Author: kenmay

Physician Operates On Server, Costs His Hospital $4.8 Million

Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes “Jaikumar Vijayan reports at Computerworld that a physician at Columbia University Medical Center (CU) attempted to “deactivate” a personally owned computer from a hospital network segment that contained sensitive patient health information, creating an inadvertent data leak that is going to cost the hospital $4.8 million to settle with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The error left patient status, vital signs, laboratory results, medication information, and other sensitive data on about 6, 800 individuals accessible to all via the Web. The breach was discovered after the hospital received a complaint from an individual who discovered personal health information about his deceased partner on the Web. An investigation by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that neither Columbia University nor New York Presbyterian Hospital, who operated the network jointly, had implemented adequate security protections, or undertook a risk analysis or audit to identify the location of sensitive patient health information on the joint network. “For more than three years, we have been cooperating with HHS by voluntarily providing information about the incident in question, ” say the hospitals. “We also have continually strengthened our safeguards to enhance our information systems and processes, and will continue to do so under the terms of the agreement with HHS.” HHS has also extracted settlements from several other healthcare entities over the past two years as it beefs up the effort to crack down on HIPAA violations. In April, it reached a $2 million settlement with with Concentra Health Services and QCA Health Plan. Both organizations reported losing laptops containing unencrypted patient data.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Physician Operates On Server, Costs His Hospital $4.8 Million

Luke Prosthetic Arm Approved By FDA

necro81 writes: “The FDA today approved the Luke prosthetic arm for sale. The Luke Arm, created by Dean Kamen’s DEKA R&D Corp., was a project initiated by DARPA to develop a prosthetic arm for wounded warriors more advanced than those previously available. The Arm can be configured for below-the-elbow, above-the-elbow, and shoulder-level amputees. The full arm has 10 powered degrees of freedom and has the look and weight of the arm it replaces. Through trials by DEKA and the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, the Arm has been used by dozens of amputees for a total of many thousands of hours. Commercialization is still pending.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Luke Prosthetic Arm Approved By FDA

Solar Roadways wants $1 million to turn the US’ roads into an energy farm

At some point, you’ve probably sat back and said “Couldn’t we solve climate change and the broader energy crisis just by sticking solar panels to everything?” It’s not a bad idea, mind, but the cost and resistance to such a scheme would make it a nightmare to implement. But what about if we turned the nation’s highways into solar farms that we could drive along? Scott and Julie Brusaw have been working on that idea, and after a decade of partially-successful flirting with the US Government , they’re taking to Indiegogo to ask us to fund the next phase of their solar roadway. Each interlocking hexagonal segment is covered with toughened and textured glass that’s capable of withstanding 250, 000 pounds. Beneath that, you’ve got a solar panel, a series of LED lights and a heating element that’ll keep the ice and snow off the hardware in winter. The lights are used to replace conventional traffic lights, offering constantly updating safety warnings and guide lines that can adapt to traffic conditions on the fly. The system would require a trench running down one side, which would hold the power cables, but could also be used as the backbone for a potential new high-speed data network. As each panel would also be connected, it’d instantly report a fault back to a maintenance engineer, and also track its location, should someone decide to steal one for their own nefarious uses. Naturally, a nationwide, decentralized power grid could potentially guarantee energy independence and provide near-limitless power for our EVs and homes . That’s why the couple is asking for a whopping $1 million required to hire the materials scientists, civil and structural engineers necessary to turn the panels from neat idea to workable project. There are plenty of pitfalls, and we’re wondering if heating the ground to keep the roadway clear wouldn’t in itself cause more climate change, but hopefully that’s another issue that your cash could fix. Filed under: Transportation , Science Comments Via: Fast Company Source: Indiegogo

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Solar Roadways wants $1 million to turn the US’ roads into an energy farm

Firefox OS 1.3 Arrives: Dual SIM Support, Continuous Autofocus, Graphics Boost

An anonymous reader writes “Mozilla today released Firefox OS version 1.3 to its partners for implementing in their smartphones. There are many new features for both users and developers, and the first phone to feature them is the ZTE Open C, which is available for sale as of today on eBay. First and foremost, Firefox OS users can expect dual-SIM dual-standby (DSDS) support, which gives you two lines on compatible phones, a popular feature in emerging markets. DSDS lets dual-SIM devices individually manage two different SIMs for calling, texting, or data through the ‘SIM Manager’ interface.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Firefox OS 1.3 Arrives: Dual SIM Support, Continuous Autofocus, Graphics Boost

Bitly Accounts Hacked, Change Your Passwords And Disconnect Accounts

URL shortening service Bitly announced a security breach regarding account credentials today. Here’s what you need to know. Read more…

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Bitly Accounts Hacked, Change Your Passwords And Disconnect Accounts

The Audacia Lays 100 Feet of Pipe On the Ocean Floor Every Minute

Undersea energy pipelines constitute a vital physical link between deep water wells and onshore refineries, but it’s not like we can just lay these lines like oversized bendy straws. That task of constructing and sinking these tubes instead falls to vessels like Allseas’ newest addition to its pipelaying fleet, the Audacia. Read more…

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The Audacia Lays 100 Feet of Pipe On the Ocean Floor Every Minute

The Cave Church of Garbage City

Large Christian communities are not abundant in Muslim-dominated Egypt, but one of the more populace groups are the garbage scavenging Zabbaleen who have retained their Coptic beliefs and established the largest Christian church in the Middle East at the Monastery of Saint Simon. Read more…

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The Cave Church of Garbage City

3D printing might save lives

Sure, 3D printers can make guns , but it can also be used for good: for instance, its capability to create whatever you want gives it a bright future in humanitarian efforts around the globe. Oxfam (an organization that seeks to eradicate poverty) agrees, that’s why it has partnered with online 3D printables platform MyMiniFactory for a mission in Lebanon. Their first collaboration? To find a printable water-efficient hand wash system for Syrian refugees who fled to the country in order to lower instances of diarrhea and other diseases. Here’s how the partnership works: MyMiniFactory will accept design submissions from anyone, and then select a few to email the Oxfam team. The org will then print and test these designs onsite, and then email MyMiniFactory on how to tweak them and make them better. Sadly, not every org out there comes with a 3D printer in tow, but a lot of humanitarians recognize the technology’s benefits and hope to take advantage of it soon. With the advent of more affordable 3D printers , that’s looking more and more possible. So, we wouldn’t be surprised if organizations start lugging around printers instead of actual equipment to produce everything from housing to medical supplies in the future. Filed under: Misc Comments Source: MyMiniFactory , Oxfam

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3D printing might save lives