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Finally, FDA tells mobile health app developers what it plans to regulate

Posted on by Leonard Pham

I hope this doesn’t stifle the amazing innovations that have occurred in this space. We’re so close to having an actual tricorder!

Ki Mae Heussner's avatarGigaom

More than two years after issuing its draft guidance on the regulation of mobile health apps, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has finally released its final guidelines.

By some counts, there are about 40,000 health-related mobile apps available for download on the iPhone, Android devices or other smartphones. The vast majority of these apps exist outside the scope of F.D.A regulation, but mobile health app developers have still been waiting for the agency’s final word on where it plans to focus.

On Monday, the F.D.A. said its oversight will apply to two broad categories of apps:

  • Those intended to be used as “an accessory to a regulated medical device” – for example, an app that enables a healthcare provider to diagnose a condition by viewing a medical image from a picture archiving or communication system on a smartphone or tablet; or
  • Apps that “transform a mobile platform into…

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TIL: Microsoft Azure offers Mobile Backend as a Service

Posted on by Leonard Pham

Guess who quietly entered the mBaaS arena? Microsoft! I say quietly because I had no idea and well…my RSS feed is subscribed to every technical blog known to mankind. Also, just to clarify the Azure mBaaS isn’t just for Windows, but for all the major platforms.

Who woulda thunk it?

Crazy couple of days for MSFT. Ben Affleck becomes the new CEO of MSFT, Steve Ballmer becomes the new Batman, and Azure offers mBaaS for iOS, Android, and Windows.

http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/mobile/

Placebo Buttons

Posted on by Leonard Pham

Holy Cow! Buttons really are a hack!

Unknown's avatarYou Are Not So Smart

The Misconception: All buttons placed around you do your bidding.

The Truth: Many public buttons are only there to comfort you.

Placebo Button

You press the doorbell button, you hear the doorbell ring. You press the elevator button, it lights up. You press the button on the vending machine, a soft drink comes rattling down the chute.

Your whole life, you’ve pressed buttons and been rewarded. It’s conditioning at its simplest – just like a rat pressing a lever to get a pellet of food.

The thing about buttons, though, is there seems to be some invisible magic taking place between the moment you press them down and when you get the expected result. You can never really be sure you caused the soft drink to appear without opening up the vending machine to see how it works.

Maybe there’s a man inside who pulls out the can of soda and puts…

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I’m a sad panda

Posted on by Leonard Pham

I really want to use Safari as my primary browser. It’s simple, easy to use, and integrates with all my mac devices. It also leaks memory like a sieve. Since the 10.8.3 upgrade I’ve noticed that my computer has been running a little bit slow. A quick look at the activity monitor revealed that Safari was using 2.83 GB of memory.

Really!?

Back to Chrome it is. Maybe Apple should just get out of the browser business and focus its talents on iOS.

C’MON! Really!?

Posted on by Leonard Pham

People have criticized the iOS ‘Maps’ product as being buggy and unreliable. I’ve defended Apple by telling the critics that ‘Maps’ is a new service and to be patient. It will get better. Now to be clear, I AM an Apple Fanboy. I’ve never shied away from that fact. But even I have my limits.

I was in NYC yesterday for business meetings and I needed to find an address on West 58th street. But no matter how many times I tried, Apple kept insisting that the street address I was typing in was in Brooklyn…at least they got the state right.

C’Mon Apple, get your act together already. I’m searching for a street address that’s probably been there for the better part of two centuries.

Back to Google Maps…for now.