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First Organ Delivery By Drone

Posted on by Andy Miller

A human kidney for transplant has been delivered by drone to a Medical Centre in Baltimore in the first flight of its kind.

Cutting Edge Technology

The drone transportation of the living organ over a one-mile journey used cutting-edge technology in the form of an AI-powered drone that had been specifically designed to maintain and monitor the organ during the journey.  As well as having a specially designed compartment to keep the organ in the right condition for transplant, the drone had onboard communications and safety systems to enable a safe flight over densely-populated/urban areas, and a parachute recovery system in case the drone failed.

Collaboration

The drone’s creation was the product of a collaboration between the aviation and engineering experts at the University of Maryland (UMD), transplant specialists and researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), and others at the Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland.  Joseph Scalea, assistant professor of surgery at University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) who was one of the surgeons who carried out the transplant has also acknowledged the collaborative efforts of the surgeons, engineers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the organ procurement specialists, the drone pilots, nurses at the hospital, and the patient.

Solves Problems

The ability to deliver transplant organs by drone solves the problems caused primarily by traffic problems identified by the United Network for Organ Sharing, which reported that in 2018 there were nearly 114,000 people on waiting lists, with 1.5% of organs not making it to the destination and nearly 4% being delayed by two hours or more.

Medical Sample Delivery Too

There has also been a recent report in North Carolina of a hospital, in partnership with UPS, using a drone delivery program to speed up the delivery of critical medical samples across a hospital campus, thereby cutting 41 minutes off the usual on-foot journey.

Potential

The fact that the organ drone flight and the transplant operation were safe and successful has led to the recognition of the potential of this method e.g. unmanned transportation of organs over greater distances, minimising the need for multiple pilots and flight time and addressing safety issues.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This world-first in organ transportation is an important first step in what could be (if proven to be safe and reliable over multiple flights) an important new technological improvement to the provision of life-saving medicine.

Business owners may also be thinking that if this can be done successfully with something as important and delicate as a human organ for transplant, this system could potentially be scaled up and used to ensure the fast, safe delivery of other items. Amazon, for example, has been testing delivery drones for parcels since 2013 with a view to making its ‘Prime Air’ service a regular reality in the future.

As shown by UPS’s involvement with medical sample delivery, other major delivery companies are also investing in drones and their potential to combat the challenges posed by traffic congestion and labour-intensive and time-consuming on-foot journeys.

Also, the US Federal Aviation Administration has just authorised Alphabet’s (Google’s) Wing Aviation to start delivering goods via drones later this year.  This is the first time that the FAA has granted an “air-carrier” the certification for drone delivery of items such as food, medicine, and other small consumer products.

Drone transportation is clearly moving forward and starting to prove that it offers great potential in many different sectors in the not-too-distant future.

Tech Tip – The JigSpace App

Posted on by Andy Miller

If you’d like to have the ability to instantly see a step-by-step interactive 3D breakdown of a complex idea, product, or phenomenon, so that you can understand exactly how it works, and be able to explain it (e.g. for a work or education project) then the JigSpace app could be for you.

The JigSpace app for iPhone and iPad is a platform to explore and share interactive, 3D ‘knowledge for anything’. When you ask, “How does that work?” the answer is right in front of you in … interactive 3D. The basic JigSpace app is available for free from Apple iTunes.

Tech Tip – Spark E-Mail App

Posted on by Andy Miller

If you’re looking for a well-organised email app for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android with a clever interface, flexible customisation options, and tools for discussing and collaborating on emails with your team ‘Spark’ may be the app for you.

The Spark email app offers a very tidy email inbox that puts the most important emails first and saves the junk, newsletters, and less important tasks for later.

The app also features a good email search engine, offers the scheduling and snoozing of emails, smart notifications, integrations with other services, and a host of other features.

To find out more visit the Spark website https://sparkmailapp.com/ , or go to iTunes or Google’s Play Store.

Tech Tip – Free, Online AI Business School

Posted on by Andy Miller

If you’d like to get an understanding of what AI is and its implications for business strategy, corporate culture and business ethics, Microsoft, in partnership with global business school INSEAD has established a free, online business school.

The AI course offers a series of 10-minute lecture videos as well as academic lectures, case studies, executive perspective videos and technology talks, which combined provide a grounding in AI and its possible applications in your business.

The online school doesn’t require registration, and the course material can be accessed on demand via mobile devices or the desktop.

