Millionaire Fashion Designer Wants Your Funding

Crowdfunding can be a great way to get a charity or creative project off the ground if you’re starved for cash. Now, apparently, more established business owners are turning to it too.

Case in point: Reality star-turned-fashion designer Whitney Port has taken to Indiegogo with the goal of raising $50,000 to show her clothing line, Whitney Eve, at New York Fashion Week come September.

The money will be spent on the necessary components of a successful runway show namely models, a stylist, DJ, space fee and payment for a production company.

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Port’s estimated worth is $3.5 million.

“You guys [friends and fans] are so important to me, so I want you to be a part of this and see what it takes to put on an amazing fashion show,” Port says in the video touting her event.

Unlike Kickstarter, which maintains a specific focus through project guidlines, Indiegogo is an open platform.

We’ve seen the site fund some very worthwhile causes such as a vacation for one harassed school bus monitor, but this request from Port feels like an attempt to gain publicity more than cash.

Port is offering 11 different perks based on your donation. One dollar will earn you a shout-out on Facebook, while $450 will earn you front row seats at the show you helped pay for.

Port has currently raised just $2,546 with 39 days remaining.

Student Texted About Quitting Texting While Driving Off Cliff, Lived

In yet another example of why you shouldn’t text and drive, an Texas-- college student drove off a cliff while texting.

Fortunately, he survived, but incurred some serious injuries. After six months of recovering, he’s finally able to talk about it.

Right before Chance Bothe’s truck-- went over a cliff, he texted, “I need to quit texting, because I could die in a car accident.”

Bothe suffered a broken neck, a crushed face, a fractured skull and traumatic brain injuries, a local news station reported. He was brought back to life three times by doctors.

Lately, texting-- while walking has been an increasing issue-- for law enforcement. Distracted walkers can cause accidents or get themselves into dangerous situations.

We told you earlier this-- week about a Philadelphia man being so distracted by talking on his cellphone, that he fell onto train tracks and was knocked unconscious. Luckily for him, no trains were headed to the station at that time.

Cellphone distraction also infamously-- caused a man to nearly walk into a brown-- bear and resulted in one woman’s embarrassing moment falling into a mall fountain.

Earlier this summer, we asked you if you think texting-- while walking should be illegal. The majority-- of you said no, but had strong opinions about the dangers of texting and walking.

Dropped Calls Are Cellphone Owners’ Biggest Complaint [STUDY]

A recently released survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project confirms that others share one of your biggest cellphone problems dropped calls.

72% of cellphone owners said they experience dropped calls at least occasionally. And 32% of cellphone users say they experience this problem at least a few times a week or more. If you’re a smartphone owner versus a basic cellphone user, the list of problems with your mobile device is likely to be longer smartphone owners reported more problems with their phones.

Dropped calls have been an issue for a number of phone makers, but they plague one carrier in particular AT&T. Apple’s iPhone 4 on AT&T would reportedly drop calls if held in a certain way which became known as the “death grip.” Apple offered its customers a free bumper case to prevent dropped calls, after a class-action lawsuit was filed. Verizon’s iPhone 4 also developed a reputation for easily dropping calls, so much so that it failed to make Consumer Reports list of recommended phones. The same publication named AT&T “the worst carrier” in 2010.

SEE ALSO: Can You Stay Healthy Using Local Deal Offers for Medical Services?

Spam texts and slow download speeds on mobile devices are also common complaints of cellphone users. 69% of cellphone users say they receive unwanted spam text messages, and more than three quarters cite slow Internet speeds as keeping them from getting the most out of their device.
Some other interesting stats from the Pew study include:

• 68% of cell owners receive unwanted sales or marketing calls at one time or another. And 25% of cell owners encounter this problem at least a few times a week or more frequently.
• Of the 69% text message users who said they receive unwanted spam or text messages, 25% face problems with spam/unwanted texts at least weekly.

It would seem consumers are expecting better. “The big change that mobile connectivity has brought to users is the instant availability of people and data,” Jan Lauren Boyles, a Pew Internet and American Life Project researcher who authored this report, said in a statement. “As mobile owners become fond of just-in-time access to others and as their expectations about getting real-time information rise, they depend on the cell phone’s technical reliability. Any problems that snag, stall, or stop users from connecting to the material and people they seek is at least a hassle to them and sometimes is even more disturbing than that in this networked world.”

