Assistiveware and iOS combine to help patients with disabilities

This is one from the archives, written a few months after the iPad was released.  I needed a few permissions before posting, but after getting them, I forgot to hit PUBLISH.  So here is an old story that I hope will encourage many to see iOS devices in a different light. 

AssistiveWare has created a series of software platforms for use on all iOS devices called Proloquo2go.  If you are not versed in what this company does, then let me explain the advantages that this company has just produced for a vast majority of people.

Previous example of an early stand alone assistive device.

Stroke victims, patients who have communicative disorders, spinal cord injuries, congenital disorders and many of whom are wheelchair bound have difficulty in communicating with the public.  Basic needs that we - the ambulatory and vocal -  take for granted are difficult for these patients - especially children with developmental and physical disorders.  Take the concept of saying "Yes" for example.  For us, it is easy to open our mouths, nod our heads, raise a hand with a thumb gesture etc.  But for the paralyzed and those who cannot speak or comprehend fully this is not possible.  This is especially true in children with developmental disorders.  This is where assistive devices come into play.  The main drawback to many of these devices is the cost, which can be quite prohibitive.  (The cost link will take you to the planning stages, while the Prohibitive link will take you to an actual cost center chart for such devices in a nursing home environment).

Enter Assistiveware.  This company uses iOs devices to produce software that is intuitive to people in need.  As the pictures from their website show, the software is quite similar to other stand-alone devices costing thousands of dollars. 

For patients with disabilities, the device + software has been reduced by as much as 1/3rd. For example if we look at the Software (which is not cheap, but available on iTunes for $189.99 and the iPad hardware at $499.99) for just under $700 one can get an Assistive Device that has other features built in.  Not to mention that in a family setting, the device can double as an entertainment device as well.  In addition to this, let us not forget that if you own a copy on your iPad, you also own a copy on your iPhone/iPod Touch.  Thus the software can be taken everywhere and transported to other handheld devices.

This would also be a great tool in a Doctor's office for patients who cannot communicate well.  It could serve as an entry point, even for patients who speak a different language. But more importantly, it serves as a wonderful conduit for people with disabilities, particularly children who are struggling to communicate.  Another fantastic deployment of the iPad, whose mere existence was questioned back in february.



*Some images used are taken from Assistiveware.com with permision.

LDD. 

Still waiting for THE Apple TV

Currently I have two Apple TV2's.  I picked up the "hockey puck" style device the first week it came out and considered it a work of wonder.  The idea of having no on board hard drive or "Mega Memory" didn't faze me.  Netflix adoption was the key and I was satisfied with the idea that on any given friday or saturday, sitting with my family, we could order a movie from Apple's large library of new releases or find a movie or show on Netflix.  Along the way, we suddenly noticed that we wanted to re watch some of our older movies and actually watch a few of the movies that were given to us for birthdays and holidays.  We rarely used a DVD player thus saving a copy of the movie on the computer was beneficial.  But it became cumbersome.  Add to that, the idea of converting formats for older films, the whole thing became burdensome.

With that in mind, I picked up a second ATV2 device with the intent of modifying it completely.  I looked around and considered Firecore, but decided that this would be better if I did the whole modification myself.  I was able to keep the installation nimble, using up very little memory and installed only the programs that I needed.  XBMC became the go to product.  With XBMC, there were issues that were eventually worked out, including the intermittent playback issues of movies encoded in Apple's .MV4, the defacto for the AppleTV.   However, I was able to watch other movies from my NAS server without problems.   More importantly, I did not need to have a computer on to stream movies to the Apple TV.  A simple NAS drive with AFP or SMB protocols did the trick.   Surprisingly, I was even able to play back 1080p MKV files without problems or hiccups.

Along the way, the family decided that it would be good for my psyche to pick up an old BOXEE device.  They got it on the cheap and I was a happy camper.  Something else to tinker with.  Although the software was not as refined as the Apple TV, I was impressed by its ability to stream anything and everything with impunity.   It was even able to Airshare and 1080p was the defacto setting.  Without a doubt, Boxee, with its 150+ apps was a winner and I found myself watching less and less of the Apple TV.  However, my wife and kids still loved the ATV hockey puck.  Whether it was the hacked version or the unadulterated one, they went back to Apple's simplicity - the one remote control with its minimalist buttons.  Everything about it was better for them.  And to be honest, the UI was just simple to use.