Access Microsoft’s AI Business School resources here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/business

Samsung’s Folding Phone Faults Delay Release Date

Posted on by Andy Miller

The release date of Samsung’s new dual-screen Galaxy Fold mobile handset has been delayed after reviewers reported having removed the top layer of the display causing damage to the screen, problems with hinge areas, and debris getting trapped under the screen.

The Galaxy Fold

Announced as the Galaxy X last summer, the Galaxy Fold handset has two inside panels and one outside panel with the two inside panels folding out to form the 7.3-inch OLED screen, thereby giving the user a much larger screen area.  The fact that the flexible screen folds in on itself when closed also adds protection for the touchscreen when the phone is not in use.

Reviewers

A number of reviewers, including many journalists, were given Galaxy Fold handsets for trial use.  It appears that faults were discovered and were perhaps even caused by many of the reviewers who peeled off what they believed was just a protective layer (despite being warned against doing in the handset’s documentation) that was, apparently, an important part of the screen display’s protection.

Several Faults

Several faults were identified by reviewers and confirmed in a statement from Samsung, including:

  • Issues on the display associated with impact on the top and bottom exposed areas of the hinge.
  • Substances being found inside the device affecting the display performance.

It has also been reported that some reviewers saw creases on the fold and other display glitches which the folding robot really should have found.

Production Problems – Is The Technology Ready Yet?

Part of the delay in the production of a commercial version of Galaxy’s folding phone from the first sighting of its prototype 7 years ago is thought to be down to production problems in the complexity of developing durable but flexible plastic screens.

Also, the fact that competitors LG and Sony have many patents on foldable mobile displays but have not produced a foldable phone yet has led some commentators to suggest that the technology may simply not be fully ready for use in the current generation of phone handsets.

In Samsung’s own statement about the reported faults the company said that “how the device needs further improvements”.

Huawei

Another major phone market player (Huawei) also has a foldable phone in the development pipeline.  Huawei’s ‘Mate X’ version folds outwards, which some have speculated may leave the most vulnerable part of the device exposed all the time. The fact that Huawei has not yet gone to market with its foldable offering may also be a sign that it too is wrestling with similar screen problems i.e. screen creasing.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

In the phone market, there has been a degree of stagnation as customers delay upgrades while waiting for more innovative models and new features.  A folding phone offers value in terms of its versatility as a kind of “2-in-1” tablet and phone, as well as the novelty value and kudos of having a device with the very latest folding screen.  As expected, however, the Samsung Folding (when is eventually launched), and competitor folding phone models will have a premium price tag (thought to be around £1,500), and although this would decrease as volumes increase, many businesses may decide to wait a bit longer before they buy one.

The fact that Samsung has called-off the launch and not given a future launch date for the Samsung Folding may indeed indicate that the technology is not quite ready, and that simply introducing a model with design faults just to be first to get a folding phone out there is not something they’re prepared to risk.

School Enlists Chinese Help To Upgrade To Enhanced Wi-Fi

Posted on by Andy Miller

The Lytchett Minster School in Dorset recently made the news among IT commentators after demonstrating how it could overcome the connectivity challenges of its rural location, cut costs and increase efficiency by upgrading its on-site network with Chinese company TP-Link’s enhanced Wi-Fi.

Challenges

As recently featured by Computer Weekly, the school had to contend with a rural campus location and the resulting poor connectivity, next to a grade II listed 18th century manor house, and a rudimentary system of ageing individual home-user access points (APs) mounted in school corridors which required users to disconnect and reconnect when roaming around.   Also, the old wireless network was not voucher-based and was insecure (the pre-shared key could be compromised), which meant that staff had to reset each AP’s password individually (with remote authentication dial-in user service help) and users had to keep reconnecting each of their devices to the network.

As is the case with so many schools, Lytchett Minster School had to make its limited budget go as far as possible in the upgrade.  This meant the need to minimise price per AP and annual licensing fees while getting the best value, efficient and effective wireless infrastructure solution.

Requirements

It was decided that the most important requirements on the school’s list were power over Ethernet (PoE), Radius authentication, centralised management, provision of multiple service set identifiers (SSIDs) and voucher authentication.

TP-Link Chosen

The school chose Chinese company TP-Link to upgrade their on-site network based on features offered, value for money, and the fact that TP-Link builds its hardware itself instead of outsourcing and, therefore, doesn’t charge licensing fees.

