An app to check your cholesterol is the latest way smartphones are evolving into medical devices

On mobile phones, health, and fitness are rapidly becoming big business. The latest idea? A concept from researchers at Cornell which demonstrates how your phone could be used to check your cholesterol levels, no visit to the lab required. In a paper published in the medical technology journal Lab on a Chip, the researchers describe a simple test strip that users drop a bit of blood on. You then snap a photo of this strip (using a special flash diffuser to correct for light levels) and use an app to analyze the results. Because blood changes colors ever so slightly based on the amount of cholesterol in it, the app can determine your cholesterol level through a simple image analysis of the picture of the test strip. That's good news, since Yahoo! reports that up to 60 percent of American adults suffer from high cholesterol. Presumably a good portion of them aren't even aware of it and don't want to undertake the hassle of a doctor visit. As Bloomberg Businessweek notes in the above story, cholesterol testing is hardly the first example of a medical or health-related technology being developed into app form. Today's app-based heart rate monitors make old-fashioned finger clips look like medieval gear, and you can now download an app that diagnoses what's wrong with your sleep patterns. Expectant mothers can get a daily report on their fetus's development, and that's not even mentioning the scads of apps that let you manage your workout and diet routines. Medical related... Continue reading at 'PC World'

[ PC World | 2013-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]

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This Week in Children's Apps: September 7, 2015

This week in children's apps features an interactive storybook in which Little Critter helps a puppy find a home. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How 4 publishers are approaching the Apple News app

Some publishers took a cautious approach to posting straight to Facebook, but many are going all in with Apple News, with plans to post their full online content offering to the app when it launches Sept. 16. The approach reflects a growing acceptance by publishers that they need to go where the... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #apple news #cautious approach


Apple Has Snagged More Than 50 Publishers For Its News App

Apple has recruited publishers like Conde Nast and Vox Media in its quest to create the news reader to beat all news readers.Apple has signed up several new media brands to its upcoming Apple News app, which is intended as a competitor to Flipboard and other news aggregators. As Apple gears up... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2015-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #news aggregators #media brands #news readers #news reader #vox media #conde nast #news app


Latest James Bond scribe says Idris Elba 'too street' to play 007 - and later apologizes

First of all, Anthony Horowitz may be a bestselling author in England, but he's not Ian Fleming. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-09-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #ian fleming #bestselling author #anthony horowitz #idris elba


Faber records loss in latest financial year

Faber saw a drop in turnover for the year ending March 2015, with a significant increase in its operating loss from the 12 months previous. The publisher’s turnover was £15.9m, down 1.8% from £16.2m the year before. Faber made an operating loss of £813,000, up from £5,000 in the 12 months to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #financial statements #operating loss #significant increase


Are In-Car Apps the Next Platform for News Media Companies?

Developments with in-car apps offer future opportunities for news publishers, but visual-heavy media must find a way to compete until hands-free cars are available.   After online, then mobile, and now watches and other wearables, could cars be ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #news publishers


Pears tells new book through Arcadia app

Faber and Touchpress have launched a ‘groundbreaking’ new app, Arcadia, to explore the future of digital reading after ebooks.   Bestselling novelist Iain Pears has conceived his new work, Arcadia, to be read as an app. The novel was written using specially-commissioned software and developed... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This Week in Children's Apps: August 17, 2015

This week in children's apps, an interactive story book encourages vocabulary building. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Facebook is the best app for news': Publishers are still way behind in mobile

Publishers are not doing enough to adapt to the mobile era. The biggest mistake, Breaking News gm Cory Bergman says, is not investing enough in mobile talent -- and not allowing for the inevitable mistakes in trying to figure out what works. Instead, there's a propensity for publishers to... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-08-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #existing content #distribution channel #biggest mistake #mobile appeared #post facebook


Facebook reportedly testing Twitter-like breaking news app

App that would allow publishers to highlight and push news events to Facebook users is said to be in alpha-stage testingFacebook could be preparing to take on Twitter at its own game, with a standalone news application for mobile phones.The product, which is reportedly in “alpha” stage testing... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #business initiative #mobile phones #facebook users


Facebook Is Working on a Twitter-Like App That Lets Publishers Send Mobile Breaking News Alerts to the Masses

Facebook is working on a stand-alone mobile news application that seems to be part of its Facebook for Business initiative.   This product, which sounds similar to Twitter, seems to be different from Facebook for Work, an initiative that wa ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #business initiative


Facebook offers up its autoplay video ads to other apps

If you're already annoyed with the autoplay video ads in your Facebook timeline, you might want to brace yourself. The social network is opening up that advertising tech to outside apps, or more specifically, to publishers who leverage Menlo Park's... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Max Lucado’s Latest Book Explores Promises of the Promised Land

Max Lucado draws a parallel between modern hardships and the Israelite's arduous journey to the Promised Land. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Monetizing mobile apps without harming the user experience [Q&A]

In the past making money from a mobile app has usually involved signing up to an advertisement network and allowing the app to display banner ads. The problem with this is that it doesn't make for a particularly good user experience and may actually turn people off using the app. For some time... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2015-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Game of Thrones app from HC UK

HarperCollins UK has teamed up with George R R Martin and digital product studio Reason to produce a new Game of Thrones app. Released today (30th July), the free app is designed as a "bridge product" for fans of the TV series who have not yet read the books. The app asks users where they are... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #free app #harpercollins uk #hc uk #tv series


Yahoo unveils new live video and texting app

Yahoo unveiled a live video texting app Wednesday that could boost the company's mobile presence and help it compete against Apple and Facebook. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #mobile presence #live video


Roald Dahl’s gruesome twosome The Twits return in new children's app

Twit or Miss game kicks off digital strategy to bring Dahl’s characters to young fans, in tandem with the writer’s centenary celebrations next yearOne of the most dysfunctional couples in the history of children’s fiction, The Twits, are starring in a new children’s game for smartphones and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #android apps #ipad apps #back catalogue #apps based #planned series #centenary celebrations #young fans


App could turn America’s poor into lifelong readers

A scheme involving the White House, libraries and publishers will let children from cash-strapped families read free ebooksWhile the UK quibbles over library ebook lending, American publishers are teaming up with charities and libraries to give away thousands of ebooks to low-income students.... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PRH Children’s to release app as The Twits turn 35

Penguin Random House Children’s and the Roald Dahl Literary Estate will next week release the first ever Dahl app. Twit or Miss is based on The Twits. Developed with Aardman Digital for children aged six to 11, it is a “food fight” game in which players have to swipe food away from the sleeping... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This Week in Children's Apps: July 13, 2015

This week in apps, an interactive version of a Seuss classic reinforces literacy skills. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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