Smart Contact Lens with Health Sensors

We’ve written about Google Glass before, but now Google has partnered with a Swiss company to bring their Google Eye technology to the market. Here’s a short description from Venture Beat article:

Google and Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis announced this morning that they will be collaborating on bringing Google’s smart contact lens technology, which contains sensors for tracking things like blood glucose levels for diabetics, to consumers.
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Specifically, Novartis says it’s interested in the tech’s glucose-sensing capabilities for diabetics, as well as its potential for helping people with presbyopia, who can’t read without glasses. The smart lens technology could eventually help to fix the eye’s autofocus capabilities for nearby objects, potentially by implanting it directly into the eye.

Let’s make sure that you don’t think this contact lens is going to replace Google Glass. We’re not there yet, but don’t be surprised if it gets there some day. These new smart contact lens are more like the variety of health sensors that are hitting the market than they are a Google Glass replacement. For purposes of this site, that’s just as cool.

I’ve often argued that we need to prepare ourselves for a wave of health sensors that are coming. This smart contact lens is another great example of this wave.

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July 16, 2014 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 6000 articles with John having written over 3000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 14 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: and and .

Filed Under: Health Care  Health Sensors  Healthcare IT  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Smart Contact Lens
Tags:Glucose Tracking        Novartis

While at the mHealth Summit I had a chance to meet with Cerora. At first I wasn’t all that excited to see another piece of EEG hardware. I’d seen one before, and it seemed the science of it was so early that we still hadn’t seen many real world results that were worth talking about. However, when I started talking to the people at Cerora, I was impressed by their linear focus on using the hardware for just one purpose as opposed to a company with a technology that’s trying to find a solution. Plus, I love that they had plenty of clinical study background as well.

However, the device itself still wasn’t as interesting to me as how they would pair the EEG with Google Glass. Sure, Google Glass seems like just another toy, but they had a vision for how to use Google Glass that I hadn’t heard before. They were interested in using the accelerometer in Google Glass and I believe they said the eye tracking potential to be able to monitor someone’s gait. For example, when they walked were they swaying from side to side in an abnormal way.

To be honest, I may not even be doing justice to what they have in mind. However, the concept is what I found most interesting. Could Google Glass be used as an amazing health tracking device or as a health research device? I think Cerora might be on to something combining Google Glass with their EEG.

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January 24, 2014 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 6000 articles with John having written over 3000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 14 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: and and .

Filed Under: Eyeware Computing  Fitness Trackers  Health Care  Healthcare IT  mHealth  Mobile Health Care
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I recently acquired a pair of Google Glass. It’s been quite an interesting experience wearing them around. I haven’t worn them many places. In fact, I took them to the mHealth Summit in DC and barely took them out. As I considered it, I found it really pretentious to have on a pair of Google Glass. Even when I did wear them, I’d usually flip them up on my head so people knew I wasn’t using them.

I imagine over time this will change as more and more people wear some sort of eyeware that contains computing power like Google Glass. However, of all places, you’d think that wearing them at mHealth Summit people would generally know what they were and not be so phased when you had them on. It was interesting to see the looks people gave you.

I will say that wearing Google Glass is a good attention getter. Random people will come up to you and ask to wear them or try them. This can be a great thing at a conference where breaking the ice can be hard. However, you just have to be sure to bridge the conversation to something more than Google Glass. For some reason, women seemed particularly interested in them.

I have CES (Consumer Electronics Show) coming up in a few weeks. I think I’ll wear Google Glass around some just to see what people do. At a show like CES I’m afraid I’ll end up meeting a lot of people that I don’t necessarily want to meet (do I really care to hear about your iPhone case company?).

I’m still torn on Google Glass. I think the technology is a really amazing experience. It’s just hard for me to see it as an every day type of accessory like your phone. Maybe I’ll hop on eBay and sell mine off.

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December 26, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 6000 articles with John having written over 3000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 14 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: and and .

Filed Under: Eyeware Computing  Healthcare IT  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Wearables
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We’ve written a number of times about the power and potential of . I have little doubt that Google has started a whole new computing platform with Google Glass. However, a year or so ago Kyle Samani from Pristine suggested to me that some of the Google Glass competitors could be even more powerful with Google Glass. Now that Pristine is deep into the development of their Google Glass product, I wonder if Kyle’s views have changed. Personally, I’m growing to think that he could be right.

I recently came the Google Glass competitor META.01. It’s a pretty unique product that adds augmented reality to the experience of eyeware computing. Plus, they say they’re working on making the eyeware “fashion-conscious.” This point is what many are waiting for with eyeware computing.

Instead of telling you about their product, this video does a good job showing it:

I think the future of eyeware computing is bright and will benefit healthcare. Google has definitely done a great job creating the space, but I won’t be surprised if their competitors end up defining it.

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September 24, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 6000 articles with John having written over 3000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 14 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: and and .

Filed Under: Eyeware Computing  Health Care  Healthcare IT  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Wearables
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This week I spent a lot of time at the SXSW V2V conference in Las Vegas. While at the conference I had the chance to meet and talk with Kyle Samani, founder of Pristine, where we discussed Pristine’s work in bringing Google Glass to healthcare. He’s particularly focused on bringing Google Glass to healthcare, but I have little doubt that Google Glass will be valuable to many parts of healthcare (I’m sure Kyle would agree).