Can You Stay Healthy Using Local Deal Offers for Medical Services?

If you’ve ever bought a Groupon for an expensive restaurant in your area, and had a great meal for not a lot of money, you understand the draw of the daily deal sites.

Groupon has been around since late 2008, offering daily deals of discounted gift certificates at national companies. Along came LivingSocial and a slew of competitors and soon, mailboxes were filling up with offers for massages and exercise classes and even Botox treatments.

Lately though, I’m seeing offers for medical and health procedures such as dental cleanings, acupuncture and chiropractic services, even vision exams.

It seems doctors found the “too good to pass up” daily deal form of advertising and marketing too good to pass up. New clients are coming in, and getting huge discounts on medical services.

But we wondered; are they returning for more? Can consumers who have little or no health insurance use daily deals as a way to see a physician, a dentist, an eye doctor, all the basics of keeping healthy?

We want to know if you’ve ever used a Groupon or daily deal for a medical prodecure, or if you plan to. What kinds of deals are coming into your inbox?

FDA Approves First-Ever Digestible Digital Pill

The era of digital medicine just got one step closer to reality. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has for the first time approved a digestible device  a sand-particle sized microchip that can be embedded in drugs to monitor patients’ response to treatment, according to a new report in Nature.

The device is currently only approved for use with placebos but Proteus Digital Health, which is developing the technology, hopes approval with other drugs will be forthcoming in the near future. Co-founder and chief medical officer for Proteus George Savage tells Nature the enhanced pills could be used to treat everything from drug-resistant tuberculosis to diabetes.

“The point is not for doctors to castigate people, but to understand how people are responding to treatments,” Savage tells Nature. “This way doctors can prescribe a different dose or a different medicine if they learn that it’s not being taken appropriately.”

So how does this digital pill work? The sensor itself is made of a tiny silicon chip containing trace amounts of magnesium and copper. When a patient swallows it, the pill generates slight voltage which responds to digestive juices. The voltage sends a signal to a patch worn by the patient, which transmits relevant information to a healthcare provider’s mobile device.

If that sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, get ready for a whole new world of healthcare. Nature reports similar technologies in the works include implantable devices that wirelessly inject drugs at pre-specified times and sensors that would deliver a patient’s electrocardiogram to their smartphone.

Nokia Releases Nail Polish Line to Match Phone

Nokia is introducing a new polish line in honor of their hot pink Lumia 900 phone. The “Nokia Lumia Pink” polish, designed by Duality Cosmetics, will only be available for three one-day events in Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles. But customers will be able to receive cellphone themed mani and pedis in participating salons from Nicki Minaj’s nail stylist Kandi Banks.

The Lumia 900 phone also comes in white, black and cyan but the hot pink model was the latest release, maybe to introduce some summer color to their line of phones.

Nokia says their phone colors are specialized because the paint lays not only on top of the plastic, but within the polycarbonate as well,

so scratches won’t show. We’re not sure if their nail polish can promise the same scratch-resistent wear, but it is the same vibrant shade.

Valerie Buckingham, director of marketing for Nokia North America, tells Women’s Wear Daily the collaboration marks “the next generation of mobility” because “phones are in your back pocket all day [and should represent] the most personal parts of your style.”

Nokia recently dropped price of the Windows phone down to $49.99. Though sales of the phone were initially strong, its success may have begun to wane after Microsoft announced that the Lumia 900 wouldn’t receive the Windows 8 upgrade.

But maybe being able to match your fingers to your tech might be enough of a perk for you to invest in the phone or polish.

Amtrak Gets on Board With E-Tickets

Amtrak is rolling out its new eTicket program, which will let passengers board trains nationwide without a paper ticket.

Until now, the only way to ride the rails was with a paper ticket that you had to hand to the conductor.

Though you could look up schedules and make reservations online, that often meant wasting precious moments standing in line at a ticket window, or Quik-Trak kiosk. Not great for your blood pressure if you’re minutes away from missing your train.

“eTickets deliver the convenience and flexibility expected by passengers and its innovative technology is transforming other aspects of how Amtrak does business,” President and CEO Joe Boardman said in a statement.

You can book and pay for your e-ticket online, on a mobile device, or by using the new Amtrak iPhone app. Once purchased, you’ll get an email with the ticket attached as a PDF. Smartphone users can simply show that e-ticket to the conductor, who can then scan it.