Founded in 1996 by two brothers and based in Shenzhen, China, TP-Link is a manufacturer of computer networking products and is now the world’s number 1 provider of consumer Wi-Fi networking devices, shipping products to over 170 countries.

Change

Changing to the upgraded, enhanced Wi-Fi meant that the old APs could be moved from corridors into classrooms for optimum performance and coverage. The changes to a better enhanced Wi-Fi network also meant that access control lists could issue users with vouchers that restricted network access at the subnet according to core user group, out of hours separate public access SSID could be offered to users of the school’s sports facilities, larger numbers of staff iPads and phones could be used for teaching, and special provisions could be made for the BYOD policy for  sixth form students.

The new system also enabled easier, centralised management of the network with data from each AP being displayed to the IT department on large screens, with no more need to perform network reboots (as these can happen automatically at 6 am every day to avoid disrupting lessons), and the ability to carry out all key tasks from a central interface.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

This story is an example of how the potential of an organisation (a school in this case) was limited by poor Wi-Fi provision, partly due to its rural location and old, inadequate hardware. The school showed that today, it is possible for a school based in Dorset to choose a Chinese tech firm as a partner to deliver a business-class wireless network solution that meets all operational requirements within budget, and without the extra cost of ongoing licence fees. An enhanced Wi-Fi system of this kind also offers the convenience, transparency and ease of centralised control.

Tech Tip – Free Graphic Design App For Android

Posted on by Andy Miller

Design social media posts, ads, presentations, cards, flyers and more with ‘Desygner’, a free, popular graphic design app for phone or tablet.  The app has an intuitive interface and thousands of templates to choose from. Although the basic offering is free, you can switch up to a £5.99 monthly subscription if you plan to use the app regularly.

To install the app, look for ‘Desygner’ in Google Play.

Tech Tip – Integrated Audio Recording and Note-Taking App

Posted on by Andy Miller

The ‘Noted’ app is a fully-integrated audio recording and note-taking app that can help you to keep track of meetings, interviews, lectures and more.  The app records audio, while also allowing you to type out notes which have rich text and image support.  These notes are automatically time-stamped with easily searchable “time tags”, and the recordings + accompanying notes can be synced through iCloud, organized into notebooks, and quickly searched through.

The basic Noted app free tier has core functionality and allows you to save five recordings. Premium plans e.g. Noted+ allow for more recordings + offer other features such as removing unwanted background noise and enhancing recordings for clearer playback and exporting notes to PDF.

The Noted app is available for Mac, iPhone/iPad, and now the Apple watch so you can capture spontaneous conversations.

To get Noted, go to the Mac Apple Store (itunes.apple.com) and download the basic version for free.  In-app upgrades can be purchased if you require more recordings and functionality. More details about an Android offering coming soon.

Tech Tip – Discover How Your Phone Is Tracking Your Movements

Posted on by Andy Miller

If you’d like to see what data your phone has been collecting about your movements here’s how:

For iPhone:

You can see what Apple refers to as your ‘Significant Locations’ by going to:

Settings > Privacy > Location Services >

Scroll down and select System Services > Significant Locations.

You will need to prove it’s you before being given this info e.g. by fingerprint scan, Face ID or typing in your passcode.

For Android:

You can see what is referred to as ‘Your Timeline’ by:

Opening the Google Maps app.

Clicking on the menu (3 horizontal bars, top left)

Selecting ‘Your Timeline’.

At this point, you may get an on-screen permissions message about turning tracking on or off.

Tech Tip – Check Your Screen Time on Apple Devices

Posted on by Andy Miller

If you’d like to be able to get a report about how you or your family members use your Apple devices, apps, and websites, how much time is spent on them, and (for example) set limits on your child’s device, there’s an app in the new iOS 12 to help you do it.  Here’s how :

– Turn on the ‘Screen Time’ app: on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, go to Settings > Screen Time.

– Select ‘Turn On Screen Time’.

– Select ‘Continue’.

– Select This is My [device] or This is My Child’s [device].

You can now get reports. To set limits, you can configure your child’s device from your own device using ‘Family Sharing’:

– Go to Settings > Screen Time (if you’re already in a Family Group).

– Tap your child’s name.

– If you need to create a new Apple ID for your child, go to Settings > [your name] > Family Sharing > Screen Time.

– If you’re new to Family Sharing, ‘Set up Screen Time for Family’.

– Follow the instructions to add a child and set up your family.

– Add any other family members from the Family Sharing settings at any time.