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Medical diagnosis by way
of IPhone? Not for this guy.
I was watching TV the other night and caught an Apple IPhone commercial promoting the programs or "apps" that are available for the device.
For those of you not familiar with the IPhone, it is designed to allow you to load a variety of software programs developed specifically for the phone. Some of these applications are from Apple, but most come from other vendors. The programs range from useless to useful with likely the vast majority skewing towards the former.
Although, I won't judge since uselessness is really in the eye of the iholder.
Just for the record, I don't have an IPhone. I've played with them. I love the way you can browse the internet with the IPhone, but my work-needs dictate the use of a Blackberry so that is what I carry on my hip. I think there are "apps" available for the Blackberry, but I've never looked into them. I'm happy with email, the occasional web browsing, and the note-taking applications.
But the IPhone has dozens if not hundreds of little apps that are designed to make the lives of the IPhone owners a much more bearable existence.
One program called Urbanspoon uses the phone's built in Global Positioning System capabilities to randomly pick nearby restaurants based on simple criteria such as price and food type. You can shake the phone and like a cross between a slot machine and a Magic 8-Ball it will display a nearby restaurant that fits your criteria. If you don't like it, shake the phone again for a new choice.
While most of these apps I could do without, I think this one would be personally nice to have. Sometimes my wife and I have a difficult time deciding where to eat when we go out for dinner. OCharley's is often our default.
Another app, promoted on the TV commercial especially caught my eye. It's a program designed to read the medical image files generated by CT, PET and MRI scanners. Those are the very, very expensive scanners used by hospitals to take complex pictures of your innards.
This application kind of troubles me. If I am sick enough that I require an MRI, then I do not -- I repeat, do not -- want my doctor making a diagnosis based on an image which is 3 inches wide and requires him or her to squint.
"Hmmm Mr. Hollerbach, it looks like you have a tumor. Oh wait, my bad, just a smudge on my IPhone screen."
No, if I have to have an MRI, then I'm going to insist that the doctor finds the biggest monitor possible to assist him or her in making the diagnosis. If a stadium Jumbotron is available, that is my preference.
But, if the doctor insists on evaluating me using his $200 toy, then I might be forced to get an IPhone and develop my own app.
UrbanDoc I think I will call it.
I'll be able to shake my phone, and with any luck it won't stop on an OB/GYN.
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