If you don’t have a smartphone, you can print the ticket at home or at a kiosk in the station.

Aside from the obvious benefit of saving passengers time and not wasting paper, if an e-ticket is lost or misplaced, it can easily be reprinted.

Amtrak had run a pilot program on five routes before Monday’s nationwide digital upgrade. Amtrak says it “quickly exceeded expectations as rapid adoption by passengers resulted in shorter lines at ticket counters, less tickets sold onboard trains and fewer claims of lost tickets.”

Amtrak is not alone in turning to e-tickets. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York has begun testing smartphone-based ticketing for the Metro-North Railroad. The use of QR codes to scan tickets is already in use in several European countries such as Italy, Germany and France.

Young Women Can Ask All Their Private Health Questions on ChickRx

As young Harvard Business School grads, ChickRx’s co-founders Stacey Borden and Meghan Muntean, relied on their girlfriends for health, beauty and sex advice.

“As best friends, we realized we were often going to each other with questions and concerns relating to health and wellness whether about our dating lives, our diet, workout, skincare issues,”

The pair of 20-somethings found while there was a wealth of health-related information online, there were holes in the online health content for young women.

“I felt the online health offerings were really targeting women who are older or took an approach that’s very clinical not about the everyday discussions we were having,” Borden says.

ChickRx offers something different. The community-based social network enlists the help of experts from famed sex coach and Cosmopolitan magazine columnist Amy Levine to registered dentists, dietitians and internists. The expert directory is huge (see for yourself).

ChickRx is an online safe haven for questions from 18-to-39-year-old women. It’s a place where you ask anything. Plastic surgeons are available to answer questions about breast augmentations, reproductive health psychologists are there to address concerns about birth control and pregnancy, and peers are readily available to chat about dating. Other popular topics include celebrities, weight loss, cancer, alcohol and stress.

The newly opened community has reached more than 2,000 women so far, who rely on the site as a trusted space for connecting peers and professionals. Male experts can publish content, however, membership is restricted to females only since health and wellness topics can be very personal.

“Our content is very authoritative,” she says. “The articles we write ourselves about health news, we take from health journals, we put a fun and relatable spin on it.”

In the next couple of months, ChickRx will also offer female-geared products for sale on the web platform.

“We’re making health and wellness cool, accessible and fun,” Borden says. “We’ve definitely seen this online platform as just our starting point. We definitely want to do mobile products, and see where this brand can go with consumer products and traditional media.”

Digital Library Raises $1 Million to Open Online Access

Both summer reading and serious scholarly research could get a lot easier with the Digital Public Library of America. The visionary project has raised $1 million to help make library materials freely available online to anyone.

The open-access digital library plans to use the $1 million award from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to build a single “sky-way with global access ramps” that reaches digital library collections across the nation.

The project would also free up resources for local libraries to focus on community needs and activities catering to neighborhood kids and adults.

“The Digital Public Library of America is an ambitious effort to create a national digital library system that will make the cultural heritage of the United States available to anyone with access to the Internet,” said Jim Leach, chairman of NEH.

The digital library faces huge challenges in giving everyone equal access people speaking different languages, netizens with faster or slower Internet connections, and even the visually impaired. A mobile-friendly version would also make the library accessible to the growing swarm of smartphone Internet surfers.

Any plan for the digital public library must also figure out possible copyright issues if it wants to lend materials not in the public domain, Leach said.

Online library collections in Europe and Asia provide some ideas for how much the U.S. digital public library costs. The Europeana project has operating costs of about $5 million to $10 million each year, but that figure could rise by as much as ten times depending on the amount of text, video or audio that requires digital scanning.

The National Digital Library of South Korea is another high-tech role model for the U.S. It features a physical building located in Seoul that has touch-screen tabletops and a computer lab accessible in five languages. The $112 million facility opened with 390,000 digitized books, and plans to expand its collection at a cost of $1.2 million per year.

Dreams for the U.S. digital public library remain far from certain, but the $1 million award goes a long way toward getting beyond the talking stage and pushing it closer to reality.

Where to Get Back-to-School Deals on Tablets, Computers

Tech can be pricey. As much as we’d all like shiny new laptops with top-of-the-line functions straight from the factories where they’re made, not everyone can afford that. Especially college students and parents who are sending their children back to school. Whether you’re on a budget or just appreciate a good deal, if you’re in the market for a new computer, check out these special promotions going on now.

