Museums take baby steps with iPhone Apps

Edward Rothstein, art critic for the New York Times, gave his take on the museum iPhone apps that are popping up all over New York.  I think he is right on target when he points to GPS as the key to make the retrieval of information about objects in a particular collection much more seamless for the visitor.

Imagine standing in front of an object with an app that, sensing your location, is already displaying precisely the right information. It might offer historical background or direct you through links to other works that have some connection to the object. It might provide links to critical commentary. It might become, for each object, an exhibition in itself, ripe with alternate narratives and elaborate associations. And, best of all, you could save it for later, glance up from the screen and look carefully at what faces you, all scrims removed, all distractions discarded.- Edward Rothstein, From Picassos to Sarcophagi, Guided by iPhone Apps

I must admit, though, that I was surprised he pointed out that the app information may not even be equal to the information on the item's printed ID card.  Why aren't museum inventory databases connected to such information retrieval systems so a visitor can view at least all of the information on the ID card if nothing else?

I was also surprised that he complained that many objects' search tags are so obtuse.

Monet’s “Church at Vernon,” (from the Brooklyn Museum of Art) we learn, is tagged “blue,” “dreamy,” “hazy,”  Rothstein observes, puzzled.

At first I thought he meant that only those tags were entered.  However, by looking at the link Rothstein provided to the Brooklyn Museum's actual object record for this painting, we see there are 28 tags for this work of art and the museum invites visitors to add more tags.  Tags like "dreamy" actually serve to record a visitor's emotional response to the painting and although such a tag is subjective I agree with the museum's inclusion of it since art is suppose to evoke an emotional response from the viewer.  I had never thought about tagging art with emotional terms before but I like it!

For those of us who are trying to assist educators and students by providing photographs that we have taken of museum art objects and artifacts, how about an application that we can use to sync the Geocoordinates recorded as XIF data in the images from our cameras with the museum's inventory records so we can be  certain we are labeling images correctly.  Now I have to remember to photograph the image's ID card and, if the information is provided in a list of object descriptions, align the information in such a way that I can distinguish it from entries above and below it.  Similar objects are often displayed together so its not always obvious which description goes with which object unless you take an image that includes the item's number.  I take a lot of detail closeups that do not include the item number so I may not have a number for reference when I am working on my images in post production.

In fact, a perfect application based on the Flickr API using the Flickr Uploader interface would match the image coordinates with the inventory records then use the Title, artist, date, location made, and medium for the Title field, populate the tag field with the museum's tags formatted as needed for Flickr then populate the description field with a "Photographed by (photographer name) at (linked Museum name)", like I do now manually. 

I like the way the Brooklyn Museum displays related works by tag groups in their records.  Ideally, I think it would be even more helpful if the related object images were linked to a gallery map indicating each related object's location so a visitor that was interested in comparison could easily find them.

In fact, a visitor tracking system based on GPS could alert visitors to small exhibits in adjoining alcoves that might have been missed if the visitor begins to leave a main gallery space without a travel path into the adjoining alcove.  I usually try to be quite thorough when I am photographing museum collections but on my second visit to the Getty Villa, I noticed a display of ancient coins and jewelry in a small alcove off of one of their main galleries that I just hadn't seen on my first visit.  I'm very fortunate that I travel to the LA area on business at least once a year so I've been able to visit the Getty three times.  However, when I'm overseas, I may be in a museum only once - perhaps in my entire lifetime - so I don't want to miss little treasures tucked away in obscure areas of the museum. 

Museums could also analyze these travel path records to determine if objects could be displayed differently to avoid visitor oversight.

        

Star Trek vs. Star Wars Fake Movie Trailer Points The Way to Online Remix Service

This morning I received a link to a fake movie trailer where the Starship Enterprise and her crew (circa Star Trek: The Next Generation) race to save planet earth from Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader and their evil minions.



The YouTube producer 2SunsNoWomen did an excellent job of integrating scenes from:

Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek First Contact
Star Trek Generations
Star Trek Nemesis
Star Wars A New Hope
Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Revenge of the Sith

Yes, I was an original Trekker and seeing scenes from Star Trek is like savoring a mouthful of my favorite dessert.  Star Trek must still be the favorite dessert for a lot of other people as I see the video has almost 40,000 views in less than a week!

My dream would be to easily have the ability to create a similar mashup of movie clips and share online with an online movie subscription and an enhanced remote control.  I have read that some Blue Ray DVDs include a mashup feature but I'm told its pretty primitive compared to a clip like this one .  I can only speculate as, alas, my husband says I can't get HD until our big screen bites the dust (which could be quite a while since we just replaced the convergence component last year).  I must admit even I want to wait until the dust settles around 3D integration but my resolve weakens everytime I walk into Best Buy or the entertainment department of Sears.

