiencing a medical emergency, the monitoring system provided by brickhousealert.com makes it possible for help to become available immediately and easily with its Medical Alert products.

Medical Alert systems include certain fundamental features, including 2-way communication between the device wearer and the emergency response center that is available 24 hours a day. Typically, medical alert systems operate using wireless technology so that communication can be established anywhere emergencies happen.

The company offers a mobile GPS Tracking Bracelet with 2-way speakerphone to be used like a cell phone when calling for help. Another device, the Tele-Assist, works by detecting body positions, such as is if a person has fallen and became incapacitated, so they do not need to press a panic button. Up to 3 pre-programmed speed dial numbers can be added for automatic notification in case of an emergency.

On BrickHousealert.com you can find more information about these important products.

If you have a pacemaker or defibrillator this news would be of great interest to you. A recent study has found that some headphones can interfere with cardiac devices if held in near proximity to them. The interference might prevent a defibrillator from providing an electric shock that could save a life.

It is a wise step to keep such electronic devices a few inches from implanted medical devices, including someone who is wearing the earphones and leans against the patient.

Approximately 2 million people worldwide have pacemakers, defibrillators and other devices to help control their heart speed. An earlier study by the FDA found that iPods and other MP3 players didn’t post a threat, as long as they are used properly.

The news study looked at the magnetic effect of headphones, both the earbud kind and the ones that hook over ones ear. Sixty participants were tested.

When placed an inch from the device, interference was detected approximately in one fourth of participants, in 4 of 27 participants with pacemakers and 10 of the 33 participatants with defibrillators. One pacemaker reset itself in 1 patient.

Patients who have the interference with their earphones may feel nothing or some heart palpitations. The heart device does return to normal functioning once the headphone is out of range. The size of the headphone doesn’t necessarily relate to its magnetic strength.

So at this point, the recommendation goes as far as instructing patients to keep the headphones on their ears and when they aren’t there, put them away from their chest.

Fleet management is able to utilize GPS tracking technology to monitor a large number of an organization’s vehicles. This innovation can also be used to decrease vehicle and cargo theft , thus lowering insurance costs and decreasing capital expenses. In combination with GPS tracking, It is also useful for the dispatcher and the driver to have a direct communication with each other in order to make sure the vehicles are taking the correct route, as well as schedule additional stops and be alerted to possible emergency situations and unpredictable events such as traffic jams.

The benefits of using Fleet GPS Tracking are the following:

• Raising fleet efficiency.
• Reducing the time drivers are spending at unauthorized locations.
• Monitoring the activities of mobile staff and reducing car and truck operating costs. 
• Reducing or eliminating overtime.
• Lowering insurance rates.
• Re-creation of routes.
• Having a user configurable interface.

GPS fleet tracking clearly makes a manager’s life easier by displaying all the relevant information on a computer screen.

Although this technology is good for employers, the employees might feel like “big brother” is watching their every move. This could cause some resentment among the employees, therefore it’s important for management to be open about this innovation and what’s expected of the personnel.

A good selection and overview of Fleet Tracking technology can be found at brickhousesecurity.com.

Microsoft’s Beijing research center is expected by the company to produce major leading innovative software. The company is one of many that are seeing their Chinese operations as having great potential with the huge talent pool of scientists and engineers.

Microsoft said that its Chinese office had already produced 260 innovations that were implemented in products available worldwide. The center is the company’s largest outside of the US, employing 350 researchers and has been awarded 1000 patents in China and beyond.

The center is expected to take a lead role in the development of business-focused products for developing countries and potentially health care-related applications. Currently, the Chinese center is known for its role in the development of an electronic tablet that can recognize handwriting. It also worked on speech recognition and advanced video game graphics.

In Beijing, originally Microsoft was relying on Western-trained Chinese researchers but the country’s own universities are now producing highly adept workers. Microsoft has invested in China, despite the country’s negative record in software piracy. The company isn’t concerned to a large extent about theft during research since its software is made up of many small elements.

For the longer term future, Microsoft intend to place a global emphasis on such developments as ‘natural user interface’ which would allow users to control computers with speech or gestures, as opposed to keyboard or mouse.