The New Apple TV Apps/Home Page

So imagine my dismay last night when I updated the ATV2 (vanilla device, not the hacked one) and saw what appeared to be a very close cousin of the Boxee UI. Additionally, imagine my dismay at the finding that one can only select two screen sizes - Standard and 720p.  The ATV2 has the A4 chip, the same chip found in the iPhone 4, which by the way can also handle 1080 p videos without a glitch.  The new ATV3 has the new A5 chip which is supposedly the reason why it can handle 1080p.  However, as many of the hackers have already proven, the A4 chip found on the current ATV2 can handle 1080 p without problems.  This begs the question - Why is 1080p only allowed in the new Apple TV and not the current model?

The Boxee Apps Page

Additionally, why is Apple skimping on the Apps?  Boxee has 150+ Apps, including the Wall Street Journal, Netflix and Vimeo which are found prominently on the ATV iOs 5.0 .  These incremental adjustments may be making way for what I believe is an inevitability.   I believe that this is an incremental upgrade in the grand scheme of things.  It is a move akin to the iPhone 3G to 3GS.   There is really nothing in the new Apple TV that would warrant a major purchase.  The hardware serial numbers or markers are probably preventing 1080p downloads from Apple's servers.   And this again must mean that Apple is planning on making the hockey puck obsolete within the next 12 months.  Obsolescence is always started and concluded by Apple and not by its competition.  If the reports are true, expect the next great release of hardware to be a real television or a totally revised Apple TV.

Still waiting for an Apple device that reads from a NAS drive without iTunes.

iPhonedoc.

Some likes and concerns for iOS 5 at WWDC 2011.

Stunning!  That's what I thought about the new updates to iPhone with iOS 5.  Along with elation, there was some concern.  Instead of presenting this in a paragraph by paragraph diatribe, I will list my thoughts on the updates individually, starting with the most obvious one that has only recently caught traction:

1.  iMessenger. --  Let me just say that I almost fell out of my chair when I saw Steve Jobs talk about this.  To me, this appeared to be $240 per year saved from this point onward or $20 per month for two 1000 texts/month plans.  Since most of the texting was between the wife and myself and friends who already have iPhones, I think that I would probably save in reality $120 per year, dropping the 1000 text plan to 200 for those laggards who refuse to pick up an iPhone.  This would drop the bill to $10 per month for 2 iPhones.

But hold on!  There are some issues here that will  need to be ironed out before I drop anything.  For starters, in my professional life I rely on text messages that have to be answered in a timely manner.  From what I have seen of the cloud services, for example with TODO, there have been some delays of up to 5 minutes getting the cloud to send an alarm down to my phone.  If this was an urgent text message from the family or work, those 5 minutes would seem crucial.  Is Apple willing to take the risk for something such as this?  But more importantly, will there be a bypass button to send a message via SMS instead of via Apple?  Secondly what of the stored messages?  Who keeps those?  Are they deleted permanently?

Personally, I rarely use texting as a 911 solution so the above may be hyperbole in the real world.  But it would be nice to know if this solution could really shave my monthly phone bill considerably.

2.  iTunes Music Match.  --  Well, this is not medical, but my goodness was this a whopper of an announcement.  I recall watching the keynote and having someone ask:  " So you can only do the songs that you buy on iTunes?  Epic fail dude...."  Only to hear Mr. Jobs say those magical 3 words, "One More Thing!"  The announcement of being able to convert your entire library into 256 khz pieces was enticing.  And with a 25,000 song limit, this seems like a lifetime of music for conversion to the digital cloud.

And then I got to thinking.  Was this the music industry's way of capitalizing on all of the "uncaptured" revenue from sources such as Napster, Limewire etc?  A sort of Amnesty for downloaders?  Or an admission of "We don't care where you get your music from, as long as you use this locker to store it for $25 per year."