Of course there is also the problem of accessing clips from films produced by different studios.  I noticed after working in higher ed for over 20 years that a lot of people used to talk about the synergy that could be achieved with interdisciplinary courses but very few professors actually tried developing them.  Perhaps when we finally get enough critical mass of streaming customers to motivate the studios to move all movies to online delivery maybe they'll introduce a movie remix service that will let us add multiple movies to a project space much like Microsoft MovieMaker does, mark start and stop points on a movie to isolate desired scenes, edit, then save to Youtube and share via email, Twitter and Facebook.

I'd love to take a crack at a remix of Oliver Stone's "Alexander".  The introduction of the theatrical release was so slow and drawn out that even I was tapping my foot impatiently on the theater floor waiting for something to happen!  I purchased the director's cut when it was released on DVD and it was an improvement but still too low key for a tale about such a dynamic conqueror.  I think I would have started with the scenes of young Alexander (Connor Paolo) and King Philip II (Val Kilmer) in the dank cave below their palace in Pella looking at paintings of legendary heroes on the cave walls.



I would intersperse live battle scenes at points where the camera shows a closeup of  drawings of the eagle pecking out Prometheus' liver, the helmeted warrior with an arrow protruding from his eye and Herakles thrusting up the body of one of his children, then cut away to Alexander looking over the aftermath of the battle of Gaugamela followed by the camera pulling back and up to encompass the whole battlefield.  Then I would proceed from that point on. 

Sorry Sir Anthony Hopkins, you're a heck of an actor but listening to an old character ramble on for twenty minutes is not the way to open an historical epic IMHO.

Filemaker Workshop: Linking Tables with Many to Many Relationships

This post is another in a series of posts that represent classroom exercises that I used to conduct as a Filemaker Pro instructor. These exercises are designed for new Filemaker Pro users  or those unfamiliar with structuring a database with related tables.  This lesson can be used with the sample file Students.fp7 . It can be downloaded by right clicking on the link and selecting "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" depending on which browser you are using.  My instructions and screenshots are based on the Windows Version (8.5) of Filemaker Pro.  Mac users can generally follow the same instructions with only a few minor menu differences.

In this exercise the student will:

Create a new table
Create new fields
Create new relationships
Create new layouts
Create a portal
Create a value list that uses two fields, one for input and one for display
Format Field with a dropdown list

Let's begin!


Overview:

When you related the "Schools" and "Students" tables in exercise #1, you established a one-to-many relationship between those two tables.

In more complex databases, a many-to-many relationship may exist. For example, each student can potentially enroll in many seminars and each seminar can potentially have many students enrolled in it.

Whenever you have a many-to-many relationship between two tables, you cannot link those tables together directly. You will need to create an intermediate table between the two to act as a "bridge". This "bridge" table needs to include only the information necessary to record a single event. For example, if a student registers for a seminar, we only need to record the ID of the student and the ID of the seminar that the student has requested.  We may also wish to record additional information about the student's participation in the Seminar like Show or No Show, Grade or Assessment Notes.  But we do not need to include any more information about the student themselves other than their ID.  If we wish to view their enrollment records directly, we can simply add related fields from the Student table to view their full name, their address, their phone, etc.

Likewise, we do not need to include any more information about the seminar they attended other than the Seminar ID.  If we wish to view the instructor name, the course title, or any other details about the course, we simply add related fields from the Seminar table to our layout based on the Registrations table.

Creating an Intermediate "Bridge" Table:

1. Open the Students.fp7 sample file.  Choose File ->New->Database and click on the Tables tab.

2. Type "Registrations" in the "Table Name" field and click "Create".

3. Now select the Fields tab and enter Student# in the Field Name box, select Number for the field type and click Create.

Repeat this process and create another number field named Seminar Number.

4. We will now need to define the relationships between the Student and Registrations tables and the Seminars and Registrations tables. ( I have already created the table Seminars and populated it with sample data for you.)

5. Choose the Relationships tab.

6. Click on the "Student #" field in the Registrations table and drag the field over on top of the Student Number field in the Students table.  Note: Related field names do not have to be identical.

Now double click on the relationship line between the tables.

Check  "Allow creation of records in this table via this relationship" and "Delete related records in this table via this relationship" under the Registrations table in the dialog box and click OK.

This will enable us to create a layout based on the Student table and embed a portal based on the Registrations table that we can use to enroll students in a new seminar or view the seminars they have already taken.

7. Now select the field "Seminar Number" in the Registrations table and drag it over on top of Seminar Number in the Seminars table.

Now double click on the relationship line between the tables and check "Allow creation of records in this table via this relationship" and "Delete related records in this table via this relationship" under the Registrations table in the dialog box and click OK. 

 

This will enable us to create a layout based on the Seminars table and embed a portal based on the Registrations table that we can use to enroll multiple students in a new seminar.

Note: Pay close attention to which table is directly above the checkboxes you are selecting.  We want to be able to create new records in the Registrations table from a layout based on the Seminar table - not the other way around!

Now click OK to close the Define Database dialog box.

Let's create a basic layout to view records in the new Registrations table.  Select View->Layout Mode then Layout->New Layout.  Select the table Registrations and name the layout Registrations and select the Standard Form as the layout type and click Next.