Apple

Buy a Mac or iPad for college between now and September 21 and get a $100 “Back to School Gift Card.” The giftcard can be used on apps, books, music and movies. If you purchase the new iPad, you can get a $50 gift card. You can use the gift card in the Mac App Store, the iTunes Store, the iBookstore, and the App Store. This is all part of a program called Apple Education Pricing, which gives discounts to students, faculty and PTO members.

Microsoft

Students who purchase a new Windows PC ($699) will get a free Xbox 360 to take to school with them. Microsoft posted a gallery of its products for students.

According to a recent survey of 4,450 U.S. online shoppers, about 50% said they will purchase a laptop or tablet for school. With only 10% saying they will purchase a desktop computer. Half of shoppers gave themselves a max spending budget of $500, but 20% said they’d spend up to $1,000. 

Amazon Sales Tax What it Means for You

Amazon is backing a bill that would allow states to collect or remit sales tax on items purchased from a small number of large, out-of-state online retailers including Amazon and Overstock.

You already pay sales tax when you shop in brick-and-mortar stores, and now you might pay state and local taxes, too, when you shop online.

“It’s going to feel like a new tax,” Jonathan Johnson, president of Overstock.com told Mashable. “It’s going to feel like businesses are reaching into the pockets of consumers.”

The Marketplace Fairness Act, as it’s called, is backed by Senators Mike Enzi, Lamar Alexander, and Dick Durbin. Amazon is a proponent of the bill, although the company initially opposed the legislation. The constitution allows congress to regulate interstate commerce. This bill would put power into the hands of the states to impose a tax on online purchases or chose not to. Online sellers with less than $500,000 in remote sales will be exempt from collecting these taxes.

Proponents of the legislation say it will level the playing field for brick-and-mortar businesses, which are at a disadvantage because online shoppers can forgo sales tax on a small number of retail websites. Opponents say online retailers cannot enjoy the benefits of collecting state and local taxes when they’re located out of state, in addition to being accountable for adhering to more than 9,000 tax codes across the U.S.

Sales tax is already required on all online purchases in 45 states, according to the official website of the Marketplace Fairness Act. Macy’s, for example, charges sales tax when you buy online because the store is located in 45 states. In the past, Amazon and a small fraction of other online retailers have been able to avoid collecting taxes by having such a small physical presence in the country. But now, Amazon is growing.

Now that Amazon has established a larger presence in the country with a growing number of distribution centers it makes sense for the company to publicly express its opinion concerning this legislation. The Wall Street Journal reported the reason for Amazon’s change of heart is due to numerous deals it struck with states where the company plans to open distribution centers, with the states letting Amazon forgo taxes for a period of time in exchange for creating jobs within the states.

When Paul Misener, vice president of Amazon global public policy, testified in November at a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, he said states should have the freedom to make their own revenue policy choices. This would rewrite a decision from a 1987 case Quill v. North Dakota in which the U.S. Supreme Court decided “requiring out-of-state sellers to collect tax would impose an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce.”

“Amazon believes the sales tax issue needs to be resolved at the federal level, and we’re actively working with the states, retailers and Congress to get federal legislation passed now,” Amazon spokesperson Scott Stanzel tells our team. “As analysts have noted, we offer customers the best prices with or without sales tax. We collect sales tax or its equivalent in more than half of the areas where we do business, and we are pleased to say we are thriving in those geographies because Amazon offers low prices, vast selection and fast delivery.”

Johnson said Overstock opposes the legislation but is open to a federal solution. Perhaps something that would provide Overstock software to collect state taxes, from which, Johnson points out, Overstock and its employees will likely not benefit from since its offices are located in Utah. Johnson added that he would like to see some sort of protection from lawsuits in case of a glitch in the software.

Johnson and CEO Patrick Byrne wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post about how charging sales tax for online purchases based on where the purchasers lives is as silly as a Walmart clerks asking the customer where they will be using an item they’re purchasing.

Consumers can be audited for not paying state sales taxes on online purchases (although that’s highly unlikely) but states are often not able to enforce this. Giving states the option to request that online retailers, such as Amazon and Overstock, add state and local taxes onto purchases being shipped to customers around the country is an efficient way, proponents say, for states to collect those required, but often unpaid, taxes.