And then I heard about the way in which iTunes and iCloud would assess whether you had a song or not - by reading Metadata in the song.  This is obviously laden with future abuse!  Metadata could scream " Lady Gaga " while actually representing " Madonna " only to have iCloud download Lady Gaga.  Increasing the clever meta data hound with more "free" music.  It could be that all of this washes out with the $25 per year subscription plan.

The good?  You finally have all of your music in one place, without the need to use that wretched USB dongle to the PC.  It's a great idea.

3.  The Camera Software --  Wonderful and about time!   However, kudos could have been given to the real mavericks who championed using hardware buttons in the first place.  Somehow I thought that the hardware button issue was to prevent newer additions of hardware becoming incompatible with the software in question.  But what do I know?

4.  Still lacking or at least not mentioned.  CUSTOMIZED RING TONES FOR SMS.   Read my other posts for my opinions on this.  Steve !  I cannot get rid of my pager if I cannot have this feature.

5.  Read Later.  Somewhere in the world a man by the name of MARCO ARMENT is fuming vociferously as his creation becomes a part of an operating system, reducing his potential revenue significantly.  I would have much preferred Apple to have purchased Marco's company.  His idea was really original and super for cross platform use.  I can use Marco's product on my Kindle, Mac, PC or iPhone.  I was surprised to find it here.

While on the subject of "gentle annihilation," there appeared to be features taken from other apps throughout the session.  If you're a developer, you have to be scratching your head on some of this.  I know I was.

6.  Still lacking.  The codec issue.  Will Apple ever support Divx or other non Quicktime codecs?

7.  iPhone Notifications.   --- Wow, about time on this one.  The present notification system was great for 2007, but not now.  This one looks like a winner.  Non obtrusive and I like the idea of not having to open my phone to get things to view my messages.

8.  Missing ---  iPad Guest Login.  Handing off my iPad to someone to demo is a no go when I have my email available for all to peruse.

9.  Wireless Synch.   Thank You.   Enough Said.

10.  Calendar formation without the PC.  --  Hopefully this means that I can make contacts separable by whatever criteria I choose - ie. Work/Home/Family etc.   This is sorely lacking in iOS 1-4.  All of the folders and separation are done on the PC in another application outside of iTunes.  The integration issue is going to entice me to leave Google's email and calendar servers.  I have always wanted to sync my calendar with my wife's so that we can figure out vacations etc.  Without a Mobile Me account, this wasn't easily attainable.  In addition, we didn't really want to have every single detail of our lives given to Google.   Don't get me wrong, I like Google, but having commercials interrupt my email and directing ads to me during the reading of emails is just not my cup of tea (We had a death in the family a few years ago and while making funeral arrangements found ads for caskets - that was a bit too much for both of us).  Apple's new calendar set up is really nice.

11.  Reminders.   -- Interesting.  My wife has not been a fan of TODO due to its complexity.  The idea of this program going across all iOS devices is appealing.  For me, I still love TODO, so I will have to see how this one pans out.

12.  THE CLOUD.  Well what can you say about this?  It's nice and the implementation looks really good at this point.  Will they open the cloud to other documents though?  Will Microsoft files be allowed in the cloud?  How about documents that do not currently run on iWork?  Will the cloud be accessible by third party vendors?

Where I see this coming into play was represented by several things that happened a few weeks ago.  My wife and I were working on a document together.  When it came time to store the document, we had an issue.  We had to put the document on a Mac for further editing.  Emailing the document worked, but that really was not an optional thing to do.  Now, we will be able to have the document pushed to each device and we can work on it together.   I really like that.

One worry about the cloud is the idea of automatically downloading apps to unsuspecting people.  For example, will my kids automatically get songs that I download to my iPhone because they are on the same account as me?  Is there a way to separate ownership of devices other than the use of the Apple ID?   Without the software in front of me, I cannot tell.

Overall, I have to say that iOS 5 is going to be a great update to iOS .  On the PC side, OS X Lion is a bit iffy.  I am still in love with the independent software providers and I am seeing a push to centralize everything.  That may not be the best thing in the world.  One thought that I had with Lion is what do you do if your computer crashes?  Initially, one would put in the DVD which acted as a Rescue Disk.  What do you do now?   More on that later..... For now, I am looking forward to OS 5.


LDD.