Now click the Move All button then click Next.  Select an appealing template then click Finish. Select View->Browse and you'll see we don't yet have any records.

Now we'll create a layout to use to enroll students in seminars using an instructor's viewpoint of the Seminars table.


8.  Select View->Layout Mode then Layout->New Layout.  In the New Layout dialog box select the Seminars table to "Show Records From", name the layout Seminar Enrollment then select the Standard Form layout type and click Next.

On the next screen click the Move All Button to select and move the Seminar #, Seminar Title and Instructor fields in the layout field list and click Next.  Select an appealing design template then click Finish.

9.  Now click on the portal icon in the design palette on the left hand side of your layout screen.

Your cursor will change into a crosshair.  Hold your mouse button down and draw a rectangle about 4" wide.  In the Portal Setup dialog box select the table Registrations.  Check the "Allow Deletion of Portal Records" checkbox and the "Show Vertical Scroll Bar" checkbox and set the number of rows to display to 5 then click OK.

In the "Add Fields to Portal" dialog box, double click the field Student# from the Registrations table

then select the table Students from the drop down list

and double click Last Name and First Name.  Then click OK.

Now we'll set up a value list to be used to format the Student# field in our portal so whoever is enrolling the student can choose from a list of names and doesn't need to know the student's ID number.

First, though, let's create a calculated field that combines the student's Last Name with their  First Name.

10.  Select File->Define->Database and choose the fields tab.  Select the Student table then name the field LastNameFirstName and select Calculation from the Field Type dropdown list. Then click the Create button.

In the "Specify Calculation" dialog box, double click the field "Last Name" then click the ampersand operator - & - and in the calculation text area enter ", " - quotation comma space quotation - then click the ampersand operator - & - again.  Now double click the field "First Name".  Select "Text" as the type of calculation result then click OK then OK again to close the Define Database dialog box.

Note: The ampersand operator is used to create a concatenation - the adding together of strings of text.  The result of the concatenation above, if the student's name was John Smith, would be Smith, John.  We had to insert the ", " so the two names would not run together like SmithJohn.  When building a concatenation, you must enclose nonfield text within quotes so Filemaker knows you are referring to text and not a field name.

11.  Now let's define our new value list.  Select File->Define->Value Lists and click the New button.  Name the Value List Students and click the "Use Values From Field" radio button.

Select the table Students from the dropdown list and single click on the field Student Number.  Now click the "Also display values from second field" checkbox and click the field LastNameFirstName.  Now click the value "Show values only from second field" and click OK

Note: The "Show values only from second field" lets us display only the Student's Last Name and First Name without displaying the Student Number although when this value list is used to format a field, it will actually input the Student Number into the field when the student's name is selected.

Then click OK and OK to close all dialog boxes.

The reason we selected the Student Number as our first field is that we are going to use this value list to populate the field Student Number in the Registrations portal on our new enrollment layout.  However, by displaying the Student's LastNameFirstName field beside it in the drop down list, our enrollment personnel don't need to look up a student's ID number, just ask their name.

Now we're ready to format the Student# field in the first row of our portal.

12.  Now click on the Student # field in the portal on our layout.  Select Format->Field Control->Setup.  Select Drop Down List as the display type, select Students as the value list you wish to use click the include arrow to show and hide list box and check the Create label checkbox.  Then click OK.

Note:  You will notice that there is a choice called "Pop Up Menu".  This format option looks very similar to a drop down list but only the option Drop Down List provides the ability to "type ahead" to find your choice.  This is very valuable when you are dealing with a very long list.  If you click on a field formatted as a drop down list you can begin typing your choice - in our case the student's last name - and the list will jump down the list based on what letters you are typing.

Click the text label and drag it above the Student# field.  To label any other fields in the portal just double click the field and check the Create label checkbox and click OK.  Then drag them above their respective fields.  Now select View->Browse Mode.  Click in the first field of the first portal row and you will see a list of students.  Click on a name and you will see their Last Name and their First Name show up in the portal without any further data entry.

13.   Now select the layout we designed call "Registrations".  You will see a record in the Registrations table - the "bridge" table - with the Seminar # and the Student# entered.  By creating a layout based on Seminars table and placing a portal based on the relationship to Registrations on the layout, Filemaker automatically knows to enter the appropriate seminar number in the Registrations table when we enroll a student.

If we wish to prepare reports to display all students who have enrolled in particular Seminars, we would base the report on the Registrations table ("bridge" table).  But that's another lesson!

Filemaker Workshop: Defining A Relationship and Converting a Multiple File database to a Single File database

This post is one in a series of posts that represent classroom exercises that I used to conduct as a Filemaker Pro instructor. These exercises are designed for new Filemaker Pro users  or those unfamiliar with structuring a database with related tables.  This lesson can be used with the sample file Students.fp7 and Schools.fp7.. It can be downloaded by right clicking on the link and selecting "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" depending on which browser you are using.  My instructions and screenshots are based on the Windows Version (8.5) of Filemaker Pro.  Mac users can generally follow the same instructions with only a few minor menu differences.