“It resolves an inconsistancy in the way retail sales are treated,” French said. “Some online retailers a very small number  enjoy a benefit that is not enjoyed by their brick-and-mortar competitors, while delivering the same products.”

In fact, instate tax collection has been an issue since the 1930s with widely-distributed catalogs. A series of court cases over the years have attempted to solve the problem of interstate tax collection, with the most recent case being Quill Corp. v. North Dakota in 1992. Proponents of the new legislation say the 20-year-old Quill ruling is outdated considering how much consumer habits have changed with the emergence of online shopping.

French said Amazon initially opposed this legislation, but as support for the bill grew stronger and it appeared it was just a matter of time before it would be passed, Amazon jumped on board.

Retailers including eBay and Overstock continue to oppose the legislation.

Brian Bieron, senior director of federal government relations at eBay Inc., made the following statement in response to the House Judiciary Committee hearing the Marketplace Equity Act of 2011 a very similar piece of legislation:

“Small business retailers using the Internet are entrepreneurs who are creating jobs, serving consumers and creating competition for established retail giants. They should be protected from any new Internet Sales Tax regime so that they continue to advance and grow, and regrettably the Speier-Womack Internet Sales Tax legislation falls far short of an acceptable small business retailer exemption.”

What Higher Education Will Look Like in 2020 [STUDY]

In 2020, students may be able to travel to faraway continents, and attend a school halfway around the world.

Experts predict technology will facilitate distance learning outside of traditional classrooms, according to a survey published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. In the study, 1,021 education experts and stakeholders including technology researchers, university directors, venture capitalists and Ivy League university professors, relayed their predictions about the future of higher education.

About 60% of respondents believe higher education will look completely different from the way it is today. While, 39% of participants think the traditional college structure will not change drastically aside from a deeper integration of in-classroom technology.

For now, class attendance, in-person participation and on-campus commitment are key factors of college success. In the future, that may all change.

Teleconferencing, online universities and distance learning will lead to hybrid campuses, experts said. Hybrid campuses will incorporate online learning plus in-person class meetings.

The ballooning cost of a college degree is driving the need for a new school system. Outstanding student debt in the U.S. is upwards of $1 trillion.

“Under current and foreseeable economic conditions, traditional classroom instruction will become decreasingly viable financially,” Mike Liebhold, senior researcher and distinguished fellow at The Institute for the Future, wrote. “As high-speed networks become more widely accessible tele-education and hybrid instruction will become more widely employed.”

Many survey participants think the future educational structure will tackle economic stress and educational divides. Online non-profits and online universities are beginning disrupting the space, hopefully making education more accessible and affordable in the long run.

For example, The Khan Academy started by one man on YouTube now provides more than 3,300 free videos for anyone in the world. On the website, students and adults can brush up on a wide range of math, science, finance and humanities skills. Anyone in the world can utilize the extensive video library to learn organic chemistry or microeconomics.

Experts also believe out-of-the-classroom learning will inspire innovation that’s lacking on campuses now.

“We spew it from a lectern; we expect it to be spewed back in a test,” Jeff Jarvis, director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism wrote. “That kind of education does not produce the innovators who would invent Google. The real need for education in the economy will be re-education.”

App Creates Skin Care Regimen Based on Your Skin Type

A new free iPhone app called mySkin finds skin care products that are right for each user with personalized, scientific, unbiased advice on what works best for the user’s unique skin profile.

The app features a skin assessment, which recommends regimens from a catalog of more than 160,000 products across various brands and retailers. These personalized recommendations take into account skin conditions, lifestyle, diet and skin concerns.

mySkin also lets you track skin care products you’ve used in the past. You can share your experiences, build a wishlist and get answers to your skin care questions from the social community. If you want a super-tailored experience, find your friends to see what they use, and follow the top skin care experts.

Human Stem Cells Found to Restore Memory

Last week, a California biotech company announced that its human stem cells restored memory in rodents bred to have an Alzheimer’s-like condition the first evidence that human neural stem cells can improve memory.

The company StemCells is betting that its proprietary preparation of stem cells from fetal brain tissue will take on many different roles in the central nervous system. The company and its collaborators have already shown that its stem-cell product has potential in protecting vision in diseased eyes, acting as brain support cells, or improving walking ability in rodents with spinal cord injury.

