caring

'60 Minutes': An inside look at H1N1 vaccine production

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the H1N1 virus is widespread in 48 states. Last weekend, the president declared a national emergency. A new vaccine is supposed to save the country from the worst-case scenario. But that vaccine isn't coming as fast as expected and there's lots of skepticism. Should you get it? Can you get it? Is it safe?

To find some answers, 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley went inside the federal government's $3 billion H1N1 vaccine project. This is the first time the public has seen where and how the vaccine … Read more

Oregon end-of-life forms go electronic

Officials at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) announced Tuesday that the state's Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) registry is going digital on or near December 1.

Until now, as a POLST program coordinator explained to me, someone with chronic or terminal illness has had the option to go to a doctor's office and fill out a POLST form in the presence of a doctor or nurse, and then keep the document at home where, ideally, emergency medical personnel could find it (such as the refrigerator). If the paper is lost, determining the wishes of the patient … Read more

AppleCare warning: Overheating battery in 1st generation iPod nanos

Apple has released a knowledge base article describing battery overheating issues in 1st generation iPod nanos, suggesting users contact AppleCare immediately if they experience the problem or have concerns about their iPod nano. Symptoms include overheating, discoloration, or deformity of the battery or case around the battery.… Read more

Microsoft and CVS expand pharmacy partnership

CVS Caremark announced Tuesday that it has broadened its pharmacy partnership with Microsoft to let customers download their prescription histories to their Microsoft HealthVault accounts.

Available since June 2008, the CVS offering has allowed customers to save and manage their pharmaceutical history online via Microsoft's HealthCare Web site. Now people can also add their prescription history by visiting CVS.com and logging into their HealthVault record.

Microsoft HealthVault is a free service that lets consumers store and maintain their health information in one single electronic spot. The site also provides health-related advice on losing weight, staying in shape, and … Read more

Employers grappling with social network use

Social networking is on the rise, both on and off the job, leaving companies uncertain how to monitor their use by employees, reports new survey.

More than 50 percent of companies questioned said they have no policy to address the use of social networking by employees outside the workplace, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics and the Health Care Compliance Association.

Typically, companies shy away from restricting an employee's actions off the job. But businesses are concerned about employees who use social networking and reveal private details or post inappropriate pictures … Read more

Optimize your system with more than 30 tools

Advanced System Optimizer 3 gives people a comprehensive suite of utilities fronted by an interface that showcases an excellent use of color-coded icons, making banal system tasks easy to complete--if not exciting. However, its restrictive trial could prevent some people from fully exploring the program.

The program attempts to be all things to all people, and includes tools that can be split into three categories: maintenance, security, and backup. Advanced System Optimizer focuses on the maintenance side of things, and includes a Registry optimizer and cleaner, a disk defragmenter, a disk repair utility that claims to fix errors before drive … Read more

Microsoft to release free security software soon

Microsoft plans to release the final version of its free antivirus software soon, according to a note sent to testers late Sunday.

"The final version of Microsoft Security Essentials will be released to the public in the coming weeks," Microsoft said in the note.

Microsoft first announced its plans for the product, then code-named Morro, last November, at the same time the company said it was scrapping its paid Windows Live OneCare product.

Public beta testing of Security Essentials started in June, with Microsoft reaching its goal of 75,000 testers just one day after it issued a call … Read more

Hydraulic hand promises Hulk handshakes

Injured soldiers and people with disabilities might one day benefit from a hydraulic hand that doubles finger strength. Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory say a "mesofluidic" hand could be used to remotely disarm explosives and manipulate IEDs.

Mesofluidics is the study of applying pea-size hydraulics to applications requiring significant power in a limited space.

So far, the team at the Tennessee laboratory has developed an artificial finger made up of 25 moving parts. It can deliver 20 pounds of pinch force, about double that of a human finger, while remaining lightweight and … Read more

Dell service to help hospitals with digital records

One key component of U.S. health care reform is the move toward digital medical records. Dell is hoping to play a role in that move.

Dell announced Thursday a new service to help doctors and hospitals more easily switch to electronic medical records (EMR).

Already in use by certain hospitals, the new EMR service--a combination of hardware, software, and support--is designed to make the transition from paper to digital records more affordable and practical for the average physician or medical staff.

Dell said its EMR system will also connect doctors and their sponsoring hospitals so they can share patient … Read more