In this lesson the student will:

Create a new table
Create new fields
Create a relationship
Import records
Create a value list
Recreate a layout


So let's begin!

Open the sample files Students.fp7 and Schools.fp7.

Overview:

If we look at the Students file you will notice there is one record per student.  Each student has an identification number that is unique to that student stored in the Student Number field.  We also have other fields to record the student's address, city, state, zip, phone, music instrument and music style.  All of these fields contain information unique to that specific student.  Each student record also has a field for School Number that indicates the school they attend.  If this file did not have a related file to provide all the information we need about the school the student attends, each student record would have to have a field for School address, School administrator, etc.  However, all of that information is stored in the file Schools.fp7 which has one record for each school including a field named School# to identify that specific school.

By relating these two files on the fields "School Number" and "School#", called the "match" field or the "key" field, we can add fields from the Schools file to any layouts in the Student file.  Then as we create a new student record, we simply input the number for the school the student attends and all related information about the school will display on the Student's layout without inputting any duplicate data.

In versions of Filemaker Pro before 7.0, each database table was created as an individual file like our two sample files. But, Filemaker 7 and newer provides the opportunity to create separate tables to store different collections of data within a single file.

Placing multiple tables within a single file allows all the tables to share common resources such as value lists and scripts.  There's also no need to duplicate security settings in each of the many files of a large solution. A FileMaker Pro 7 or newer file lets you set those privileges once, and they apply across an entire large, complex solution with numerous tables.

For example, using the old method, if we related the separate files Student and Schools on the key field School # then wanted to create a menu layout in the Schools file to produce a report listing all students attending a particular school, we would first have to design a report and write a script in the Student file to subsummarize all student records for each school. Then we would have to write a script in the Schools file that called that external script in the Students file.

However, if we use a new version of Filemaker (7 or newer), we could create a single file (Students.fp7) then within the file Students we would create a second table (Schools).  If we write a script to produce a subsummarized list of students per school that single script could be called from a menu layout that could be accessed from anywhere within the file.

So how do we convert a collection of Filemaker Pro files from an earlier version of Filemaker Pro to the new single file format?  Let's step through the process with our sample files.

Note: If your Filemaker Pro files are still in an earlier format, you will need to begin by opening each file with the new version of Filemaker Pro and saving each file in the new format.  I have already done that for you with the sample files.

Creating a Relationship in Filemaker Pro and importing data from a converted Filemaker Pro 6 (or earlier) file.

This procedure changed between Filemaker Pro 7 and later versions of Filemaker Pro.  I will explain each method separately.  Filemaker Pro 7 required users to manually create a new internal table (New users of later versions should review this procedure just to become familiar with how to create a new table):

1. Open the file Student.fp7. Select File ->Define ->Database and select the Tables tab. Enter Schools for the table name and click Create.

Now select the Fields Tab. If not already selected, select the Schools table. Create a number field named School # and text fields named School Name, Dept Coordinator, Dept Phone, City and State.  School# will be our "matching" or key field.  This field MUST be unique. 

Note: If  I was creating the School table for the first time and not planning to import existing data, I would set the field to AutoEnter a computer generated serial number.  However, we have existing records with School Numbers already attached so we will not set that option.

2. To populate our new internal table with the data in the old Schools.fp7 file, we must import it. With Filemaker Pro 7 you will first need to create a layout based on the table schools that contains all fields from the table Schools. 

From the application menu, select View->Layout Mode then select Layout->New Layout/Reports.  In the New Layout/Reports dialog box select the table Schools from the drop down list next to "Show Records From:".  Name the Layout "Schools".  Select the Standard layout form then click Next. 

Then click the "Move All" button in the next dialog box and click Next.  Choose any theme you prefer and click Finish.   

Now select File->Import Records->File and select the file Schools.fp7 and click Open. Make sure field names are arranged opposite each other (you may click and drag fields in the right hand column up or down if they are not - notice the two sided vertical arrow) and be sure they have a black arrow next to each field on the left pointing to its corresponding field on the right.  If there is just a dash, click it once with a mouse to change it to an arrow.  Then click Import.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Whenever you perform an import in Filemaker Pro, always select a layout based on the table you wish to import the data into.  This will automatically set the import target table.  If you are performing an import to update existing records, be sure to select Records->Show All Records first.  Imports only update records in the Current Found Set.

If you are using Filemaker Pro 8 or newer, the creation of the Schools table is done automatically during the Import process.   Select File->Import Records->File and select the file Schools.fp7 and click Open.  In the upper right hand corner of the Import dialogue box click the drop down list and select New Table ("Schools").  then click Import. A new table called "Schools" and a layout with all fields in the table Schools will be created and populated with the data that was in the file Schools.fp7. 

Regardless of which version of Filemaker Pro you are using, you now need to establish your relationships between the tables in your solution.

3. Select File->Define ->Database from the application menu.  Click on the Relationships tab. Click on the Schools table field School #. Holding the mouse button down, drag the field on top of the School Number field in the Students table and click OK.