This metamorphic ability is not so surprising they are stem cells, after all. But experts say the quality of scientists involved in StemCells and the interesting properties of its cells sets the company apart. “They’ve really been steadfast in their work to get these cells into clinical trials. That is a tough road and they’ve done it,” says Larry Goldstein, a neuronal stem-cell researcher and director of UC San Diego’s stem-cell program.

The company discovered the technique to isolate these cells from brain tissue in 1999 and has since spent some $200 million improving the technology. “Now we are really in the exciting phase, because now we are looking at human clinical data, as opposed to just small animals,” says StemCells CEO Martin McGlynn.

His company is not the only group bringing stem cells into the clinic. While much attention was paid to Geron’s departure from the world’s first embryonic stem cell trial (see: Geron Shuts Down Pioneering Stem-Cell Program), many other groups have continued to push their non-embryonic stem-cell therapies forward for leukemia, colitis, stroke and more.

Meanwhile, Advanced Cell Technology continues its UK-based embryonic stem-cell therapy trials for blindness. Non-embryonic stem cells can come from a variety of sources bone marrow, blood, as well as donated aborted fetal tissue, as is the case with StemCells and Neuralstem, another company focused on neuronal stem cells. In recent years, scientists have also developed methods for turning normal adult cells into stem cells (so-called induced pluripotent stem cells), but their safety has yet to be tested in humans.

So while StemCells is not a lone wolf, it may well be a pack leader. One of StemCells’ first human studies involved a small trial of young children with a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease called Batten disease. In 2006, the company began the first U.S. Food and Drug Administration-authorized trial of human neural stem cells at Oregon Health and Science University. Through small boreholes in the skull, a neurosurgeon implanted as many as a billion neural stem cells into different locations of the brains of six Batten patients.

The trial has since suggested that the cells are safe and integrate into the brain. At first, the children received immune system-suppressing drugs to prevent their body from rejecting the cells. But after a year, that treatment was stopped. “A big question that we had, that science had, that the FDA had, was what happens to these cells when you withdraw immunosuppression?” says McGlynn.

The treatment, however, did not rescue the children from the effects of the disease, and some have since succumbed to the disorder. Some of the parents of the children who passed away gave permission for an autopsy, enabling the scientists to see that even after one and a half years with no immunosuppression, the transplanted cells had survived. The company wanted to try the cellular therapy in children at an earlier stage of the disease, but was unable to find eligible patients at such a point in the disease course and canceled the trial.

In another small trial, the cells have shown the ability to make functional changes in the human brain. At the University of California, San Francisco, four children with a genetic disease that prevents their brains from producing myelin the insulating sheath on neurons that is necessary for proper electrical signaling received the cellular treatment. In StemCells’ study, three of the treated boys had small but measureable gains in neurological function, while the fourth remained stable. MRI scans indicate that the boys’ neurons have gained more myelin sheaths, which remain even after immunosuppression is removed.

The company has also initiated trials in patients with spinal-cord injuries and macular degeneration, a disease of the eye that gradually destroys central vision. Its Swiss-based trial with spinal-cord injury patients, begun in 2011 at the University of Zurich, has so far enrolled three patients, two of which have reported changes in their sensitivity to touch.

These patients each received a direct transplant of 20 million stem cells into the spinal cord. Last month, the company also announced the beginning of a trial for dry age-related macular degeneration, for which there are currently no FDA-approved treatments. A trial at the Retina Foundation of the Southwest in Dallas will test stem cells in the eyes of up to 16 patients.

But even with years of solid lab animal data and promising first starts in humans, success is no guarantee.

“Animals only tell you a subset,” says Goldstein. “Who knows what’s going to work for which disease. When you get to clinical trials for people, all bets are off.”

Camp Google+: Summer Program for Teens Kicks Off in Cyber Space

Most of our memories of summer camp involve bug bites, bunk beds and a lack of technology. This summer, camp is taking a new form, on Google+.

Makers Camp on Google+, launched by Make magazine, is a summer program for teens offering daily building projects to “make” just about anything. The 30-day program kicked off July 16 and runs weekdays through August 24.

“We’ve created the online summer camp experience that we wanted to do physically, but that wasn’t practical,” Dale Dougherty, founder and publisher of Make magazine, told to media. “We want to encourage teens to use the summer to make things, so we’re bringing in people who can demonstrate interesting projects.”

Each morning, teenage participants between 13 and 18 are taught by a guest instructor to create something individually such as animated GIFs or glow-in-the-dark candy. In the afternoon, campers share their creations in a Google+ Hangout led by a camp counselor.