As a Canadian, I have found the system access fee annoying for quite some time. Firstly, because I have worked closely with wireless companies, and know first hand that they try to pass it off as a government required fee - which it isn’t. Secondly, because we are the only country in the world which pays the fee on top of our regular, monthly charges. Thirdly, because it adds, in my case, approximately ten percent to my wireless bill every single month.

Well, I, and many other Canadians who oppose the fee, may soon have one less thing to complain about (which is always a good thing, right?). This speculation comes as, for the first time, a major established wireless company is removing the fee - this company is: Fido. Of course, don’t get too excited, as Fido is a subsidary of Rogers Wireless, who as of yet has not released plans to remove the fee from their services.

It is a step in the right direction, and one that may force other wireless operators to follow suite, if they want to remain competitive, that is. In the last couple of years, there have been a few smaller providers that refrained from charging the system access fee - Telus’ brand aimed at teens, Koodoo, comes to mind. However, Fido will be the first established big boy to make the move, which has many hoping that this will become an industry wide movement, and the death of the system access fee.

MySpace together with MTV networks and online ad service Auditude have partnered to attempt and monetize pirated video.

The companies’ plans are to identify pirated video clips on the web, place an ad overlay on top of the videos showing where to buy the complete versions, and return part of the proceeds back to the copyright owner. For instance, if someone posts a video clip on their MySpace account, instead of demanding the removal of the clip, MTV may allow it to remain if there is an advertisement attached to it.

Various media companies have waged a long and expensive battle over the copyrighted clips that were posted on YouTube, MySpace, personal blogs,etc’. The companies basically sent copyright notices to get the clips removed. Websites did usually agree for the removal but the trend had continued without an end in sight.

The Auditude platform can identify clips using ‘digital fingerprints’ taken from the audio and video data of a clip. The data is then matched via a 250 million video database of known video fingerprints. The technology can identify even a video clip  that is only a few seconds long and ignores any tagging added by the end-user.

This doesn’t mean the end of copyright laws for digital content, often known as DRM(Digital Rights Management), since most video creators and distributors haven’t signed up to include this technology. Auditude is expecting to see other networks partner with it to alleviate, if not remove, this problem.

In news from the official Yahoo blog today, it’s been noted that the web company’s attempt at a live video streaming site is going kaput! The service had just launched in February, however following an initial buzz-filled launch, “Live” simply failed to take off - so Yahoo is pulling the plug.

If you are one of Yahoo Live’s few users, there’s no need to panic, as the service will remain up for another month, not going officially offline until December the third. Also, if you’re really into Yahoo Live, they are planning a town-hall event this Wednesday, which will include the service’s final goodbye.

Personally? I’m not too disappointed by Yahoo’s decision, as I had actually forgetten about Yahoo Live’s existance. Hopefully this will free up resources for other, more interesting projects of the company. Really, though, I just hope nobody gets laid off.

Hackers have attacked many PCs with thousands of bugs, spam, and other nefarious tactics. Currently security experts are saying that cellular phones will be the next likely targets.

A report by Georgia Tech has identified the growing popularity of cell phones as a new path for hackers. Of specific concern is that as mobile phones gain more computing power and Internet connectivity, hackers will be able to utilize the security vulnerabilities of phone operating systems and web apps.

Botnets, which are networks of infected PCs are the common approach used for spamming and denial of service attacks. Botnets  have massive computer power and could use a very high number of computing devices to take offline or wipe clean other devices.

If botnets are used in cell phones, new fraud scams could begin. For instance, infected phones could be programmed to call pay-per-minute numbers or purchase ringtones. If the criminals can do so effectively, they will continue.

The facts that cell phones are usually always on and have typically poor security makes them appealing to hackers. Also, an antivirus software can consume a significant amount of battery life.

The hurdle for the hackers is to learn how the cellular networks work and change their attacks accordingly. Mobile network providers are more tightly controlled when compared with home or business Internet providers, which would mean that lines of communication could be closed quickly for infected phones.

For successful hacking, there needs to be a significant number of Internet browsing and downloading taking place on mobile devices, which is just significantly starting now.