Note: Fields do not need to be named exactly the same to be used as a "match" field. 

Now click on the little box containing two lines in the center of the relationship connecting line. You will see that the fields are now specified as equal to each other in the Edit Relationship dialogue box. Notice the Add button. Beginning with Filemaker Pro 7 or newer you have the ability to specify more than one match field.

For example, at the University we identify a course by a unique CRN number. However, CRN numbers are reused in subsequent terms. Therefore, if you have a table of course information that includes information from multiple terms you cannot use a CRN as a unique record identifier. In older versions of Filemaker Pro we had to create a field that autofilled with a calculation that combined the CRN and Term fields.  Now we can establish a relationship using the field CRN and a second relationship using the field Term.

You will also notice that the relationship operator is a dropdown list. The default is "=". However, with Filemaker Pro 7 or newer you can also choose other operators. Why would we wish to?  Well, at the University we designate terms by year and term i.e. 201001 (Fall Term 2010). If we have a Student table with one record per student and a Registrations table with one record for each course the student has enrolled in ( a one-to-many relationship) we can create a layout with a portal that views all courses the student has taken.  But a student record may include years worth of enrollment information. 

What if we only want to view courses taken in the last three years but retain the ability to view the entire student's history if we should need to?   If we first create a field in the Student table called Target Term then create a dual relationship between the Student table and the Registrations table on the fields "Target Term" and "Term" with the operator set to ">" (greater than), we could use the "Target Term" field to "filter" the records we wish to view in the Registrations table by setting a value in the "Target Term" field in the student table. 

We'll explore this technique further in another class.

You also have the option to "Allow creation of records in this table via this relationship", "Delete related records in this table when a record is deleted in the other table" and "Sort records".  If we wish to create a layout based on the Schools table with a portal that views the Students enrolled in that school that we can use to enroll new students, we need to check the "Allow creation of records in this table via this relationship" option directly under the Student table. If a School is removed from the tracking system and you wish all student records connected to that school removed from the database, you would check the "Delete related records in this table when a record is deleted in the other table" option.  This option should be considered carefully, though, based on how you wish to manage the records in your database.  If you want to retain all Student information regardless of which school they attend and the Student record is of primary importance while the School information is only secondary, you would not check the "Delete related records in this table when a record is deleted in the other table" option.  In other words, it is very important to understand the "viewpoint" of your records system.

The import process does not include resources like value lists or scripts.  We must recreate any value lists we may need that originally existed in Schools.fp7. 

4. Using our Students.fp7 file select File->Define Value Lists. Click on New and enter School Names for the value list name and click the radio button for Use Values From Field. Select Schools from the Tables drop down list and click on the field School# then click "Also display values from second field" checkbox and click on the School Name field.  Then check the "Show values only from second field" checkbox and click OK.

We will use this value list to format the Student Number field to create a drop down list for our records personnel to choose from to assign a school to a new student.  So our records personnel don't have to memorize a list of numbers we have configured our dropdown list to display the second field only - the School Name.   When the choice of school is made, the School Number will be entered into the field even though a name was selected from the drop down list.  Recording the school number is really the only information we need in the student table to relate a student to a school.  This also eliminates the problem of schools with the same name.  Each school is assigned its own unique school number even if it has a name identical to another school.  We can add a related field from Schools on a Student layout to display the School name.


Note: If we had a value list in the Students.fp7 file that was based on the old external file Schools, we need to edit that value list so that it now refers to the table Schools instead.

Because the file Students.fp7 now contains the tables Students and Schools, the value list can be used on any layout referring to the Student Number field from either table. 


Recreating layouts

All tables and value lists should be imported/recreated before attempting to recreate layouts so fields formatted to use value lists will retain their format and all fields will map properly to their corresponding fields in the new tables.

In the new file, create a new layout based on the table that is appropriate for the layout you are attempting to recreate.  Select View->Layout Mode then Layout->New Layout.  Select the appropriate table from the list of tables, name the layout EXACTLY as it was named in your old file and choose Blank Layout and click Finish.

Open the old file and select the layout you wish to recreate.  Select View->Layout Mode then Edit->Select All.  Then copy (Control-C) and paste (Control V) all objects into the new blank layout in the new file.  If your fields are named exactly as they were in the old file, the fields will map themselves to the new fields in the new table.  If not, the field will appear blank without the field name showing in Layout Mode.  If you see a blank field, double click the field and select the table and field to display.  All fields formatted for drop down lists or check boxes will remap to the appropriate value list if they were created first as well. 

Note: If you have background objects that are "Locked" on your old layout, you will need to click on the locked object first (in Layout Mode) and select Arrange->Unlock before you perform the Edit->Select All step. 


Scripts can be imported using Scriptmaker. However, all tables, value lists, and layouts should be recreated  (in that order) before you attempt to import scripts so script steps referring to specific layouts, etc. will not "break".  All imported scripts need to be examined after import for Missing File, Missing Field or Missing Layout references and remapped as needed.