“We’re trying to show that making is a form of participation,” Dougherty says. “It’s pretty compelling how tech allows us to do that.”

There’s a different theme daily such as “Weird Science Wednesday” and “Field Trip Friday.” Last week’s field trip, led by camp director Nick Raymond, brought the teens to Ford’s research center in Dearborn, Mich. The teens visited the R&D lab, the distracted driver trainer and the flight simulator.

Camp’s completely free and there’s no registration process required. To participate, teens just need to add Make to their Circles on Google+.

Bike With No Chain or Pedals Uses Gravity

This Gravity Bike built by Jeff Tiedeken can reach high speeds when going downhill due to its lightweight design and lack of features like a chain and pedals. The seat is fitted over the rear wheel, and the bike has a low profile, allowing the rider to position themselves like they would on a motorbike.

The minimalistic design features elegant curves, 26-inch Crossmax Lefty wheels, Avid Elixr hydraulic disc brakes and motorbike-style footpeg struts. The bike has reached speeds of 50 mph and is said to have the potential to achieve up to 70 mph.

 

More Shoppers Going Mobile, New York Drives Most iPad Traffic [INFOGRAPHIC]

As more and more consumers are using their mobile devices to get the latest news and stay connected with friends and family, they’re also finding even more ways to incorporate mobile productivity into their daily lives.

Take shopping, for instance. If you’ve ever missed a great sale at a clothing store you love because you just can’t find time to get to the brick and mortar store, you understand how incredibly useful and convenient mobile shopping can be.

Stores are eagerly re-designing their mobile sites and apps to become more immersive and visual, while offering customers who want it a social experience as well.

And then there’s the convenience. You can hit up that sale while sitting on your couch watching TV, because after all, you’re likely already sitting there with a tablet in your lap.
 
Catalog Spree, a leading catalog shopping app, says mobile e-commerce has really taken off over the past eight months, with the iPad accounting for about half of the traffic. According to stats culled from its user data, more than half of iPad shoppers are women; 62% female and 38% male. The average age of the mobile shopper is 25-54.

Among their other findings, shoppers seem to be doing their online browsing after dinnertime, with 6 p.m. PST being the peak time. Shopping from the sofa is most popular on Sundays.

Which city drives the most iPad shopping traffic? New York, followed by Chicago and Houston.

Take a look at the infographic below, compiled by Catalog Spree, which breaks down the shopping details even further.

Do you shop using your mobile device or iPad? Do you prefer mobile shopping to brick and mortar?

The iRobot Doc Will See You Now: Roomba Maker Enters the ER

Some of us complain their doctors are too stiff, lack warmth and are too robotic. But calling such doctors “robots” may be a disservice to RP-Vita the latest telepresence, healthcare bot from InTouch Health and iRobot.

RP-VITA (Remote Presence Virtual + Independent Telemedicine Assistant), unveiled this week at the Clinical Innovations Forum in Santa Barbara, is a remote-controlled telepresence robot that combines InTouch’s “telemedicine” technology and the autonomous navigation innovations introduced in iRobots’ AVA robot at CES in 2011.

iRobot, which also makes the popular Roomba robot home vacuum, made a $6 million investment in InTouch in January of this year.

It may be controlled via joystick, but RP-Vita does have some awareness of its environment. It employs a dazzling array of sensors that include PrimeSense Sensors (the same ones you find in the Kinect for Xbox 360), two cameras that together approximate normal human vision, sonar and a laser range finder. It also creates a map of the hospital and knows the location, for example, of its roll-into charging base.

When the caregiver logs off, RP-Vita, which gets about five hours of activity on a charge, automatically returns to the base. It also features a large screen where the attending doctor’s face will appear. That doctor could be anywhere she has access to the Internet (and a Webcam). RP-Vita’s web portal currently works on an Apple iPad or a laptop or desktop.

RP-Vita is not, at least for now, designed for run of the mill checkup and house calls. It focuses on urgent care in the emergency room and ICU. Once RP-Vita is in place, it can, via local Wi-Fi and a cloud based medical record system, collect patient data and, with another care-giver present, check vital signs via connected octoscopes, ultrasound devices and a built-in stethoscope.

All the information collected and sent through InTouch’s telemedicine system is encrypted and then shared with the attending doctor (who is controlling the robot from her remote location).