I recently read about a new Google Glass incubator on . Here’s a short quote from the article:

“We are going to see a revolution going forward of wearable computational devices, with Google Glass being the first one out of the gate,” says Chief Innovation Officer of Palomar Health, Orlando Portale.

This prediction is the reason Palomar Health and Qualcomm Life have teamed up to build an incubator for developers called Glassomics.

The incubator aims to provide platforms and eventually, hospital venues to create medical apps for computer glasses, smart watches, and wearable devices for patients.

Qualcomm has been a big player in the mobile health space for a while, so it’s no surprise to see them following the mobile health trend into Google Glass. I think it’s interesting they are calling it Glassnomics when it seems the incubator has a much larger focus than glass into all wearable devices.

I’m still not completely sold on Google Glass in particular, but I have little doubt that it has made a whole new category of tech product main stream. We’ll see if Google Glass becomes the dominant platform or if a startup company comes along and makes a better version. Either way, I’m excited at the potential of Google Glass in healthcare.

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August 16, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 6000 articles with John having written over 3000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 14 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: and and .

Filed Under: Health Care  Healthcare IT  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Wearables
Tags:      Orlando Porale  Palomar Health      Qualcomm Life  Wearable Incubator

As you know, we’ve been pretty high on Google Glasses on this blog. Katie’s written a few articles about it including: “” and “Goggles Suggested for Stroke Monitoring“. I’ve said before that whether Google Glass is the product that will win this category, the idea of always on computing that is available to you in real time with little to no interaction is indeed a game changing technology. Google or someone is going to get this right and it’s going to change so many things for the good.

I heard a really simple example that illustrates this idea. Imagine a Google Glass 911 service. The first thing they teach you in First Aid and CPR is to ask someone near by to call 911. Think about how that simple task changes with Google Glass. Hands free, the person could approach the injured victim and with their voice say, “Ok Glass. Dial 911.” Instant connection to a 911 operator who will have a voice and video connection to you along with the GPS coordinates of your location.

This takes being a 911 operator to a whole new level. Now they can see the victim and can give much better instructions. Plus, the person helping the victim can administer care while talking with the 911 operator hands free. What a compelling use case!

Turns out this could benefit the paramedics as well who could have their Google Glass video feed connected to the ER doctor who can see and instruct them where appropriate. The ER doctor could give instructions to the paramedic while the paramedic works hands free. The ER doctor could even send the paramedic images or video of what the paramedic should be doing.

I’m sure we could extrapolate this more into many other areas of healthcare, but you get the idea. It’s amazing to think what the mature technology could do in this regard.

Before you get too excited about the technology, (who I hear has a device #glassenvy) posted a to the most comprehensive Google Glass article I’ve found. For those not interested in reading the lengthy article, the summary is that Google Glass still has a long ways to go to become a mature technology and achieve what I described above. However, I agree with the writer that this is a device of historical significance. It’s a category defining product.

No doubt Google Glass is an alpha release of a device. So, we should all be aware of that and treat it as such. Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten my hands on a Google Glass device yet, but no doubt will spring at the chance to try it. While glass is full of limitations today, as the hardware and software mature, I can see some really valuable ways I could use something like this in healthcare and my life.

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June 21, 2013 I Written By

John Lynn is the Founder of the HealthcareScene.com blog network which currently consists of 15 blogs containing almost 6000 articles with John having written over 3000 of the articles himself. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 14 million times. John also manages Healthcare IT Central and Healthcare IT Today, the leading career Health IT job board and blog. John launched two new companies: InfluentialNetworks.com and Physia.com, and is an advisor to docBeat. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can also be found on Twitter: and and .

Filed Under: Health Care  Healthcare IT  mHealth  Mobile Health Care
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I’ll admit, I’m kind of a fan girl for all things Google (if you didn’t notice with my recent excitement about , or how I tend to favor Android apps.) So, of course, I think that Google Glasses sound really exciting. And when I first heard about them, I wondered if they had a place in healthcare.

It looks like others .

To me, it would make sense for Google Glasses to be used in the healthcare world. It could be the next step for fitness devices. Doctors could potentially use it, as could medical students. The article from above listed the following ideas that seemed most plausible (these descriptions are directly from the article):

  •  Video sharing and storage: Physicians could record medical visits and store them for future reference or share the footage with other doctors.
  • A diagnostic reference: If Glass is integrated with an electronic medical record (EMR), it could provide a real-time feed of the patient’s vital signs.
  • A textbook alternative: Rather than referring to a medical textbook, physicians can perform a search on the fly with their Google Glass.
  • Emergency room/war zone care: As storied venture capitalist Marc Andreessen , consider ”dealing with wounded patients and right there in their field of vision, if they’re trying to do any kind of procedure, they’ll have step-by-step instructions walking them through it.” In a trauma situation, doctors need to keep their hands free.
  • Helping medical students learn: , a surgeon might live stream a live — and potentially rare — surgery to residents and students.
  • Preventing medical errors: With an electronic medical record integration, a nurse can scan the medication to confirm whether it’s  the correct drug dose and right patient.

It seems as if this is only the beginning. Of course, Google Glasses aren’t going to come cheap, but I feel it could really revolutionize healthcare.

What possibilities do you see between Google Glasses and Healthcare?

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May 20, 2013 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Gadgets  Health Care  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care
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