Pricey Elder Care Monitoring Systems Overlook Logic

As an aging baby boomer myself with medical issues that invariably accompany the aging process, I have found myself frequently annoyed at my own loss of short-term memory and its impact on trying to manage my own health care and the even more challenging task of overseeing the care of my husband, a disabled Vietnam veteran.  So I was instantly drawn to the article, "Technologies Help Adult Children Monitor Aging Parents", in the New York Times this morning.  But as I read the article and checked some of the related links, I couldn't help but be dismayed that so many companies are developing systems that are based around a pricey monthly subscription plan and the more complex systems rely on an expensive system of sensors throughout the elder person's home.

Although such systems are touted as far less expensive than a nursing home, they ignore the fact that most of the activities they monitor could be keyed to the daily activities that surround medication management for a lot less money.  

For example, the article talks about using motion sensors to tell if a person has gotten out of bed.  If the person's daily routine includes taking medications in the morning and the medications are in the bathroom or the kitchen, then the person has obviously gotten out of bed if they have taken their morning medications. 

One of the more elaborate systems costing in excess of $8,000 uses sensors on the refrigerator to track when the door is open or closed and for how long.  The apparent assumption is that if the door is open for more than a few seconds, the person has gotten enough food out of it to indicate they have prepared a meal.  A much more reliable indicator would be to use blood glucose levels, whether a person is diabetic or not, and weight.  Both of these activities could be incorporated into the morning medication routine.


As for using motion sensors to track whether the person is moving around the house, how do those systems distinguish between the resident and their pet(s)?  The article mentioned the case of a man becoming panicked because his mother's motion sensors showed a flurry of activity in the sun room.  She had decided to paint the room and was happily redecorating when he called her.  When I examine my own activities during the day as a retired person, I find that, although I have somewhat of a daily routine, my activity levels often vary based on the weather, the time of year, unscheduled visits of friends and family or weekly or seasonal errands.  This morning, for example, I went outside to do yard work early in the morning because it is supposed to be pretty warm later in the day.  In the winter, however, I may sleep in a little longer.  If I've worked hard out in the yard I may decide to take an extended nap after lunch and motion sensors would not track much movement at all although I am perfectly fine.  So I think minute by minute tracking of a person's daily movements is overkill in my opinion.  


Of course such precise monitoring and reporting via email, text message or phone call is the justification these companies are using to charge their monthly monitoring fee.  But we all know that we don't really want to know all the times things are within normal parameters.  We only really want to know when something is wrong.  

The really promising device mentioned in the article was the computerized Med Minder, lovingly called "Maya", produced by Med Minder Systems, Inc..  It resembles a large weekly medication dispenser with a power cord that has a computerized monitoring system incorporated into it. The device is wireless like a cell phone and can transmit a host of reminders to family or caregivers via phone, email or text message:

• Medication was not taken on schedule
• Medication cup was taken out at the wrong time
• Medication cup was not returned to the compartment
• Scheduled refill has started
• Refill was started, but not finished
• Unscheduled refill occurred
• MedMinder tray was not replaced during the refill
• Reminder to take medication
• Reminder to refill the box
• Scheduled refill was missed
• Pillbox registration failed
• Pillbox was deregistered
• Loss of wireless connection
• Wireless connection reestablished
• Pillbox turned on
• Pillbox lost power and is running on battery
• Pillbox power restored
• Pillbox shut down

As many older people have problems with vision or hearing loss, Maya's alerts include both visual and auditory signals.


"Maya provides alerts that are both visual and auditory. The beeps can be easily heard and the lights flash on & off to get your attention. The system also provides automatic phone calls as reminders, in case the lights and beeps do not prompt taking the scheduled medication. You can also choose to receive just some of the reminders and disable the others. If you are visually impaired, the unit opens easily and the cups and compartments are large enough to feel and easy to remove and replace." - Med Minder website


For the technology the device uses, it's hardware price of $147 is actually pretty reasonable.  However, it also requires a $19 per month subscription fee.  This fee is not exorbitant but for elderly patients with a computer system and a DSL wireless router, I think the device should be configurable to use an existing wireless network instead to eliminate the monthly subscription fee.  


If the device were combined with a wireless enabled digital scale, a wireless blood glucose monitor, a wireless blood pressure cuff, and software that can be configured for individual normal parameters and only emails family and caregivers if daily readings vary by a specified degree, I think many seniors would welcome it without concerns about control and privacy.  Such a system could probably be produced for less than $500 and still give the manufacturer a decent profit.   It could also be expandable to include add-ons like a wireless CPAP machine interface, wireless exercise bike or treadmill, an interface to a Wii or a smart card interface. 

Many grocery stores have incorporated buyer "preferred" cards that they scan along with your debit card when you buy groceries so they can offer you more targeted coupons (and probably sell your preferences to corporate marketers).  Just think of the nutritional information that is available by simply having software analyze the weekly grocery purchases.  In fact, a good nutritional analysis program could also make recommendations for more nutritious alternatives which I'm sure many seniors, including me, would welcome.