For as smart as RP-Vita is right now, it’s likely to get even more so by the end of the year. It already has built-in autonomous navigation, but won’t be able to use it in a hospital environment until the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) give its approval, perhaps as early as the end of this year.

This is not InTouch Health’s first healthcare robot. The company’s model RP-7 is at work in 600 hospitals and accounts for nearly 70,000 patient interactions each year, according to InTouch executives. With RP-Vita, however, InTouch seems poised to take telemedicine to the next level.

“The combination of two organizations has been able to build a system that is truly state of the art relative to anything that has been commercialized before,” said InTouch Chairman & CEO Yulun Wang, PhD. He added that the RP-Vita is “a breakthrough in tech in the commercial marketplace.”

Wang briefly mentioned the demands of healthcare reform, so we asked if “Obamacare” (President Obama’s hotly contest overhaul) is good for RP-Vita.

“Yes, it’s good for Vita and the telemedicine movement and really what’s fueling a lot of growth for InTouch,” he said. “Obamacare is about trying to improve quality.”

He added that RP-Vita aligns with the reformers’ goals of improving access and lowering costs. The RP-Vita will run roughly $4,000 to $6,000 a month, and is already undergoing trials at several hospitals.

How iPods Have Improved the Lives of People With Memory Loss

Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you the iPod has changed the music industry. What they may not tell you is the more obscure, yet similarly profound, impact it’s having on the lives of the elderly suffering from dementia.

Experimentation with iPods and memory began when Dan Cohen, a social worker from Long Island, N.Y., distributed 200 iPods to four local nursing homes in 2008.

When Cohen played songs patients listened to when they were younger, he observed residents become increasingly social, active and happy. In the above video, you can watch the reactions of one patient, 94-year-old Henry, who goes from being totally unresponsive to become a different, more alive man, singing, humming, smiling, and interacting with his surroundings. The video of Henry which is also the trailer for a yet-to-be-released documentary about Cohen’s work went viral on YouTube, receiving more than 6 million views since April.

“I’m crazy about music, beautiful music, beautiful sound,” Henry says after listening to his iPod in the video.

The observations about the effects of iPods on dementia patients lead Cohen to found Music & Memory, a non-profit devoted to bringing donated iPods to nursing homes. Cohen’s currently striving to collect 1 million iPods, through donations driven through the Music & Memory website as well as donation boxes at Broadway theaters.

The organization’s work shows that providing personalized music for patients in nursing homes vastly improves quality of life.

“In nursing homes, you’re used to listening to whatever’s played for you,” Cohen says, explaining the advantages of iPods. “When we cater iPods for individuals, we end up with just songs that resonate with people, uplift them and calm them down.”

As of now, Cohen is aware of more than 50 nursing homes in 15 states using his plan for bringing personalized music through iPods. The number could be much larger, because he has trained many people to set up iPods with music from residents’ youths.

The forthcoming documentary Alive Inside, directed by Michael Rossato-Bennett, will complete production in fall 2012. The film is holding off a mainstream release to try their luck at the festival circuit.

The Cloud, Wi-Fi Among Most Stressful Technologies

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier that is, until something goes wrong. While only about a third of people say that technology as a whole stresses them out, that figure more than doubles when it comes to specific technologies, according to a new study.

The top three stress-producers are related to connecting to the Internet. Respondents say problems with Wi-Fi caused the most stress (12.4%), followed by “the cloud” at (11.4%) and then trouble with networking and syncing devices (10%). When any of these three or a combination goes awry, you can’t get to the information you need.

Virgin Digital Help, a personal tech support service, conducted a the small survey of 210 adults in the U.S. and U.K. over Facebook, Twitter, email and phone. Nearly 80% of the participants were 18-34 years old people who grew up with much of today’s technology. But sometimes tech problems are out of our control, no matter how proficient we may be.

Consumers take particular issue with the fact that technology keeps changing (18.6%) as well as compatibility issues (15.2%). Women were more likely to be stressed out by tech than men, 31% compared to 20%. And around 27% of folks older than 55 say technology is “just too complicated.”

Many items that rank lower on the list may cause less stress because they’ve been around longer and are more familiar, such as desktops, laptops, printers, mobile phones and the Internet in general. Also low on the list are tablets and social networking. And at the bottom of the list is email a virtually stress-free technology, according to the study.