Doomday fear mongers point to Iran's new Surena-2 humanoid robot as further proof of weapons manufacturing

I am thoroughly disgusted by doomsday fear mongers in the west that point to Iran's newly minted humanoid robot as further proof of Iran developing technology for nuclear weapons manufacturing, In fact, the University of Tehran has had an artificial intelligence and robotics program since 1993.

"Current research directions include cognitive robotics, multiagent learning, biologically inspired learning methods, distributed robotics, object manipulation, and mobile robots. - University of Tehran Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory website  

Any positive advances in technology development should be celebrated regardless of where such advances were developed. 

Episodic online games with movie tie could snag casual gamers

The movie industry may be on to something with their efforts to tie the theater experience with online episodic mobile gaming.  This article describes a new game being prepared to tie in to the new Angelina Jolie spy thriller "Salt" and it intrigued me when "Day X Exists" is explained as a "a genre that blends online and offline clues and relies on players collaborating to solve puzzles."

[Promotional Image courtesy of Sony Pictures]

It mentions that a similar game was released for "District 9".  Although I really liked that film I somehow missed any reference to an online game.  I wonder what venue the movie studios are using to announce such product tie-ins?

Since the article mentions social networking too, I guess the collaboration part of the game is expected to take place between Facebook friends or something.  I guess I should pay more attention to Facebook but I really don't have time between my writing, photography, book reviews and household adventures.  At least I have my Flickr account and blogs connected to Facebook so links to my writing and photography make it there without me having to double or triple post.

I think the movie studios are on the right track although I was a bit offended by the following paragraph:

"On the way now, as evidenced by Day X Exists, are games that feature complex narratives and depth, but do not require a master’s degree to figure out. Women in particular are a focus. " - Using Online Games to Get Movie Audiences Involved by Brooks Barnes, New York Times.

It's as if the NYT writer is inferring that women are not as intelligent as the average male gamer.  They are correct about developing games as entertainment, though, rather than something expected to take hours before any psychological reward is offered. I think introducing the social aspect to gaming will be interesting to observe as well since females have been conditioned to be more socially aware in our society.

 I also think their efforts to utilize mobile GPS for location-specific gaming strategies is commendable as well.  I guess I'm going to have to explore this Day X Exists a little further although to be honest, I would have been more interested in the game for "District 9" or maybe "Robin Hood"!  I have to confess that I fell asleep trying to watch "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and was equally bored with "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".  So I haven't yet been won over to the camp that view Jolie as an action hero.  It's not that she isn't a talented actress, as I found her performance in "The Changeling" quite riveting.  It's just that so many of these so-called spy thrillers have such a thin or overly cliched plot.

I wonder if they'll create a game for "Prince of Persia"?  Can you imagine that?  A game developed for a movie based on a game.  It sounds like one of those dreaded infinite loops!

Firefox now compatible with Netflix Streaming! Yeah!!

My older PC workstation in my home office seems to revolt if I try to use Internet Explorer on it and for quite a while that meant downloading movies from my Netflix instant queue was dicey at best.  If I just ignored the "Internet Explorer has encountered an unknown problem and must close" error and left it minimized on my desktop I could go ahead and play the movie and it would USUALLY play but my system would later hang at some point.  If I tried to use Firefox - my regular default browser - I would get an error message telling me that the streaming service required Internet Explorer.  Well today I tried it again and behold - Firefox worked like a charm!  I did receive a notice that the content I had chosen to download (Spartacus: Blood and Sand) was protected by Microsoft Digital Rights Management software and asked if I wanted Silverlight to automatically install the proper software to play my selected choice.  Of course you have to agree or you can't watch the movie so I granted permission.  I had previously installed Silverlight for some multimedia work I was doing a while back so I'm not sure if someone who has never installed Silverlight would have to install it first or not.

Of course the other thing I was excited about was the availability of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand"  in streaming format before the last two episodes of the series on STARZ has even finished airing.  Go STARZ!!

I also noticed that the Wii has added the ability to stream movies from Netflix.  I already have a Roku player with that capability in the living room (I bought it about a year before I bought the Wii) but it looks like I will need to move my Wii to my office if I ever want to use it much as my retired husband spends a lot of his time watching TV in the living room and I can't get much screen time for the Wii.

I've been thinking about buying a 40" Proscan LCD HD TV for my office (It's price is less than $500 - not bad for 40" and I'm used to playing the Wii on a 60" screen so I can't downsize too much!) and it would be nice to watch instant movies on it as well without having to add any more equipment. My husband is balking at this point, though, because he's afraid I'll spend even more time in my office than I do now.  But, come on, now - how much "Ax Men" can a girl take!!

X-Box Natal looks like fun but will most games be rehash of previous releases?

I finally had a chance to catch up on a little back reading and watched a demo video of the X-Box Natal.  Of course I was wowed by the technology but will it perform as demonstrated when it actually starts to ship in November?

Last Christmas, my husband, seeing me lingering over sale ads for the Wii, finally told me to go ahead and get one for myself.  Although I have played PC-based games casually for many years, I was intrigued by a system that incorporates motion.  After I purchased my Wii, however, I was a bit confused as to why so few games were available that actually did incorporate the motion sensing capabilities of the Wii. 

 I found Wii Play great fun and actually very physically demanding if you perform the same motions that you would if you were playing the sport for real.  When I played baseball I did a full wind up for a pitch.  I played golf for real for many years so it was natural to fully swing when playing the golf game and I discovered I actually seem to have a knack for boxing which I never knew about - knocking out my first opponent.  I also loved the fact that when I played tennis, I never had to go fetch an errant tennis ball.

I had also purchased a high-end fishing game.  I have always loved to fish since I grew up in a little town on the Oregon coast that had limited entertainment venues.  Bandon, during the time period when I was growing up, only had a small movie theater.  Teenagers could attend a ball game and go to the dance but younger kids only had the theater and their own imagination.  My father had taught me to fish when I was not much older than a toddler and as I grew older, I spent many afternoons fishing from the banks of Ferry Creek that was within walking distance from my house.  I occasionally fished from the docks in the harbor but preferred stream fishing for trout.

The love of fishing has stayed with me all these years although climbing down into ravines to find the best fishing spot is almost beyond my physical ability any more and I discovered a number of years ago that this Navy man's daughter gets terribly seasick on a charter boat.

On a trip to visit my daughter in the early 90s, I was introduced to a new PC-based Bass fishing game from Sierra.  I was "hooked" (pun intended) and stayed up until 3 a.m. playing that game.  Of course I bought my own copy when I got home.  But I always thought it would be great if you could actually feel the fish bite.  I got my wish with the new fishing game I bought for the Wii.

Recently, I bought another game called "Endless Ocean: Blue World" that is a scuba diving simulation that I like very much.  Although it doesn't use motion as much as I would like (I would prefer to swim by having the system detect the motion of my arms) I enjoy swimming about looking at the fish, whales and other marine life and exploring the ocean looking for treasure.  I even learned to "whale ride".  Then last week I bought a Firefighting game that uses motion in its controls.  But dozens of Wii titles are just ports from other consoles and do not take advantage of the Wii capabilities.

From what I have seen of the new Natal X-Box, motion-controlled gaming is going to take another giant leap forward when the hardware is released in November 2010.  But are we only going to see mostly ported games that do not fully utilize the new full-body motion sensing and face and voice recognition capabilities?  This new system could be a major factor in the battle against childhood (or even adult) obesity but hardware is relatively useless without software. 

I noticed that Microsoft claims over 80% of third party developers are working on Natal titles but are they really trying to incorporate the new functionality or just "rebranding" existing titles?  I would like to see games rated on degree of physical activity level (not just an icon denoting "Motion Plus" aware) so we can truly see which games make best use of the new technology and which ones just basically run on the console hardware. 

    

Popular Science offers free archive of all 137 years of publication!

What a wonderful gift to anyone in the world interested in science and technology!  Popular Science Magazine has teamed up with Google to provide a freely available archive of all 137 years of its publication.  Each issue will include its original vintage advertising which will offer even more enjoyment.

I see they also offer a free iPhone app.  This is a publication that has obviously embraced the new distribution model offered by online access rather than fritter away valuable time trying to figure out ways to wring the last nickel out of the online public.  Kudos to you Popular Science!

Kindle plus Touchco could spell trouble for iPad

This item about Amazon acquiring Touchco caught my attention - especially when I read that the interpolating force-sensitive resistance Touchco displays can project color at a cost of only $10 per square foot (yes - that's right - foot not inches!).  I also was impressed by the image showing how thin and flexible the display could be!  Maybe my dream of a color-capable touchscreen reading/multimedia device less than the thickness of a thin section of a newspaper is on the horizon!

[Image courtesy of Nick Bilton/The New York Times]

I've read about the new iPad but, as usual, Apple is commanding a premium price for a very proprietary product and tying it to a very expensive subscription plan through AT&T.  I hope a totally new iteration of the Kindle would have the ability to download content from an App Store without an expensive cellular subscription (especially since my house is located between two range of hills that virtually blocks cell access) but with the capability to have a "go phone"-type pay as you go cellular access capability for traveling.

I would also love to play some of my favorite iPhone games on such a device.  I'm actually using my iPhone more for portable gaming while I'm waiting for appointments or an airplane than I use it for making phone calls anyway.  Although my iPhone worked wonderfully when I was in Italy to call home (I turned data access off because of the outrageous international charges), here in the States, AT&T's coverage is really spotty.  It really irks me to be required to pay $30 per month for data access when there's so many places here in the Northwest where you cannot get a signal or the signal strength is so low that you drop calls.  At the time I signed up for my iPhone I needed a phone I could use overseas and Verizon didn't have any at that time.  Perhaps by the time Amazon rolls out a new Kindle based on Touchco's technology, I can go back to Verizon for cellular functions and just use my Touchco Kindle for everything else.  Having everything in one device is convenient but you shouldn't have to pay such a high price for it.